Slow Computer - (dumb question alert!)

[melinda_gaus]

<p>Would too many photos on my hard drive cause my computer to be slow? Specifically, I'm having a hard time loading youtube videos. The rest of the internet seems to be working along just fine.</p>

<p>It does not make any sense to me that just youtube would load slow, but maybe because the other sites I'm surfing are not video based? I ask because the only thing I did recently to my computer was upload a bunch of vaction photos and make a slide show (about 300 photos). That is the only thing I can think of, and I didn't want to start fiddling with my computer. I figured I'd get some input here for now.</p>

<p>Of course, maybe just the youtube site is slow today. Either way, it's driving me bonkers!</p>

[Ray House]

Have you done a Disk Clean-up, Defragmented the hard drive? Those two things might help. However, I too have noticed the Net to be a bit sluggish today. Happy New Year!

[melinda_gaus]

<p>No, but then again I'm not so good with that kind of stuff.</p>

<p>Maybe I'm just too impatient. :)</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>you should have an anti virus program like AVG<br>

the official site has the free edition<br>

but it may be easier to obtain it from C -net or file hippo<br>

a spyware program like "spybot search and destroy"<br>

can also help clean up the drives.<br>

this can be a reason for a pc to slow down<br>

avast is another free anti-virus program.<br>

If you have almost filled a drive, this can often cause a slowdown<br>

I mean only a few gigs free. Not 1/2 or 3/4 full.<br>

Windows is sloppy, Depending on your version of Windows, there may be a "disk clean up"</p>

<p>program that is part of the operating system.<br>

computers require a bit of cleaning up from time to time<br>

Avoid "wonderful programs" that promise to do miraculous things to your pc.<br>

If you cannot escape these programs offen popping upm unexpectedly,<br>

Just shut down or close the browser.</p>

 

[lex_jenkins]

<p>YouTube has gradually phased in more high definition videos during the past year or so. Up until the past year I could view YouTube with my slowpoke old PC and low end DSL, but during the past year I've encountered more hi def vids that take longer to load and don't play as smoothly. Seems to be more due to my own PC and ISP, just the nature of increasing demands for higher quality video and audio online.</p>

<p>And you might be encountering some server or site related slowdowns. Happens on many sites occasionally, especially during peak demand or when there's little or no staff around to fix problems - like holidays... right now.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>YouTube has gradually phased in more high definition videos during the past year or so. Up until the past year I could view YouTube with my slowpoke old PC and low end DSL, but during the past year I've encountered more hi def vids that take longer to load and don't play as smoothly. Seems to be more due to my own PC and ISP, just the nature of increasing demands for higher quality video and audio online.</p>

<p>And you might be encountering some server or site related slowdowns. Happens on many sites occasionally, especially during peak demand or when there's little or no staff around to fix problems - like holidays... right now.</p>

<p>For example, my post to this thread just timed out. Friday night, holiday weekend, probably some server related issues that'll be fixed by next week. And, if things go as usual, when I attempt to repost this it'll show up as a duplicate post and I'll have to delete the extra...</p>

[melinda_gaus]

<p>Well, looks like I'll have to go be productive and quit goofing off. Or just got to bed. ;)</p>

[tommyinca]

<p>How old is your PC and the size of your hard disk? 300 photos should be less then 1 GB which is nothing today. But if your computer is very old (ie: > 8 years) that may just fill up all your hard disk space. If that happen, what you describe can happen. Check and see how much free disk space reminding, if you have less then 20 GB, time for new computer. Note: even a cheap computer has 750 GB now a day.</p>

<p>Lets hope that is what happened (old hardware) and not a bad case of Trojan horse or worm. Some of these stuff are hard to get rid of. Beside sucking performance life out of the PC and pop-up spam every few minutes, some can steal from you. If so, a computer forum may offer you more help. Good luck.</p>

[johnw63]

<p>Here is a quick way to get a little closer to an answer.</p>

<p>Use the Task Manager to determine if the computer is working too hard.</p>

<p>Hit <ctrl><alt><del> and a screen will pop up called the task manager. Choose the "Performance" tab and look at the graphs. the top on is the CPU usage. If you're just surfing, it should be very low. Just a couple of percent. If it is much higher, like above 50%, with no other programs running, you may have something running that is taking too much of your processors time. This could be something you installed, ...or something you didn't know was on your computer. Let's hope it's not the second option.</p>

