How to Speed up Your PC/Computer System

A new computer over time your machine will probably bog down. After even just a few months, you may wonder if it is worth computing at all, considering how long it takes to do anything.



The biggest reason for a slow computer is a lack of space on your hard drive. Clean it up with freeware like CCleaner or try moving some files to another disk. Many other strategies for freeing space are available.



Many things can be done to improve the speed. After taking a few measures, you could be amazed what a tiger is under the hood. You may decide to postpone the purchase of a new computer. Have a question? Get an answer from Online Tech Support now by Just Commenting

Things You'll Need

• Time and patience.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Make sure you have enough memory. To do so, navigate from the "Start" menu and select "Computer." Click "System Properties." Under the System section, the Installed memory (RAM) line states the amount of RAM in your computer appears.
     Before You Buy Computer Memory Upgrades, you can find out how much you have by clicking on the System Icon in the Control Panel. The amount is on the first tab that comes up, the General Tab.
     A Windows XP computer should have at least 1GB of memory and 2GB is a more comfortable amount. With Vista, be sure to have 2GB of memory you'll be much happier. According to Microsoft, a 32-bit computer running Windows 7 should have a minimum of 1GB; on a 64-bit system, make sure that your computer has at least 2GB RAM.
     Beware of memory managers or "optimizers." These applications free up RAM but at the expense of writing lots of memory to the much slower hard disk.
     
   • 2
     Make sure you have a fast enough processor. To do so, navigate from the "Start" menu and select "Computer." Click "System Properties." Under the System section, the Processor line states the type of processor and its speed. Windows states that the minimum processor speed to run Windows 7 is 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster for both a 32-bit or 64-bit processor.
     
   • 3
     Clean up your desktop by moving files to folders. If you have many large files in your desktop, you're looking for trouble.
     
   • 4
     Uninstall unneeded applications, which hogs valuable disk drive space.
     
   • 5
     Make sure your computer has the latest system updates. Navigate to Windows Update (windowsupdate.Microsoft.com) for the latest Windows patches.
     
   • 6
     Keep your antivirus/Internet security software up-to-date and scan your disks. If you don't have an up-to-date antivirus program, several high-quality free applications are available to the private consumer, including Microsoft Security Essentials (Microsoft.com/security_essentials), AVG (free.avg.com) and Avast (avast.com).
     
   • 7
     Defragment your hard drive regularly. In Vista and Windows 7, an automatic defragment system is enabled by default. If you want to defragment outside the schedule, you could defragment by navigating to the "Start" menu and typing "defrag" (without quotes) in the Search field. Then click on "Disk Defragmenter." The Disk Defragmenter dialog opens. Select the desired disk and click the "Analyze" button to determine whether your disk or partition requires defragmenting. If it does, click the "Defragment" button. Defragmenting should be done every week if possible and can take several hours, so schedule the defrag session it at night or while you're away from your computer.
     

Tips & Warnings

• Many will suspect their computer is slow because of a virus. This may be true in only a minority of cases, however if you suspect this go to an Antivirus site, like EST or Symantec's and do an online scan. Online scans are less likely to be blocked by installed malware.