why is my computer slow?
Ever wonder why your computer, once a station of quick booting and fast information, has slowed to a crawl? I know I have. I've heard lots of weird explanations from the uneducated masses as to why this happens - everything from the number of desktop items to the number of programs installed on your machine - but nothing conclusive. Finally, some guy somewhere did a real test, and I'm here to share the results with you.You may be a bit surprised. The number one worst thing to have on your computer, if you want it to run fast, is Norton Internet Security. That's not the surprising part - this is: the second worst thing to have on your computer is more than 1000 fonts. It's about 3 times worse than any program other than Norton that this guy tested! Weird, huh? Whoever thought having so many fonts could be so harmful? 100 fonts is up there too - about half as bad as 1000 fonts. Yahoo messenger also seems pretty bad, but that shouldn't matter as most of the world is slowly realizing that Google is better at everything.
Since Norton is the worst offender, it's worth looking into using other software to supply your firewall and antivirus needs. Windows includes a firewall in XP that gets the job done but isn't preferred by many, or a light weight free firewall from "ZoneAlarm" is available here (thanks to Standingoutinthecold for recommending this - I'm running it on my desktop now with no problems.) For your antivirus options, the first and possible best is "none." Do you download programs? Do you download programs from people you don't know? If the answer is no, then why do you need it? But if you simply must have it to sleep soundly, check out AVG free anti-virus here (thanks again to Standing.) I'm also running this on my desktop, and 2 days later, I haven't had a single problem.
During my recent hard drive crash, I was forced to reinstall all of my software, and I opted to use these free versions instead of Norton. I can say without a doubt that removing Norton has seriously sped up my machine, although I haven't installed a lot of other programs I used to run still, so your mileage may vary.
posted by RJ @ 10:30 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
sorry - it's linked in the post now, but here it is anyway:
http://thepcspy.com/articles/other/what_slows_windows_down
"...It's about 3 times worse than any program other than Norton..."
"...about half as bad as 1000 fonts..."
?????
What? What don't you understand? Maybe you'll do us the decency of writing a question next time?
- having over 1000 font files slows your computer down up to three times more than any other program will, with the exception of Norton Internet Security, which is worse.
- Having over 100 font files is half as bad as having 1000 font files.
Sheesh. Some people.
I have Norton and 1024 fonts on my system (gotta love designing!) and I still have a decently fast system. Of course it's a desktop, and Hubster got me hooked up when we bought it about a year ago.
I wonder how fast it would be if I ditched some fonts and switched up my anti-virus. It might be worth it to get Adobe apps to open faster. Those things are SLOO-OW. That's mostly Adobe's fault, but it couldn't hurt to help them out after they've handed me the genius of PhotoShop.
Speaking of PhotoShop, where's my Sorbo answer? I WANT RETALIATION!
look, we haven't needed to remove your husband's face from any pictures yet. I just don't know what to do.
Norton is gone and I have deleted all but 80 fonts and my work computer still sucks ass. Meanwhile, my Mac has well over 3 million fonts and is running every version of every Norton product ever made and is break-neck quick. Go figure...
Well, removing Norton won't help a 300 MHz computer. :) And everyone knows that Mac's kick ass. Also, I think "Norton Internet Security" is the real offender here - not just antivirus. I think perhaps it's the firewall that causes the most problems, but I don't know. I just report what I've read, and like I said, I've only been running with the new stuff for two days and lots of other changes, so I can't really say.
Where is my pumpkin icon?
I could have avoided this.
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