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One day you may find the once-fast computer is running slow even though it comes with Windows 10 or Windows 8 which is designed with quite fast boot producer.

Do you know why your computer is running slow? You may think RAM, CPU, or hard disk is the “culprit”. The three hardware might be the exact cause, but actually, many other factors that can lead to the issue.

Let’s learn about the four hardware issues and the 6 logical reasons that cause “slow computer”.

# 1: Windows 10/8/7 Is Running on HDD

Windows running on HDD is always slower than those running on SSD. The reason is that the magnetic head of HDD has to move here and there to read and write data, while Windows on SSD can locate files very quickly due to the application of flash memory.

Tip: To learn more about the differences SSD and HDD, you can To learn more about the differences SSD and HDD, you can click here

You may encounter computer runs slow Windows 8/10 when installing Windows on HDD. In this situation, there are 2 free ways you can choose if you are seeking for speed.

Way 1: upgrade your HDD to SSD via MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Way 2: migrate Windows and install programs to SSD and use HDD as a data disk.

After upgrading to SSD, you can read the following article to know how to get best performance from SSD in Windows.

How to Get Best Performance from SSD in Windows 10/8/8.1/7 Want to get best performance from SSD (solid state drive) in Windows 10/8.1/8/7? You can find step-by-step tutorials from this post. Read More

# 2: Not Enough RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) is a type of storage for computer systems and comes with the computer. As we know, with enough memory, you can access data at a very fast speed. Therefore, not enough RAM can lead to a slow computer.

Your currently used RAM is not enough, which can make your computer run slow. That means you need to buy new RAM, and this may make your computer faster again.

Tip: Different computers may require different types of RAM, and some computers have reached the maximum amount of memory. Therefore, you should consult professionals before purchasing.

# 3: CPU Is Aging with Poor Performance

CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the electronic circuitry within a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions.

The better performance CPU has, the faster your computer runs.

Therefore, when CPU of a computer has been used for a long time or is with poor performance, try replacing the old one.

However, a good CPU is always quite expensive for common people.

# 4: Hard Disk Is Either Logically or Physically Damaged

When there is something with the hard disk on which you installed Windows, your computer may run like a snail or even cannot start.

You may doubt that how can you know whether a disk is logically damaged or physically damaged?

Actually, under such circumstances, disk check might be performed automatically during the process of startup. If the check cannot pass, hard disk might be seriously damaged, and you need to replace it. Furthermore, even if the check passes in the end, your computer would quite slow and even crash.

To fix the situation “my computer runs slow” due to the corrupted hard disk, you can try using Windows built-in command at first.

How to do that? Here I take Windows 10 for example. You just need to do the following steps:

click the Start menu, type chkdsk, and run it as administrator.

menu, type and run it as administrator. exe will check your disk and fix errors automatically.

However, this utility is not omnipotent. You may find this checking does not work, and you can make use of the third-party software to fix the disk. When both solutions are proved to be useless you may need to replace the current hard disk.

# 5: Boot Partition Is in Low Disk Space

All the hardware issues that cause “my computer runs slow” have been displayed, and the following will show you the 6 logical factors that cause computer runs slow Windows 8/10.

Boot partition is used to save the operating system. If you install more than one OS, there will be more than one boot partition.

When boot partition is running in low disk space like the following shows, Windows will cost much more time to locate needed files or programs, and at the same time there will be not enough space for swapfiles and temporary files. Thus, your computer runs slow.

To deal with this issue, you may plan to delete the unnecessary files such as never used programs, temporary files, and cache files to release space.

But space got via this method is limited, and need files might be deleted by mistakes. Once files used to boot Windows are deleted, your system would crash. Therefore, extending your boot partition is highly recommended.

How to extend your boot partition? There are two methods.

Method 1: Extend Boot Partition via Disk Management

Disk management is a useful utility built-in Windows that help you to manage your hard drive. Absolutely, this utility can also help you extend your boot partition.

Here is the simple tutorial on how to extend your boot partition via MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Step 1: Press the Windows icon and the R key on your keyboard simultaneously.

