Computer running very slowly

I have a 7 year old Dell desktop computer. When new, it was fast, and a browser would open quickly, programs ran without delay, and it would never overheat. Now, it often overheats-the fans are noisy, so I hear them, sometimes overheating at startup when I click to open a browser. If I download a photo from the Internet, the computer will freeze up because it takes several minutes to download the image which used to be immediate with no delay. The computer runs very slowly even if it doesn't overheat.

Everything is backed up on external hard drives, so I'm not worried about losing files, but I'm wondering if the machine is at the end of its service life and should be replaced. Repair may not be practical if it would cost more than the machine is worth and it would be inconvenient if the machine would just stop working. If the computer should be replaced, I'd prefer to do it before the machine completely stops working.

Scans prove no presence of spyware or virus. I installed a trial version of Adobe Elements, the installation took almost an hour. When new, something like that would take only a few minutes.

What could be the cause of this once fast machine running so painfully slow?

Hi April,

if the pc overheat , there can be dust / powder inside your fan. - it is better to clean / vacuum the pc from time to time.
From time to time there are progs necessary to clean up old datas / progs and other stuff ( tuneup utilities for example )

... and defrag your harddisk or run chedsk
... and have a check for malware

cheers Fabian

7 years?
New PC.
A seven year old PC is like a 20 year old car ...

Yes, i'm also agree with Guenter. Wink

The best he's to change it.
Ps: did you change the ventilators until 7 years?

Yeap, is really like a 20 years old car.

Mine have something like 7/8 years too but I haved changed some things 2/3 years ago because it was very slowly too nad could`nt do nothing...

Comparing a 7 year old computer to an old car is probably an accurate analogy.

Time for a new machine. A friend has suggested H-P as a manufacturer. I'd be buying a desktop. Does Hewlett- Packard have a good reputation for reliability? Is another manufacturer better?

Don't buy NEVER Hp !!! it's like you bought some shit.......(sorry) Embarassed

Dell is the best you can find at this moment, like all the moment (for me).
Sure the mark is a little bit expensive, but it's understandable.....
Wink

(Just my opinion of course)

Until recently, my Dell has been trouble free since I bought it. My Dimension 8300 has been replaced by the XPS8300 which is more expensive than HP. Dell may very well be the best, but HP SHOULD offer a quality machiine in the high performance class.

Jean-Henri, you've had problems with your HP desktop? Seems like HP gives a lot for the money compared to Sony, Dell, Lenova, Mac. It would be really sad if HP has reliability issues.

I had only one HP and it was devastating:
Down after one year, no after sales service, warranty too low and too expensive compared to the performance

I visited http://www.pcworld.com/article/156452/hp_desktop_pcs_continue_to_disappoint_in_reliability.html

From there, I found the attached illustration. If HP is shipping their machines with defects, it suggests a lack of quality control. Apparently each computer is assembled and shipped without anyone turning it on and checking the operation of it, relying upon the buyer to perform the final inspection. With this attitude towards quality, premature failure is to be expected. Manufacturers are throwing the machines together and letting the consumer deal with any problems, after all, new technology brings new advancements, (new marketing tools?) often enough for many computers to be technically obsolete after only a few years.

Sadly, the article states, "Roughly a third of our survey participants reported encountering one or more significant hardware or software problems with their desktops. Only laptops caused headaches at a similar rate. "

Computer running very slowly 15619710

By a Apple computer and you will never regret that. I switched to Mac and have never looked back. It is worth every singel dollar.

I also switched my profesion/work from PC technichian to Apple technichian a short while after i switched.

Regards
Daniel

Hi April,

You should sacrifice to whatever gods you hold dear that it even works:) Good luck Very Happy

It could always start acting like Hal the computer from the movie "2001".