1. First split: is the computer slow, or is the network slow?
When a user reports "my PC is slow," the first thing we do on site is not open the case — it is ask three questions: Are local applications (Excel, the ERP client) slow? Are web pages slow? Is everything slow, or just certain programs? Three questions carve the fault domain cleanly:
- Local apps are slow too — the problem is the machine itself (disk, RAM, CPU, OS, malware). Continue to section 2.
- Only web/intranet systems are slow — the problem is most likely the network (switch, Wi-Fi, DNS, ISP). See our office network slowdown case study.
- Only certain programs are slow — application-level issue (cache bloat, database fragmentation, version bug). Handle case by case.
Two minutes of triage. Get the direction wrong and everything after it is wasted work.
2. The machine itself is slow: six causes, ranked by hit rate
Across the 411 slow-PC tickets we closed in 2025–2026, the causes distributed as follows (a single PC can hit several):
| Rank | Cause | Share | Signature | Fix cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Still running Win10/Win11 on a mechanical hard drive | 46% | 3+ minute boot; Task Manager disk usage pinned at 100% | SSD swap, RMB 200–400 |
| 2 | Not enough RAM (4/8 GB for modern office work) | 28% | A dozen browser tabs plus Excel freezes the machine; window switching spins | Add RAM, RMB 150–350 |
| 3 | Bloatware bundles / crypto-mining malware | 22% | Fans screaming with nothing open; pop-ups; browser homepage hijacked | Cleanup, free–RMB 100 |
| 4 | System drive nearly full (<10% free) | 18% | C: drive in red; failed updates; page file thrashing | Cleanup/migration, RMB 0–100 |
| 5 | Thermal throttling (mostly laptops) | 15% | Gets slower the longer it runs; hot bottom; fans loud or suspiciously silent | Dust-out & repaste, RMB 80–150 |
| 6 | Dying drive: bad sectors / failing SSD | 9% | Slowness with read/write error prompts; corrupted files; blue screens | Back up the data FIRST, then replace, RMB 200–500 |
Note item 6: slowness is sometimes the death rattle of a drive, not just "old age." The response is completely different — ordinary slowness can wait for optimization; a drive with suspected bad sectors needs its data rescued first. How to tell: next section.
3. A 10-minute self-check (in order; stop when it gets better)
- Task Manager, three gauges (Ctrl+Shift+Esc): which of CPU / Memory / Disk is in the red? Disk at 100% → mechanical drive or bad sectors, most likely. Memory 90%+ → add RAM or kill background apps. CPU 30%+ while idle → hunt rogue processes: right-click → Open file location; anything you do not recognize, end it and uninstall.
- Check drive health: CrystalDiskInfo (free) reads S.M.A.R.T. status. "Good" → rule out bad sectors, move on. "Caution" or "Bad" → back up the data before any optimization, and see drive failure handling.
- Check startup items: Task Manager → Startup tab; disable everything except the input method and antivirus. The average enterprise PC we see carries 40+ startup entries, half of them various "assistants," "managers" and "updaters."
- Check system drive space: Windows visibly crawls below 15% free on C:. WeChat/QQ/DingTalk store chat files on C: by default — three years of office WeChat alone can eat 50 GB. Move the storage path to D: in each app's settings.
- Check temperatures (laptops): CPU above 75 °C at office load, or brushing 95 °C and throttling on light work, means dust-out and repaste. A laptop never cleaned in 3+ years has heatsink fins matted like felt — that is the norm, not the exception.
- Scan for malware: a full Windows Defender scan (free and adequate), then a dedicated bloatware remover. In 2026 the most common office-PC infections are not classic viruses but silently installed promotion bundles and mining trojans — the signature of the latter: fans take off the moment the PC goes idle.
4. When replacing beats repairing: run the numbers
| Situation | Recommendation | Cost reference |
|---|---|---|
| Under 5 years old, i5/R5-class CPU, bottleneck is disk/RAM only | Upgrade: NVMe SSD + RAM to 16 GB | RMB 350–700; feels close to new |
| 7+ years old, pre-4th-gen i3 / Pentium / Celeron | Replace. An old CPU under Windows 11 starts below the passing line — upgrades treat symptoms, not the disease | Office desktop RMB 2,200–3,200 |
| A fleet of 10+ machines all slow | Batch upgrade program: unit cost drops to RMB 300–400. We converted 32 eight-year-old machines to SSD at RMB 380 each — three more years of service. See the batch upgrade case study | Quoted per fleet |
One 2026 variable: AI server demand has pushed RAM and SSD prices up a round — an 8 GB DDR4 stick went from ~RMB 100 to 200+, and the market is still elevated. Budget upgrades at current prices, not last year's articles.
5. The root fix for a fleet: stop the 411 tickets from recurring
Fixing one machine stops the bleeding. The ugliest number in our ticket stats: 31% of machines report "slow" again within a year — because the root causes (overdue replacement, no maintenance regime, uncontrolled software installs) never moved. Three recommendations for whoever runs the fleet:
- Keep an asset register with a refresh cycle: force a replacement assessment at 5–6 years; do not wait for staff complaints. Standardize the purchase baseline (i5 / 16 GB / NVMe 512 GB minimum) and lifetime maintenance cost roughly halves.
- Take away local admin rights: staff install software through an approval process, not by clicking anything that pops up. In every client account where we enforced this, bloatware tickets went to zero.
- Sign an annual managed-IT inspection: quarterly on-site rounds (dust-out, health checks, patches, backup verification) kill faults before they become tickets. Panyu/Nansha businesses: see our IT outsourcing page — priced per seat, less than a coffee a month per machine.
Single-PC on-site diagnosis covers Panyu and Nansha same-day at RMB 50 (credited toward the repair); fleet and outsourcing proposals start with a free survey. Call 020-39029800 / +86-188-25126836.