Windows Operating System Software…. Why is it so Slow?

Not only is it the windows operating system software that is slow, other operating systems have become slower when compared to when they were first developed. The vast majority of people especially those who have not been involved in the technical area of computers grew up with the likes these. They have not known the time when computers seemed to be lightning fast yet were only a fraction of the power of today’s PC’s.

Let me give you a bit of history. Computers in the past were programmed in what were called low level computer languages, assembler and even machine language that made the programs much more efficient. But as the years went by calls for more functionality and languages that were easier to write programs.

Then came the higher-level language compilers like Cobol, Fortran and a sudden splurge in a many others. Although these were still reasonable efficient, the fight began for compiler companies to produce more efficient ones to combat the need for that increasingly extra functionality being asked for that were slowing the computers down.

The efficiency of compilers was measured in how much machine code was produced to perform a certain task. If one compiler only 10 machine code instructions to perform a single task and another 20 you can guess which one was the more efficient. This was not always the case because it was also dependent upon the actual machine instruction used. The hardware was more efficient performing some than others.

The slowness of the windows operating system software was partially offset by buying a more powerful PC and a bigger hard disk. Buying more disk space and memory became mandatory in some cases because the new operating system could not even be installed on the old PC. There even came a time when programs users had bought would no longer run under the newer versions of windows.  Talk about double whammies. It would almost appear that OS suppliers and hardware suppliers where in cahoots with each other to keep the money rolling in.

This is not totally the case as users were asking for all this extra functionality quite unaware that it was going to come at a cost. At the same time there is another double whammy. Because of high-powered computers the “developers” of software used, efficiency of the produced software was thrown out of the window. (Pun) Developers didn’t give efficiency a very high priority, (Just buy a more powerful computer). They want to get the product out the door and start earning.

You may find that if you have “hosting” and check what your host provider is running your hosting account on, you will invariably find that it is running the “Unix” or “Linux” operating system. You will find some that are using the windows operating system software. Personally if I find this is the case I will not go anywhere near that hosting company.

Unfortunately higher-powered PC’s also makes us slack. You start off with your windows operating systems software running at a fairly fast pace but as time goes on it runs slower and slower. This is the case with any operating system no matter how efficient it is. The windows operating system software is like your car it needs maintaining periodically. If you did not maintain your car it’s performance would gradually decrease and the number of breakdowns would occur more and more often. That is why you need to do some maintenance your self and have some done by specialists. With a car you check the oil, tyre pressures and other small tasks but you send your car off to the service center for the more difficult things.

With your windows operating system software you clean up your hard drive, get rid of programs you don’t use and a variety of other things. Fortunately with your PC you can do most of the maintenance yourself, some that are shown on my blog.