Slow whiny computer

[janela]

MY PC (only two years old) has become very slow to boot up lately and it is also making a whining noise, especially when running a programme. I have noticed also now that it is making this whining noise, even when no programmes are obviously running. should I be worried about this and doing something. Need advise because I'm not sure what to do

[pauln90]

First thing is to check if your hard drive is nearly full. If it is then delete temporary files , cookies and any unnecessary programmes or files.

If you have plenty of free space on your PC then it may be that the hard drive is about to fail so as a first step back up all important files,photos,mp3's etc that you have on your PC.

If you know the make of your hard drive then go to the web site of the manufacturer and you may find that they have a utility you can download to check the hard drive's health status.

If you then find that it has bad sectors and is generally starting to fail then stop using it. Have a replacement hard drive fitted and with luck by connecting the old hard drive as a slave drive you may be able to salvage the files,and other data held on it.

[ACtheTROLL]

mmmmm

but does a hard disc whine? - I'd say it was more of a buzzz

another option is that the heatsink of the CPU is full of fluff
some processors drop into a reduced power mode rather than just cutting out ... which would slow the PC
the whine could be the fan running at top speed .....

it's worth taking a peep inside before you spend lots of time

on a two year old machine it could be either (probably paulin90's idea ... but mine is possible ..... and easily proved)