Possible reasons your computer is running slowly

There are many possible causes of poor computer performance.  Below are some of the most common causes:

1. Too many programs and not enough random access memory (RAM):
   When you first turned on your computer, it only had the factory installed programs running and was therefore very fast.  However, over time, you may have installed additional programs or upgraded to newer versions of existing programs.  Each new program or upgraded program takes additional RAM, eventually using up all the available RAM and causing a digital traffic jam in your computer.
    
   
2. Fragmented hard drive:
   Because of the way your computer stores and retrieves data, it will eventually slow down from what is called hard drive fragmentation. This is normal and fixable. Computers don’t store things the way people do, even though it looks to you like they do.  When you write a letter, for instance, the computer may store the first part of the letter in a file called letter. But later additions and changes to your letter will not be stored in that file. They will be stored instead in the most convenient places the computer can find on your hard drive.  Instead of putting the various pieces of your letter together in a single file, the computer puts notes to itself in the letter file, telling it where to go to retrieve all the pieces to put them back together. Eventually, your various files fill up not with the material you put into them, but location notes the computer has written to itself. It is the reassembling of the data stored at various locations that slows your computer down.
   
   The solutiuon to this is to periodically defragment your hard drive. 
   Here is how to do it.
     
   
3. Virus infection:
   In addition to all the other problems caused by viruses, they can cause your computer to run extremely slowly.
   
   
4. Spyware and adware infection :
   These malicious programs track every web site you visit, and show you random and targeted popup ads, using your computer's resources, which slows down your computer.