Computer Running Slower Than My Parents’ Computer on Dial-Up

Dear Geek,

Yesterday, my computer was running fine.  Today, suddenly it is running very slow.  Someone said to check the “performance tab” of the Windows Task Manager.  When I did, it said the CPU usage was at the top of the graph.  What is happening, and how can I fix it?

Sincerely,

Slower Than My Parents’ Computer on Dial-Up

Dear Dial-Up,

When the Performance tab of the Windows Task Manager (press CTRL-ALT-DELETE and choose Task Manager) states your usage is at the top of the range, there is a bottleneck occurring in your computer that is making it slow down.  Several problems can cause this, including viruses, processes that run in the background, and programs not working properly.  To start, you have to figure out if anything changed on your computer before the slowdown occurred.  Were any new programs installed, did you visit any new websites?  In the case of a new program, remove it and see if the computer speeds up.  If you visited new websites, run a full system scan with your security software.    Next, try updating Windows (click “Start”, enter “Window Update” in the search field, and follow the prompts).  If none of these seem to solve your problem, you can try restoring your computer to the condition it was in prior to the slowdown.  To do this, click “Start”, enter “Restore” in the search field, and click “Restore Your Computer To An Earlier Time”.  Follow the prompts on-screen, and you should soon have your computer back to where it was before the slowdown.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to:  geek@tbyd.ca.  We’ll translate it from Geek-lish to English, so it actually helps!

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