Step 2: After the Run window pops up, please type diskmgmt.msc and click the OK button.

Step 3: Find your boot partition on the Disk Management window and right-click on it to choose the Extend Volume option.

Tip: If you find that the Extend Volume option is greyed out, you can If you find that the Extend Volume option is greyed out, you can click here to learn about the reasons.

Step 4: Click the Next button to continue.

Step 5: In the Extend Volume Wizard window, please determine how much space you would like to add to the boot partition and then click the Next button.

Step 6: Confirm the information shown in the pop-up window, and then click the Finish button.

Method 2: Extend Partition via MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a free program in terms of extending partitions. With its Extend Partition feature, you can extend volume easily.

Here is the tutorial on how to extend partition via MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

Free Download

Step 1: Download the software and launch it to get is main interface.

Step 2: Select the boot partition displayed in the Map Disk and active the Extend Partition feature from the left panel.

Step 3: You will get a pop-up window where you can see

a drop-down list named Take Free Space from . Click it and choose any one which one listed there according to your needs.

. Click it and choose any one which one listed there according to your needs. a sliding bar which you can drag towards left or right side to determine how much space you want to take.

a OK button you can click to continue.

Step 4: Click the Apply button on the main interface to execute all changes.

However, if your boot partition has much free space, Windows 10/8/7 slow computer might be caused by the following issue.

# 6: RAM or Other Resources Eaten by Various Programs

There are three main kinds of behavior and programs that eat up your RAM and other resources.

Your Computer Has Been Running for a Long Time without a Reboot

The behavior refers that you have run your computer for a long time without rebooting. This will generate lots of junk files, like caches and RAM, which furtherly makes it harder for operating system to locate needed files. In this situation, you need to reboot your computer.

However, rebooting may clear all or a part of such files so as to speed your computer. In addition, rebooting makes it possible to detect Windows update or software update. With the latest versions of system or programs, your computer is always running smoothly.

Note: This solution is not suggested for server users. After all, server needs to work all the time. In addition, cold reboot is recommended only when everything fails, because this kind of boot may make hard disk or other hardware corrupted.

To reboot a computer, you should go to Start, click the triangle which is after the Shut down option, and choose Restart (in Windows 7).

Lots of Startup Apps

With lots of startup apps, your computer will take a long time to boot since all these programs need time to start. In addition, most programs will continue to run after the computer starts successfully, which may eat up your RAM or other resources to run your computer with great efforts.

In this situation, you may be about to shun down the programs that are not frequently used but hogging resources to free up RAM each time Windows boots successfully, but it is troublesome.

The best way is to disable unnecessary startup items thoroughly. Please take the following operations to do the job:

Step 1: Go to the Start menu.

Step 2: type msconfig in the Search box, and run this program as administrator to get the following window:

Step 3: Navigate to the Startup tab, all startup items will be listed. You can manually deselect those you do not want to run during startup. Of course, you can also disable all, and then select those you want to launch.

Too Many Antiviruses

You may pay more and more attention to data security. In order to furthest prevent your private or important data from being attacked by virus or malware, you often install more than one anti-virus software or anti-malware.

Is Antivirus Necessary for Windows 10/8/7? Get the Answer Now! Is antivirus necessary for Windows 10/8/7 to keep your PC safe? Read this post to get the answer, and you can also know some ways to prevent malware. Read More

Nevertheless, this kind of program is always taking up lots of memory especially when they are working or updating.

If you have doubts about this judgment, please open your Windows Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc or Ctrl + Alt + Delete) to see how much CPU and RAM these programs take up when they are working.

There is no need to run multiple anti-virus programs at the same time, because most of them work with the same principle. Please try closing extra apps to see whether the low computer issue is fixed.

If this also does not work, there might be fragments on your hard disk.

# 7: Lots of Fragments on Hard Drive

If you store and delete data on hard disk frequently, fragments are easy to emerge. If the disk is with a lot of fragments, it will do much extra work to seek data, which definitely slows the speed of your computer.

