Computers are an integral part of households these days. These machines had been long been regarded as an indispensable mode of communication and had garnered relevance similar to that of a telephone. Indeed, almost all American households have at least one computer system for work, school, or recreational use.

But as much as computers have amassed importance, not everyone can repair even the simplest problems associated with these equipments. A lot of people are good in using their computers. But when problems arise, they would rather call a repairman for it.

Computers are composed of several components working together so it can function correctly. The computer CPU is the brain of the entire system. It is where each and every application runs. And so the faster the CPU of your computer is, the better performance you can expect from it. CPU speeds are the numbers like 2 GHZ and 4 GHZ that you see in your computer’s specification sheet. CPU’s are attached to the motherboard of the computer.

The computer hard drive, on the other hand, is where all data are stored. The bigger the capacity of your hard drive is, the more software you can install and more files you can keep. The capacity of hard drives is measured in gigabytes. The most current ones had surpassed the 100 Gb mark. These are the SATA drives, which is actually a notable improvement of the IDE drives.

Another equally important component is the computer memory. The memory is usually referred to as the RAM. They are the memory sticks that assist the CPU in its job by regulating and queuing the applications the CPU needs to process.

These computer hardware are the essential components of your system. They have to work in harmony with one another so that everything else functions like it should. There definitely are other components. But most of them are secondary components computers should be able to work without. Generally speaking, computer repair is easy to learn. Once you have mastered how these hardware work, then you are on your way towards maintaining and troubleshooting your computer on your own.

Computer running slow can be caused by either its hardware or software. The most common culprit is a defective memory stick. But before you go ahead and take out the RAM of your computer, be sure to run some diagnostic tests on it first. You should also make sure that your computer is free from viruses and spyware. These malicious software are know to slowdown a computer to a crawl. If possible, try to do full system format of your computer, reinstall the operating system, and then check if your computer’s speed is restored. Otherwise, the problem is really on the memory modules. You have to get them replaced.

There are several computer speed tests available these days. Some can be done online, while others are real programs created to specifically test the internal processes of your computer. If you computer runs slow, always try to isolate the root cause of the problem and perform the necessary repairs from there.