Tips for a Slow Running PC

In tough economical times, us as consumers may not have extra money in the budget to upgrade our computers. And as computers get older, they tend to start running slower and slower, and this can be frustrating waiting 3 minutes for an Internet browser to open, trying to view pictures, open a word document, or whatever task that you maybe trying to accomplish. Don’t let that frustration get the best of you, instead take the inititive to help get your computer back to a state that you remember it being fast and zippy.

The longer you own your computer, the slower it will get. This is mostly due to programs being installed and un-installed, lots of Internet browsing, and fragmentation on the hard drive itself. These things make wear and tear just as if it were an engine in a car, and ever so often you have to at least change the oil. So I’m going to show you how to change the oil on your computer. The first thing we’ll want to do is to open up your control panel and then look for add/remove programs or programs and features. Once there, you should go over your list of installed programs very thoroughly and then remove any ones your certain you don’t use anymore and un-install them one at a time. Once your certain your done there, we’ll move to disk cleanup. You’ll go to all programs and look for the accessories folder. Inside there you’ll find the disk cleanup tool. Start that and check off all the boxes to remove everything. Should clear up some space on your hard drive. Now we are going to go right back to the accessories folder and this time choose disk defragmenter. When the window opens, highlight your C:\ Drive and then click defragment and let it run. This process can take some time, so just let it run until it’s finished. Now we will move on to the next step.

Now go and download SuperAntiSpyware from the net and install it. Make sure you update it to the latest definitions before starting the scan. This tool is to check for spyware and some viruses. These things can be hiding on your computer and causing slow downs on it. Once you have the latest definitions, run a full scan on your computer. It’s best to do this the first initial scan. Future scans can be the quick scan option. When it’s complete you’ll click the next button, and then make sure everything is checked and then click remove. Once done a reboot of the computer is a good idea if it doesn’t prompt you to do so.

Now we’ll check out the start up list on the computer. Most of the time when installing programs, we don’t pay attention to the options closely and miss the chance to un-check the option to have that program start up on computer start up. We don’t want these programs starting up on every boot up because they use system memory and this can cause your computer to run slow. If your not actually using a program when your computer is on, there is no reason to load that program into the system memory. If you need that program, you can just start it up like you normally would, but clicking a shortcut icon or from the programs list. On Windows XP you want to click start, then click run. In that box type MSCONFIG and then enter or click run. On Vista and Win7 you click start, then in the search programs box, you’ll type system configuration, then click it from the list that appears above the search box. Now we’ll have the window open and look for the start-up tab and click it. Here we’ll see a list of programs that will start when the computer is booted. You’ll want to look through this list carefully and uncheck each one that you don’t want to start up on boot. Don’t worry if something goes wrong, you can come back here and re-check something to fix any problem you may have.

A messy registry can be a cuplprit of a slow computer also, you’ll want to do a search for a free registery cleaner, download and install it, then run it. This tool is pretty straight foward so I won’t explain anymore about this step.

With these steps complete you should be expierencing a faster operating computer. If not, another option is always taking it to your local computer repair shop and have them look it over. A complete re-install of windows can usually help a lot, and I recommend doing this every year. It’s an easy process with complete data recovery and then moved to the new install of windows. Also having your local shop perform the above steps for you in case there is some reason you can’t do it yourself is also a good option and it doesn’t cost to much.