Under this situation, the best solution is to defrag the disk (please note that this solution is not suitable for an SSD), which is the process of making fragmented data saved continuously, and you can try using Windows Disk Defragmenter to do the job:

click Start button;

button; type disk defragmenter in the search box, press on Enter , and run this program as administrator .

in the search box, press on , and . choose the needed drive (partition) to defrag.

For more details about this job, please click defrag Windows 7.

But if this is also not the culprit for your slow performance issue, the computer might be suffering from virus infection.

# 8: Your Computer Is Attacked by Virus or Malware

Your computer might be attacked by virus or malware even if anti-virus and anti-malware have been installed.

There are 2 possible reasons: you forgot to start the program; new virus hasn't been added to virus database.

Attacked by virus or malware, the computer is always running slow or even crashes. Therefore, it is very necessary to run a full virus or malware scan if your computer runs slow after you visited an unknown website.

# 9: Partitions Are Misaligned (Especially for SSD)

If you are running Windows on an SSD already, take this factor into consideration. In general, running system on SSD will be much faster compared with running it on HDD, so lots of people who are seeking for speed have upgraded their system disk to SSD.

But this should be on the base that partitions (specially boot partition) are aligned correctly. If you operate partitions on SSD frequently or partitions on SSD come from other disk via copying, they may become misaligned.

With unaligned partitions, the computer will cost much more time to boot Windows and read/write data.

Well then, how to check whether your partitions are aligned or not? With the help of MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can do it with ease.

Step 1: Select the disk in the Disk Map, and activate the Align All Partitions feature from the left panel.

Step 2: If Partition Wizard detects misaligned partition(s), it will show how many partitions to align in total. Just confirm the operation by clicking OK button.

Step 3: Click on the Apply button on the top left corner to perform all operations.

# 10: Your Windows OS Is too Old

Any program should be updated timely to add new functions or fix bugs. When an operating system is out of date, lots of problems like slow computer issue may come.

At this time, it is highly suggested that you upgrade your Windows operating system, and detailed steps can be found from the internet.

However, both reset and reinstallation may lead to data loss. If there are files you need, please make a backup at first.

Do you know why your computer runs slow? This article explains this issue in detail and gives some solutions.Click to tweet

Bottom Line

Now all possible factors that can slow down your Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7 computer have been listed, and corresponding solutions are also shown.

If you are troubled by slow computer issues, find the exact reason by referring to possible causes we give, and then feel safe to try our solutions out. If you have any doubts about the given reason and solutions, please contact us via [email protected].

My Computer Runs Slow FAQ

How can I speed up my computer with Windows 10? Upgrade to an SSD for its high performance. Upgrade your Windows OS to Windows 10. Buy new RAM and CPU. Repair bad sectors and other logical errors on the hard drive. Extend C drive. Defragment your computer hard drive. Close unnecessary problems when using computer. Install antivirus and scan for your computer regularly. Align the SSD partitions.

Is 4GB of RAM enough for Windows 10? From the configuration requirements, 4GB of RAM is quite enough for installing Windows 10 (the minimum configuration requirements of RAM for 32-bit Win 10 and 64-bit Win10 are 1GB and 2GB). But whether it is enough when running programs on Windows 10, there is no definite answer. If you just deal with daily office and play small and medium-sized games on Windows 10, the 4GB RAM is enough. But to play large games, you’d better choose a bigger RAM.

How do I know if my computer has malware? The following situations indicate that your computer has been infected with malware. Your computer runs slow. Adds are opening randomly or strange messages pop up on the computer’s screen. Computer crashes when playing games or watching videos. All files suddenly turn into shortcuts. You are unable to access Control Panel. Some unfamiliar icons are displayed on your desktop. Your friends receive strange messages from you. Everything on your computer seems perfectly normal.

How do I free up RAM on my PC? Reboot your computer to clear memory and reset all running programs. Uninstall the unnecessary apps that use your RAM. Scan your computer for malware as it can suck up your available RAM. Adjust your virtual memory. Install more RAM. Utilize reliable RAM cleaner software.