Is your computer slow? We all know, we could not live without the computer, but as you have discovered, your PC starts to slow down over time and have reduced performance. Well, in this article, we would like to present a number of strategies which show you how to speed up your computer.
As you may have surmised, there are numerous reasons why your computer slows down; it could be a virus, spyware, fragmented hard drive, too many temporary or Internet temporary files, or registry problems. These issues don’t just affect Windows, most are aggregations in
Without knowing your exact situation, the following steps are all user-friendly ways most users can use to regain performance. While the troubleshooting and cleansing steps outlined below will help 90% of all performance issues, you may have a specific issue which may not be corrected by these steps alone.
- Delete temporary files: This is as basic as it gets, but often overlooked. Whether manually completed, using your operating system’s built-in cleaners, or automated through free and paid-for software applications, you can rid your computer of corrupted files and get some disk space back. For specific step-by-step instructions, see: How To Remove Temporary Files.
- Delete Internet temp files: Along the same lines as above, this process deletes content which gets downloaded as you surf the net. Though these are Internet-based files, they can have an affect on overall computer performance, especially if you have multiple web browsers or tabs opened frequently. You can check out more details here: Steps to Delete Temporary Internet Files.
- Clean out spyware: If your PC has become slow over time, more than likely it is from accumulating junk files and content from downloaded files, old or uninstalled applications. However, if you have suddenly experienced reduced speed, functionality , or performance, it may be caused by viruses or spyware on your computer. It would be a good idea to start with scanning your computer for spyware; for this, take a look at this article: How To Remove Spyware.
- Uninstall unnecessary programs: It’s always a good idea to uninstall those programs which are unnecessary to increase computer speed.
- Update outdated programs: Another good idea, is to update programs on your computer. From time to time, software developers will come out with updates and fixes which will help increase the performance of their software or help alleviate any bugs pertaining to how the software runs with your specific operating system.
- Disable auto starting programs: You may have applications which are rarely used, but the developer of the software may have the application automatically starting when you start or login to your operating system, specifically Windows. Simply open a CMD and type ‘msconfig’ and run it. Once in this system module, you can check out programs which start with Windows and make any changes you desire. I want to forewarn you though, changes you make in this module may also impact performance; our recommendation would be for you to have a computer expert help you with this.
- Clean out your registry: This is another area which we truly recommend caution when working with registry files. Can be done manually, it is recommended you to utilize a specific application to help. For this I recommend reading the following article: Selecting a Windows Registry Cleaner.
- Increase your system’s RAM: By adding more RAM, you will drastically increase the performance of your computer.
- Defragment your hard drive: Over time your computer is filled with files, spreadsheets, music, and other media and content which becomes fragmented. With fragmented files this means your computer will spend more time gathering all the pieces of each and every file before the data can be presented. Here is an article to help you the freight your computer: Steps To Defrag Computer.
- Format your hard drive: This may be a last-ditch effort for you to eliminate computer problems. But as you can imagine, this means totally wiping your hard drive and starting over. You may also wish to opt for a repair installation of your operating system. This will simply replace your system files with those that originally came with the operating system.
Following the details outlined in the steps above will certainly help you to regain speed and performance of your computer. If following all the above, except for formatting your hard drive, does not help, you may also consider that you may have a virus on your computer.
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Yes, following these steps we'll speed up our computers and hopefully we won't have problems with them. Personally, I know so many useful things from a close friend who works at Toronto IT support. He told me how to take care of my computer alone, what software to install and many more.
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