Use These Easy Tweaks to Help Your Computer Run Faster

Doing computer work daily, the most common complaint I hear is that the computer is so slow. So I've devised some tips to help you speed up your computer with very little technical knowledge required. These tips should be completed on a regular basis in order to keep your computer from slowing down so much.

Ø I If you don't do anything else, you should defragment your computer regularly. This should be done once a month for optimal performance. This will be just enough to prevent excessive fragmentation which causes poor performance and causes the defrag utility to take longer.

When a file gets fragmented, it gets scattered over several clusters. Clusters are areas on your hard drive. Your computer will save a file to several clusters close together so that you can retrieve the file quickly without a lot of work on the hard drive. What happens is as you create new files, they write to more distant clusters. As a result of this, a file can get fragmented which causes opening and saving them to slow down.

There are two different ways to get to your Disk Defragmenter. You can click the Start button and go to Programs or All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and click Disk Defragmenter. Alternatively, you can open My Computer, right-click on your hard drive which is usually drive C, click Properties, click the Tools tab, and click the Defragment Now button.

For Operating Systems later than Windows 2000, there really isn't a need to use the Analyze feature if you are defragmenting once a month as recommended. You should set aside an hour or so each month to do this because the defragmenting process has to restart every time a file changes. So you really want to let the defragmenter run at a time that you are not using your computer. I schedule mine for the middle of the night.

Ø This would also be a good time to check your startup programs to see which programs are set to run when Windows is starting up. This is very common as a lot of programs automatically place themselves in your startup configuration when they are installed. It is not usually necessary for them to be there and the more programs you have running at start up, the longer it will take for your computer to load and be ready for you to use as these utilities or programs steal memory and speed from other programs. Removing these programs from your startup configuration increases the amount of memory available for you to use with other programs therefore speeding up the process of using programs.

You can use Windows System Configuration Utility to manage what programs load at startup. To get to this utility, click Start, click Run, and type msconfig in the Open field before clicking OK. On the Startup tab, you'll see the list of programs that your system loads at startup. Most common users will not know how to tell what programs are there by their file name and if they do, they may not be sure if it should be in there or not. I use www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ to determine what should be in the startup programs.

Simply look up the file name on this website and if it says it isn't necessary, deselect the item in the configuration utility. You might be surprised to find that there is very little necessary to load on startup. When you are finished, click OK and restart your computer. When you restart, you will get a dialog box that says that "Windows needs to start the System Configuration Utility" since you made changes to the configuration. Select the "Don't Show This Message" checkbox so that this won't keep coming up.

Next it's a good idea to remove programs that you no longer use. It is easier than ever now days to install programs that you aren't aware of or that you use once or twice and never use again due to shareware, malware, adware, and free trials. For this article, I will cover this topic in general, but be sure to look for my upcoming article regarding malware. A lot of people don't realize the potential for harm from malware.

Having so many programs loaded on your computer fattens your system Registry. It's just like a person that eats and eats and eats. Your registry gets fat and bloated. These will cause Windows to load slower when you log onto your computer. Quick note, it is important to understand the difference between uninstalling a program and deleting a program. Technically, when you right click on a program and choose delete, it deletes the program but it does not uninstall the program, so it will still be in the registry. You must uninstall the program.

There are two ways to uninstall these programs. Clicking on Start and the Programs or All Programs will give you a good idea of what programs you have loaded. Click on a program you no longer need and it should have an Uninstall utility for you to use. This is the best way to uninstall it. If this feature is not available, then click Start, click Control Panel (click Settings and then Control Panel for older systems), double click Add/Remove Programs. Select the program you wish to uninstall and then click Remove. Do this for each program you no longer need.

Clear your cache. When you surf the web, websites track where you go by placing cookies in your temporary internet files and cache. These build up over time and can drastically reduce how fast your computer runs when you're on the internet. Clear your cach by opening Internet Explorer, click Tools, click Internet Options, click Delete Cookies, and when that completes click Delete Files. This process can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 15 minutes depending on how long it's been since it was done last. Doing it once a month will keep it down to under a minute or so.

Ø Spyware has become a huge nuisance to the Internet. Spyware should be removed immediately. Spyware is installed on your computer usually without your knowledge or permission. Once it gets installed, it can do any of a variety of things including but not limited to activating pop up advertisements, tracking your web surfing, changing your home page, installing a virus, etc. Spyware accumulates very quickly and drastically slows down your computer. Spyware should be removed immediately and can be done using various spyware programs. My personal favorite is Spybot Search and Destroy. This is a free program that you can download by clicking on the link. This program is user friendly and easy to use.

Doing each of these things once a month will reduce the likelihood of your computer slowing down drastically and should be a priority for maintaining your computer just as an oil change is for your car. It will help keep your computer healthy and prevent it from slowing down. I will continue to write articles on how to fix and maintain your computer so be sure to check back. Good luck and happy surfing!