Speeding up a Slow PC

The more a computer is used, the slower it will run. At first, this is barely perceptible, but over time, it becomes quite annoying. Slow startups, system hangs, and instability are all signs that your system may be wasting away. What can you do? I am glad you asked.

There are several ways to speed up your PC. Defragmentation, Cache wiping, program weeding, and startup configuration are all excellent ways of taking back some of that get up and go.

Defragging your hard drive is simple. From your start menu, navigate to accessories, then system and click on the defrag icon. Defragmentation is the rearranging of individual clusters and groups on the hard drive surface. When you access and save data, your hard drive is shuffled around, causing a significant loss in data access speed. Defragging reallocates space and keeps all of the little bits and pieces of your programs and files together, instead of scattered haphazardly across your hard drive.

Cache wiping is a quick way to increase your internet speed. Computers save bits and pieces of every site you visit on the internet. This is supposed to speed up browsing, but as the cache fills up and becomes fragmented, it takes longer and longer to find the saved information. The new Internet Explorer 7 makes this a very simple task indeed. With Internet Explorer open, click on the Tools button on the upper right portion of your screen, then select delete browsing history. When the window opens, just click on Delete All, near the bottom. You’ll be cruising before you know it.

Program weeding is exactly what it sounds like. Weeding out your programs and getting rid of what you do not want. Most retail computers come with quite a list of preinstalled programs, that most users will never use or need. If you go into the control panel and add/remove program (or programs and features for those of you who have switched to Vista), you can find the list of your installed programs. If you do not know what something is, try typing the name into Google. It is always wise to do a defrag after removing programs.

Last but not least, we come to the startup menu. This is easily the best way to squeeze performance out of a PC. Over time, programs and malware can make even a formerly zippy computer slow and ragged, and it all starts with the startup. I recommend downloading a program called Startup Mechanic. It is free and very simple to use. Run it and you will be presented with an alphabetical list of all of the programs in your systems startup configuration file. If you click on something, it will even tell you what it is and where it came from. Just check the boxes and click disable.