We all want to keep hardware running as long as possible. However, progress mitigates against this goal. Every day, software bloat slows our PCs down a little; be it due to endless Windows Updates, Acrobat Reader upgrades, Internet Explorer improvements, software additions, your PC will eventually run slower and slower. Eventually the users howl; but at what point? Well, I would like to propose a few benchmarks that trigger the ire of users in my small sample. Cross these performance limits at your peril.
In search of a quantitative measure of PC performance
GREEN = Normal user expectation (less than this is HOT!)
YELLOW = Start of Tiresome delay zone
RED = Start of Complaint zone
- Power on to login display:
GREEN 11 seconds
YELLOW 30 seconds
RED 60 seconds - Login time from Enter to desktop display:
GREEN 10 seconds
YELLOW 30 seconds
RED 60 seconds - Launch Internet Explorer to google.com homepage :
GREEN 20 seconds
YELLOW 30 seconds
RED 60 seconds - Start Word to a blank document
GREEN 3 seconds
YELLOW 10 seconds
RED 30 seconds - Start button to display of menu
GREEN instantly
YELLOW one second
RED 2 seconds - You know your PC is slow when:
You walk away after turning on the power, login in, or launching IE! - Speed up pc by reconfiguring Windows a bit
- Speed up your slow PC, 10 things you can do
Just for fun The PC SLOWDOWN PAGE (some old software really does need a slow PC)
