Computer performance problems have bothered users since the dawn of computing. Natural question: “Why does the laptop slow down? What to do?" - they somehow decided, sometimes effectively, sometimes not. Since then, more than one generation of computers has changed: they have significantly trained their electronic brains, acquired high-speed hard drives, video cards and powerful RAM modules. And this is also true for laptops. It is worth comparing the processing power of the 1946 ENIAK supercomputer (300 Flops) and the “modest" modern Atom processor from Intel (about 2 GFlops) installed in budget laptop computers. The topic is really interesting.
Program mismatch
“Does my laptop really slow down?” What to do?" - This question most often arises due to the fault of the user himself. Despite the fact that the universal architecture of modern computers allows you to run almost any program, it is important to at least have a general idea of the theoretical performance of a computing system. For example, each driver understands that one of the characteristics of a car is its engine power, so it’s hardly reasonable to try to carry a multi-ton plate in a “passenger car”. But the situation is the opposite with computers: many are trying to load the computing units with so many calculations that you have to wait some time to get the results. Thus, if the laptop slows down, what to do, decide on the spot: you need to familiarize yourself with the system requirements of the program and compare them with the computer configuration. A “heavy” application running on a low-performance system will almost certainly work with delays (lags). If you really want to use this particular application, then you should think about upgrading the laptop blocks or completely replacing it with a more productive one.
Overheat
Sometimes the user notices that in the checked application the laptop suddenly began to slow down, although before that everything worked fine. One possible reason for this is the disruption of the heat sink systems. Inside the laptop there is a central processor, a video card and a number of other components that heat up during operation. Moreover, the higher the load, the greater the heating. Manufacturers of laptop computers recommend that maintenance be carried out at least once a year, which consists in cleaning dust from the inside of the fan housing and radiators. Ignoring this over time leads to a violation of the temperature regime and the processor engages the clock skipping mechanism, which results in a drop in performance. Thus, if for several years no one was cleaning the cooling system, the answer to the questions: “Why does the laptop slow down? What if everything hangs? ” - simple: you need to turn it off, disassemble the case and either remove the dust yourself, or contact a service center. By the way, an indirect sign of overheating is the constant increased noise of the fan inside the case.
Malware
Everyone has heard about computer viruses. However, global infection statistics indicate that many users are frivolous about protecting their own computing system. They either do not use antivirus programs to prevent infection at all, or use ineffective solutions. The result is predictable: viruses appear on the computer. As programs, they use part of the computing power of a laptop to carry out their tasks. Because of this, applications launched by the user begin to work more slowly, as the processor switches between a large number of simultaneous tasks. Therefore, the laptop slows down. What to do in this case? We recommend that you first “cure” the operating system and programs of malicious code by running free scanners, for example, from Dr.Web or Kaspersky. After that, you need to install an effective antivirus application and do not forget to update it periodically.