Speeding Up a Slow Computer

This will be the first in a series of articles about common computer problems and how to fix them. This first article will tackle a problem that seems more common than anything else: a slow computer.

Before we can address the software issues that might be slowing down a computer, we have to look at the hardware. If a computer doesn't have the necessary hardware to run at a reasonable speed, all the software troubleshooting in the world won't do much good.

If the computer is running Windows XP, it should have at least 512MB of RAM. While Windows XP claims to only require 256MB, system and background processes easily take up that amount. If the computer has less than 512MB of RAM, it's probably more suited to run Windows 2000. Windows 2000 is very similar to XP, but it's not as pretty and takes up far fewer system resources.

If the computer has at least 512MB of RAM, then we'll continue to software problems that might be slowing it down. We should make sure that the system is free of viruses, spyware, and adware. Make sure the computer's antivirus program is up to date and run a full system scan. An out-of-date virus scan is as useless as no virus scan, so it's very important that the latest version of the software and virus definitions are installed. If the computer doesn't have an antivirus installed, you can download and install AVG antivirus for free.

Spyware and adware are next. There are plenty of programs out there that you can buy to scan for these pesky little programs, but none of them are worth the money. There's plenty of free programs that do a better job. I recommend installing and running two, both available for free download. The programs are Spybot: Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware. Between the two, they'll do a good job getting rid of any unwanted programs.

Like the antivirus, it's very important that these anti-spyware programs are up to date before they start scanning, or they'll be pretty much useless. Run virus and spyware scans at least once a week to check for any new problems.

If a lot of problems were found and removed, the computer should be running noticeably faster. However, at this point here's still more to be done to help.

The computer should be restarted. Immediately after a restart, the only programs that should be running are those that start automatically. Press Control-Alt-Delete to pull up the task manager, and select the Processes tab. At the bottom left corner of the window, the number of active processes will be displayed.

That number should be, at the absolute highest, in the 45 to 50 range. 35 to 40 is much better, and probably about as low as it can be. If that number is in the 50's, 60's, or even 70's, the computer is in bad shape.

There's a number of things that can be done to reduce the number of active programs hogging the computer's system resources. First, check out the area of the start menu near the clock. This is called the system tray, and it's where a lot of background applications like to call home. Anything in that tray is running in the background, taking up resources. Right click on as much as possible and quit or exit.

Closing these programs is a good first step, but it's much better to keep them from running in the first place.

Open the control panel and select the Add or Remove Programs tool. Once the list is populated, go through and uninstall any programs that you don't use or don't want. This will free up hard drive space as well. Use a little caution when removing programs; anything with 'driver' or 'utility' in its name should probably be left alone.

Next, check out the 'Startup' folder in the Programs section of the Start Menu. Anything in this folder will run whenever the computer starts up. Delete anything that shouldn't run.

Finally, open a run dialog and type in 'msconfig.' There's some important system stuff in here, so be careful. Select the 'Startup' tab. The window will show a list of programs that run at startup. Uncheck anything that shouldn't.

Finally, restart the computer again, and check its active processes. The number should have gone down, and the computer should run noticeably better.

If you have any questions you'd like to see answered, please send me a message with a detailed question. I'll do my best to answer it in an article, and I'll send you a message when it's published!