<p>Now, if it is high, choose the "Proccesses" tab. This lists all the things running on your PC. I bet you didn't know just how MANY little things are running ! By clicking on the "CPU" heading, you can sort by the items using the most or the least CPU time. If there is one or more things using more than a few percent, as you also may have seen in the other screen, you have found what is slowing things down. You may be able to click on that busy process and press the "End Process" button and prove that it is slowing down the computer, buy doing things that would not be as fast as they should.</p>

<p>The 64 dollar question is , " How to a fix that ? " . Well, that's when a computer geek needs to be called in.</p>

<p>Oh, and by the way, if it is Web related, make sure you delete your "Temporary Internet Items". If that gets too many things in it, it WILL slow down your browser.</p>

 

[melinda_gaus]

<p>Just checked the GB.... still plenty free. The computer is only about a year old.</p>

<p>I'll check the task manager next time around. I didn't go onto youtube yet today, but it may well be fine. As Lex said, it may just have been busy with the holiday weekend, etc.</p>

[kerry_grim]

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >This is the reason why I call a PC a Windoze computer. The number of photos should not make any difference.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Some basics you can do...</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* back up your photos to an external hard drive (this should go without saying. Two are better, but if you did not do it, spend $100.00 or so and doing it immediately.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >* Select My Computer; right click the C Drive, select Properties, make a note of the Used Space and Free space so you can compare later to see how much more disk spaces is available after the cleanup.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* In Internet Explorer go to Tools and delete temporary internet files, cookies, and history.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* Clean up your email boxes, delete all sent email and empty deleted item folder.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* Go to the Control Panel and open the add/remove program folder and delete unnecessary programs.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* Install more RAM. If it has only 1 MEG of ram, add more, it is cheap.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* Start menu - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup and do a cleanup</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* Start menu - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >* Check you C drive and see how much space you gained back.</p>

<p > </p>

<p >---</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >The tips given above I agree with. Spybot in particular is a excellent program, and free. AVG is a free antivirus program.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >In addition, Microsoft also offers a few free programs. I use Microsoft Security Essentials and it does not interfere with Norton Antivirus. It is as slow as hell, but it is free.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >Be wary of programs that will do a free scan of your hard drive. They will always find something wrong and then try to lure you into purchasing the program. Tell them to shove it. </p>

<p > </p>

<p >They will define 'cookies" as a problem. Well, that can be deleted for free. Not necessary to buy a separate program to delete them. </p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >One last thing. The less programs that startup automatically (in the lower right hand corner), the quicker the start-up and less resources used.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >I do at least some maintenance almost daily on a PC. They do more or less require extensive maintenance. I don't necessarily object to that, but sometimes work on a laptop while doing all this maintenance. </p>

<p > </p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>Sometimes disconnecting, powering down and then reconnecting your Internet Service Provider's modem (and any routers you might have in the equation) helps. Check with your Provider: there's sometimes a specific sequence. Typically, with just a modem, a simple 30 second unplug of the power cord will do. When you reconnect it will take a minute or two to re-establish connection.</p>

<p>Here's a site for checking your speed:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.speedtest.net/">http://www.speedtest.net/</a></p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Melinda, I think it was just an intermittent problem with YouTube. Yesterday I checked a few familiar older videos that usually play without any hitches on my PC and they were a little sluggish at times yesterday.</p>

[melinda_gaus]

<p>Thanks, Lex. Things were better today.</p>

[gulfbeach47]

<p>I have a 6 month old iMac and it has been running slow today, as well as a friend's Dell. We were talking on the phone as we looked through some photos in my online gallery. We were thinking that the cold weather across the states has lots of people staying home online and slowing down the net?</p>

[greg_peterson3]

<p>The number of pictures, or any other kind of file, on your hard drive(s) has no effect on the speed at which you download videos from the Internet. Nor does disk fragmentation or the number of "cookies" you happen to have on your system.</p>

<p>Lex is correct: There are more hi-def files available and they are, of course, larger and therefore take more time to download. </p>

<p>The only solution is a faster Internet connection. (Or spending less time on YouTube!)<br /> </p>