This was pretty much the attitude, and logically so, of a customer of mine who told me about his PC that had become very slow in a very short time. He had a good virus/spyware cleaner and had been using it regularly. Still, the computer acted like it was being dragged down; like something was eating its resources.
We're talking about a fast computer here! This guy didn't make the mistake many people do when they buy too much based on price instead of quality. This computer has 2Gig RAM!
Onboard memory is critical, but...
Several times I ran into the problem where a new computer was slow simply because, even though it was brand new, it had Windows Vista and only 512MB RAM. This is not the case with this computer. It is P4 Humming around at 3.3 MHZ and even has a dedicated gamer video card!
When I told the fellow, he ought to get a good registry cleaner because he probably has some corrupt registry files, he became sort of indignant! "I can't need to fix corrupt registry files, my computer is only two months old!" he pleaded.
I understand how he felt. The computer was new and it wasn't cheap. He thought he had left old his old lack of speed problems behind, but unfortunately, the fact a computer is new doesn't make it maintenance free.
Why is there corruption?
The nature of Windows operating systems is the registry becomes corrupt during what is considered normal use. This is not only true of Windows Vista but also of Windows XP and all the other Microsoft Windows platforms as well.
The problem is, as these operating systems have evolved, they have become more and more complicated and use more and more memory just to be functional. There was a time, the Windows 95 era for instance, when registry corruption could go on a long time without being noticed because a few more kilobytes of memory would push the O.S. to work around this corruption.
XP and Vista use a lot of resources
Now, with Windows XP and Vista, it takes a lot more memory to push corruption aside and get the computer to slog through it. Also, the fact drivers are so much bigger, the programs new computers run are so much more resource dependent and newer microprocessors are required to perform so many more functions, this corruption can't be very effectively worked around any more.
Bring back the 486!
So, does this mean you should convert to an Intel 486SD with Windows 3.11? No not at all! However, like your brand new car still needs to have its oil changed once in a while, your new computer still needs to be scanned for viruses and spyware and it needs to regularly have its registry scanned for and repaired of corruption.
This is not a monumental task, nor is it cost prohibited. There are many spyware and registry programs on the market today. Just remember, like you wouldn't put used crankcase oil in your new Lexus, you wouldn't get some non-guaranteed freeware program to deal with your registry corruption; would you?
It's just regular maintenance
These days, you need to scan for viruses and spyware regularly, and you need to scan for and repair registry corruption regularly, as well. Normally, this requires two separate programs, a virus/spyware program and a registry cleaner. Scan for viruses/ spyware first, then do a registry scan and clean because if you have any spyware removed, this will leave registry corruption.
So, the happy ending to the story is; our friend is back up to 100% speed because he had a ton of registry corruption repaired. In a short amount of time, he, his wife, their two teenage daughters and their boyfriends had flown around the Net almost endlessly. As you might have predicted, there was some registry file corruption left behind. Still, everything is fine since the registry cleaning.
New computers are absolutely wonderful. I am a big fan of the biggest and fastest in the world of computing, but their maintenance is more critical than ever. This is just a way of life.
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