If you have a laptop or PC that is running really slow, it’s usually one of two causes:

Operating System Related: The most common reason is due to spyware/malware/ransomware causing the system to run slow. Background processes, hijacked web browsers, and hoax anti-virus software are just some of the reasons why the system is unresponsive and slow. You may even be encountering issues with software not running correctly, web browsers infested with popups and not browsing the web, browsers redirecting you to bad websites, to name a few.

Hardware Related: There is another possibility where it could be a faulty hard disk drive. Being the main storage that your whole operating system is running off, if the hard disk drive has underlying faults such as bad sectors or bad reading heads then these can cause the operating system to run excruciatingly slow and feel very unresponsive when you’re trying to click on programs and icons. Hard disk drives are mechanical after all, containing a lot of high speed mechanics and they can become faulty very easily especially with laptop hard drives.

Both: This scenario is very common nowadays and half of the time that we get a slow computer booked in, following a hard drive diagnostic we’re finding that the hard disk drive also needs to be replaced. There is a snowball effect where a user is having operating system related issues due to a lot of malware/spyware infections. The system feels sluggish and unresponsive, there are unwanted background processes running, and the browsers are suffering from heavy popup activity. The user is unable to shut the computer down so he/she holds the power button down (or removes the battery if it’s a laptop) to turn it off. The user has no choice but to forcefully turn the computer off every time it is on because he/she can’t shut it down safely. The user keeps trying to use the computer rather than bring it in immediately for repair. The problem with doing this, is that it is inflicting damage to the hard disk drive from the abrupt shutdown. Hard drives can’t survive abrupt shutdowns regularly. When a hard drive is abruptly shut off, the reading heads retract very fast, and inevitably can get damaged. The system is getting slower and slower because of this snowball effect, and eventually the hard disk gets so badly damaged that the operating system either freezes totally at boot, or even worse the system fails to detect the hard drive anymore. When this happens, data recovery isn’t even possible by us.

If you are encountering a slow computer, the wise thing to do is to bring it in to us as soon as possible instead of trying to continue to use it. The first thing we do is run a comprehensive third party hard drive diagnostic. If the hard disk drive has issues, we will quote you to replace it, and load a clean installation of the operating system. If the hard disk drive passes the diagnostic, then it’s a software based issue only and we can proceed with just cleaning the operating system. This is done by either trying to clear the cause (if it’s fairly mild spyware/malware/ransonware), or to back your data up and reinstall the entire operating system from scratch. This is usually the best option if the system is severely infected and unusable – you can start with a clean slate.