Why do computers start to slow down over time?
In: 1180
I worked in desktop support for idk close to 15 years. Yes, computers age and programs get bigger and more resource intensive, but here are the biggest issues I saw causing serious slowdowns:
1) No free space on the hard drive. So many people would have a few hundred MB left on their hard drive! Like they thought they could fill it to the brim, with no space for swap files, new files, whatever.
2) Malware.
3) Random non-malware shit that runs in the background. Folks totally forget they had installed some distributed Folding at Home or similar thing, and it just sits or hides down there always running.
4) Actual non-catastrophic hardware failure. It was staggering the number of folks who had major slowing in their 2012(?) era MacBook Pro and had the Genius Bar tell them in 2015 their computer was just “too old,” but it worked just fine when I replaced the pinched HDD ribbon cable.
5) Poorly tested and updated OEM tools. I rescued so many HPs and Lenovo’s from the scrapyard by finding that some Smart Keyboard process or HP service center process was pegging the CPU.
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