PC Users Four Times More Angry with Slow Performance than Catching Viruses, Bitdefender Study Shows

PC users are almost four times more annoyed by the slow performance of their machines rather than viruses, according to a survey by Bitdefender. The study on over 1,000 advanced computer users in the US and Canada showed that more than half of the respondents consider that slow performance is the most upsetting problem, while 13.4% pointed fingers at malware. Crashing applications and hardware problems have also left most people feeling disappointed with their machines.

The survey revealed that 12 per cent of advanced computer users are still running Windows XP, which makes them vulnerable to security threats. Tech giant Microsoft recently announced that the 11-year-old operating system will no longer receive support as of April 2014 and will be “forever vulnerable to attacks.”

“Hundreds of users complain to us daily that their computer isn’t running as quickly as they would like it to,” Bitdefender Tech Assist Architect Florin Andrei said. “Most admit they have too many programs at start-up and their PC is getting old, while others blame viruses. We would have expected them to be angrier with password-stealing malware and banking Trojans, but instead they claim the slow pace of their PC is driving them crazy.”

When asked about the main cause of their problems, a couple of users blamed their Internet providers and even the computer’s physical damage.

The Bitdefender survey was conducted between 2 and 8 October on 1,065 users mainly from the US and Canada, with a sample error of 3%. 79 per cent were men, while 21 per cent were woman. The age panel varied from under 25 year-olds (7.2%) to people older than 65 (18.9%). Most respondents were 46 to 65-year old (46.6%), followed by 36 to 45 year-olds (16.1%), and 25 to 35-year-olds (11.3%).