Computer Applications Slowing Down Your PC

By Rhonda Campbell

computer applications

Sure. Computer applications put video games, audio communications and media reports at our fingertips. Computer application software also automates manual business processes. If coding built into applications communicates smoothly with coding built into laptops, desktops and mobile devices, it’ll generally be a good marriage, no download slowdowns, no freeze-ups, etc. But that isn’t what always happens.

Today brand new PCs are loaded with dozens of computer applications:  Word, Excel, PowerPoint, NotePad, Email, video games, media players, video editing software, animation software and image editing software, to name a few. Then there are several versions of software. Before long, coding used in one computer application garbles with coding built into another computer application. It’s a reason even supposedly fast computers really aren’t.


What happens after the coding in different applications gets garbled? It could take longer for your computer to upload. After your computer is up and running, it could also freeze, especially while you browse the Internet and different websites you visit download even more software (i.e. tracking software) to your computer.

Although some security software packages can prevent certain websites from downloading data to your PC without your agreement, there might not be a security package that can prevent every application from reaching your PC. It’s a risk we all take as we surf the web. Yet, it is absolutely good practice to ensure virus, spam, identity theft, etc. software applications are running each time you turn on your PC. It’s also important to scan your PC, actually running security software to find and remove spam, viruses, etc.

Furthermore, to keep your PC from slowing down to the point where you find yourself scowling or banging the side of your work desk, try to only visit quality websites. Also, avoid downloading additional applications to your PC. Believe it or not, you probably download more applications than you imagine. For example, if you attend a webinar, you probably download an application so you could join an online meeting. Attend three meetings that use three different applications and . . . well, you’ve just added three more apps to your PC.  It’s that easy.

Besides watching the types of websites you visit and only downloading essential applications you need to complete your job, etc., there are other steps you can take to keep computer applications from slowing down your PC. For example, you could:

  • Review your computer’s application list once a month, removing applications you haven’t used in several months (be careful not to remove applications that are built into your PC)
  • Buying computer applications that are compatible with your PC
  • Cleaning up documents and files to reduce the amount of bandwidth your PC uses
  • Deleting pictures, songs, etc. you no longer access

You can also clean out your cache folder once a week. This could help speed up the time it takes websites to download onto your PC. As a business owner, it’s also a good idea to set up firewalls so your employees can’t visit certain websites, putting your business at risk of viruses, a weakened brand, loss of customer data, etc.

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