Performance
Slow computer triage for Tier 1: a calm order of checks
Slow is a symptom, not a cause. A calm, ordered triage finds the real bottleneck faster than reaching for a reimage.
Ask what changed
A machine that was fine yesterday points at something recent: a new program, a pending update, or a failed process. Start there.
Look at resources
Open Task Manager and check which resource is pinned: CPU, memory, or disk. One process at the top of the list is often the entire story. Disk at one hundred percent on an older machine is a very common culprit.
The quick wins
- A reboot if the machine has been up for weeks
- Closing browser tabs and startup apps that eat memory
- Confirming an update or scan is not running in the background
Escalate with evidence
If hardware is the limit, an aging drive or too little memory, document what you saw in Task Manager. A ticket that says disk pinned at one hundred percent for ten minutes gets acted on faster than one that says slow.