How to Speed Up Your PC

You turn on your computer, log in with your password, the desktop appears, you click on an icon and ...absolutely nothing happens! The computer doesn't crash, not even a cryptic error message with mysterious numbers. There is just that little hourglass floating in the middle of the wallpaper, telling you to wait...and wait...and wait.

It's a great excuse to get you out of your cubicle ("The computer's frozen again, I'm off to Starbucks.") but that won't get any of your work done. Worse yet, you will have to find other ways to look busy without Tetris, Solitaire, or AIM.

What causes the computer to slow down, and what can be done to prevent it? While there could be countless explanations, there are a few simple things you can do before calling a technician. These can be sorted into probable software and hardware causes.

Software

-You may have spyware. This is any program designed to sneak in and reside in your computer, and continuously gather information about your online behavior. The more forms of spyware you have, the more unnecessary and potentially dangerous programs are running in the background.

There is a wonderful piece of free software called Ad-Aware Personal Edition. If you have not already downloaded and installed this, I highly recommend that you do so. Run it using the Full System Scan option. This will rid your system of most forms of spyware and other suspicious objects. There are other downloadable programs like Ad-Aware, but this is one of the more widely recognized and effective tools. And best of all, it's free.

-You could also have programs unintentionally left running. Look at the taskbar along the bottom of the screen. More than ten icons, especially in the system tray (usually at the bottom-right), and you're asking for trouble. These may be programs, games, toolbars you have downloaded but hardly use, or programs for hardware you no longer have. Your computer will have to work too hard to juggle these programs, in addition to what you need to do at work. Right-clicking on each icon and choosing "Exit" can turn off most of these programs.

For the more daring and determined, you can prevent these programs from starting up in the first place by going to the Start menu, choosing "Run..." and entering "msconfig" in the text field that pops up. Press Enter. When the msconfig utility runs, click on the Startup tab and uncheck the programs you are sure you don't want to run at startup. Be forewarned: this almost always requires a reboot of your computer.

-You may have a full Recycle Bin. Items placed here are not erased, contrary to what most users believe. They stay there, occupying disk space until you decide what to do with them--restore, or discard. If the Recycle Bin is not set up to delete files immediately, you can do so by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin icon and choosing Properties, where you can choose said option.

Hardware

-The Hard Drive may be overly fragmented. Sometimes, files are broken up--fragmented-- to fit between existing files on the drive. Defragmenting reunites these fragments and cuts down the time spent looking for these pieces. To defragment a C: drive, right-click on the C: Drive icon (usually in My Computer) and click on Defragment. Depending on the size of the drive, it may take a few minutes to an hour (Warning! Make sure background programs like your screensaver and anti-virus are turned off, or it will cause Defragment to restart again and again. Don't ask!).

-The hard drive may be getting old. Most drives are designed to last about three to five years, depending on the amount of wear and tear you put into it. Even a speck of dust somehow getting into the drive could cause a crash of catastrophic proportions.This is remarkably super-dependable considering most of us constantly upload, download, update, delete and back up files several times a day.

-Insufficient memory: Let's say you've already run your anti-spyware, defragmented the hard drive, gotten rid of unwanted programs, but the computer is still running sluggish. One solution is to give the PC more memory to handle your programs. Just make sure you have the compatible type of RAM for your computer. Most technicians agree that you should have at least twice the minimum required RAM for your system to run smoothly. It only takes a few minutes to install, and the performance boost is usually huge. Not a bad investment since most RAM sticks cost in the neighborhood of $30-40. Little wonder why this avenue is a favorite among techies.

There are doubtless more answers to lagging computer performance but those mentioned here can solve most underlying issues. We now return you to your crash-free, uninterrupted, better-performing game of Solitaire.