Tips & Fixes

Around 25% of reported wireless issues are actually caused by something other than the Wi-Fi signal — an overloaded router, a device consuming all available bandwidth, a failing switch, an unauthorized device, or a network configuration problem. This post explains how to tell the difference between a Wi-Fi problem and a network problem, and includes a real-world example of an employee using the office ethernet connection to download large personal files, slowing the entire office to a crawl.

A slow computer usually has one of seven fixable causes — most do not require a new machine. This guide covers the most common culprits in order: startup programs, background processes, storage space, Windows updates, malware, RAM, and hard drive type. The single hardware upgrade with the highest impact for small business computers is replacing a spinning hard drive with an SSD.