My Computer Runs Slow

This week at Computer Solutions has been a "help my computer is running slow week." This has become a very common occurrence as more and more types of malware, spyware, popups, and viruses penetrate the defenses of your computer while it is on the Internet.

One of the main ways these pests get on the computer is when people respond to a warning that their computer has been infected with a virus and they need to click on the appropriate box to get rid it.

Or it might say, "Speed up your computer by clicking here."

These types of messages are nearly always hoaxes. When you click on the box the code downloads on your computer and bad things happen.

Also, those who download free music are candidates for attacks because they are connecting to a vast unregulated network of computers with who knows what on them.

Beware anytime you are asked to download something. Make sure you know exactly where it is coming from. That includes e-mail attachments.

After the code downloads, it hides in your computer and is difficult if not virtually impossible to search out and eradicate.

It often runs in RAM (temporary memory) and waits for some event, such as visiting a particular website, to activate.

Thus, it takes up the resources needed to run programs you actually want to use and as more and more of the offending code accumulates your computer runs slower and slower until it is almost useless.

We can try to eliminate the offenders, but many time they are so imbedded in the operating system that the only solution is a complete restore back to the way the computer was when you bought it.

This is not too big a deal if you have the restore disks, but you will need to backup all valuable data and will have to reinstall any programs that were not on your computer to begin with.

Also, you will have to reinstall printer, Internet, etc.

However, after all this is done your computer will run like new.

At least for awhile.