Get the GUARANTEED lowest price on Internet service.
How to Speed Up Your Computer
How to Speed Up Your Computer
If your computer is not operating at an acceptable speed you may be considering a replacement. Most people replace a computer when programs don’t load at the proper speed or their Internet connection is not as fast as it could be. The good news is you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars and loads of time purchasing, installing, and setting up a new computer just because your old machine is slow.
1. Create More Disk Space
Your PC comes with a tool called “Disk Cleanup” that will assist you with cleaning up free up space on your hard disk. This will speed up and generally improve the performance of your computer. “Disk Cleanup” works by identifying files on your hard disk that are safe to delete — files that won’t harm your computer if they are permanently deleted. Disk Cleanup won’t perform these tasks automatically — it will suggest certain files that can be safely removed then allows you to choose which ones you want to get rid of.
Disk Cleanup will get rid of temporary Internet files that take up more space than you may be aware of as well as remove downloads that you don’t use. Many of these files are Java applets or Internet-specific files that you may have used once and never needed again.
Disk Cleanup performs some other basic cleanup tasks as well, such as emptying your computer’s recycle bin, wipe away error reports and optional Windows files that you don’t need, remove installed program files that are not in use, and do away with shadow copies of your hard drive that pop up when you perform a system restore.
Why do temporary Internet files take up so much space? Your computer “caches” (or stores) every web site you visit so that when you want to access them later it won’t take as long. Ironically, too many temporary Internet files will slow your whole machine down, making access to those website even slower.
2. Find and Repair Disk Errors
By running the “Error Checker” utility built into your computer, you can easily find and fix errors on your hard disk. Disk Cleanup can only do so much to speed up your PC, so running the Error Checker is a must for every computer owner. Error Checker tests the integrity of hard disk files in storage on your machine. Without getting into too much jargon, let’s just say that Error Checker looks for fancy sounding computer problems like lost clusters, cross linked files, bad sectors, and errors in the directory. Once it locates these problems, it acts to fix them. Be aware that in order to use Error Checker, you will need to be logged in as an administrator.
How do these errors develop? Every time you use your computer’s hard drive (which is basically every time you use your computer), file saving systems known as “sectors” get their wires crossed and slows down your PC’s performance. Error Checker finds misplaced files and relocates them.
PC experts recommend you run Error Checker on a weekly basis for optimum performance.
3. Find and Destroy Viruses and Spyware
This one’s a no-brainer — amp up your computer’s speed by giving it a strong dose of antibiotics. Spyware is any software placed on your computer without your knowledge that gathers information about you and your computer use. Everything from your web history to your account names and passwords can be gathered by spyware. Outside of the realm of privacy, spyware makes your computer slow, clogging up the memory with unneccessary junk. There are any number of spyware and virus scan products on the market, including free services available directly from Windows. These programs not only identify but help get rid of spyware and viruses.
4. Defrag
“Defragging” is a fancy word for cleaning up your memory. Disk fragmentation Disk fragmentation happens to every computer, literally fragmenting files into pieces and making it more difficult for your computer to locate them and put them together. Think of disk fragmentation as your computer losing its keys, wallet, and cell phone and having to find them every time it wants to leave the house. A fragmented disk slows the computer and adds to your PC’s response time, making it obviously slower than before.
Luckily, Windows includes a program called “Disk Defragmenter” that finds fragmented files, pieces them back together, and arranges folders on your computer’s hard disk so that each folder or file has a specific place on the hard disk. Computer files should be kept tidy and together to increase response time and disk activity. Fragmentation is most noticable when you are saving or altering files.
Computer experts say you should run Disk Defragmenter once a month, but there are other situations that may require the use of defragging:
-when you add lots of files to your computer..
-whenyou only have fifteen percent or less of free disk space
-when you install any new programs or especially a newer version of Windows
5. Uninstall Programs You Don’t Need
Most people have lots of wasted space on their computer. Games that you played a few times and walked away from and old documents that you have no more need for clutter up your computer and slow its performance. Running the Disk Cleanup utility should alert you to any wasted space, but sometimes you need to get rid of an old program without going through the whole Cleanup process. In your PC’s “Control Panel” there is an option called “Add / Remove Programs” that will help you do away with files and programs you just don’t need anymore. Unfortunately, this process is not automated and will require you to go through your files one at a time, but the expense you save by speeding up your PC instead of replacing it makes the effort worthwhile.
Over time, even the most expensive top of the line PCs will slow down. Most people notice it when their system requires extra time to open files, surf the web, or run applications. There are plenty of ways to speed up your PC’s performance without a big financial investment. If your computer’s speed is dragging you down, the five steps above will cure whatever is ailing your system.
This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 11:05 am and is filed under Computers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
[...] How to Speed Up Your Computer [...]