Work out what is actually slow
Tell, from how the slowness behaves, whether it is the machine, the storage, the line into the house or the website — and stop spending money on the wrong one.
People say "it is slow" as though slow were one thing. It is at least four, and they feel different from one another. Learning to hear the difference is worth more than any amount of clearing out, because it stops you paying to replace something that was never at fault.
The test that separates the machine from the line is the simplest one here: do something that involves no internet at all. Open a document, or the photographs already on the machine. If that is quick and web pages are slow, the machine is fine.
Key points
- Slow has four shapes: starting up, under load, one site, or everything always
- Slow to start then fine points at storage; fine until the fourth thing points at memory
- One site slow and the rest quick is never your machine
- Do something with no internet in it — that single test separates machine from line
- Only slow-at-everything-always makes a new machine the honest answer
What to remember
- Sort by two questions: is the internet involved, and is it slow always or only under load? Those two put nearly everything in the right box.
- Anything on the machine being instant clears the machine. Slow pages after that are the line or the site.
- Before money, try the two free things: less starting up, and enough free space to work in.
Try this
Next time a page is slow, before anything else, open a letter or a photograph already on the machine and count how long it takes. That one action tells you which half of the problem you are in, and it takes about five seconds.
Practice: Work out what is actually slow. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.