The Windows Resource Monitor can help you to track down the resource hog’s that are slowing down your Windows computer.
If your using Windows XP click Start, and then Run and type ‘resmon’. Now hit Enter. For Vista and Windows 7 users click Start and in the ‘Search programs and Files’ box type ‘resmon’. Now click on resmon.exe in the resulting search list.
For monitoring slowdown issues take a look at the Memory tab. This tracks usage and shows you how much memory a program or service is consuming. Also check the CPU and Disk tabs and see what particular program or service is causing your PC to slow down the most. Look particularly at the programs you’ve recently installed or uninstalled and see if any of those are using the bulk of your PC’s available resources.
All the memory hogging and performance sapping programs, services and modules can make your Windows computer less stable so its also a very good idea to check the Windows Reliability monitor too.
You can launch the Reliability Monitor from Control Panel, System & Security, Action Centre. Then choose View Reliability History. For Vista and Windows 7 users just type ‘Reliability History’ into the ‘Search programs and Files’ box and select View Reliability History from the resulting list.
Take a look at the trend line which may be flat or downward sloping. A sudden sharp drop is certainly worth checking out. If multiple programs are shown to be unstable perhaps something you recently installed or uninstalled is the culprit.
Click on the columns representing dates to see a list of the ‘activity’ for that particular day. This will show you what was successfully installed or run and what was unsuccessful. You may be able to fix the instability problem if ‘Check for a solution’ appears under the Action column at the foot of the screen.
Use these two tools to keep your Windows PC in good shape and to nip problems in the bud before they start to get out of hand!
If you use iTunes on a Windows 7 PC and only have 2GB of Ram you may find iTunes slows down or pauses unexpectedly. The problem is that Windows 7 loves to index all the files you have on your computer, including your music files. It is this process that can affect the smooth operation of iTunes.
