How to speed up computer or windows PC is a common problem faced by almost all PC users. Computer performance degrades because of several reasons. That can be hardware or software related.By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly and efficiently. Here we are discussing the 10 tips or ways to make your computer faster.
Top 10 ways/ tips to speed up your computer – Best PC speed up tips
Free up disk space – Disk Cleanup tool (Windows)
Accumulation of temporary Internet files,downloaded program files and other temporary files will eat up the disk space thus slowing down the computer.
There is one tool available to clean up PC.The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk to improve the performance of your computer.
Read:Backup and restore the Windows drivers installed on your Windows (XP/Vista/2003) computer.
Read:How To Use Bootoptimizefunction :Speed Up windows XP Boot and Shutdown Times
The Disk Cleanup tool is useful in removing temporary Internet files,removing downloaded program files ,removing Windows temporary files such as error reports,remove unused restore points etc.
How to use Disk Cleanup tool?
Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, then click Disk Cleanup.
Disk Cleanup has calculate how much space you can free in C drive normally(If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean).
After calculating the maximum space it can free up ,the tool will pop up a window as shown below (This is in windows XP).you can select the areas you want. The “More Options” tab gives you options to clean up Windows components,Installed Programs and to remove all but the most recent System Restore point.
Scan Your Windows System for Errors
Over time, one or more of windows system files might change or become corrupted. If this happens, the speed of your system may decrease.
System File Checker is a utility in Microsoft Windows that allows users to scan for and restore corruptions in Windows system files.
To use this utility open a command window and type
sfc /scannow
If the System File Checker tool finds a problem, it will attempt to replace the problematic files from the DLL Cache (%WinDir%System32Dllcache). If the file is not in the DLL Cache or the DLL Cache is corrupted, the user will be prompted to insert the Windows installation media or provide the network installation path.
The System File Checker is integrated with Windows Resource Protection in Windows Vista and Windows 7, which protects registry keys and folders as well as critical system files.
Read:Clean, scan and speed up your computer with Windows Live OneCare safety scanner
Check your Hardware and make sure that it is Sufficient
There is a limit that you can do with software to optimization to speed up your computer.It is critical to make sure that you have the proper hardware to support Windows and your requirement.
Add additional memory. Adding RAM to your system is one of the best ways to speed up your computer.
Scan for Viruses
It is very important that you have a good anti virus software installed in your computer.Install and run a good Anti-virus program on a regular basis. One of the best Anti virus programs available for free is AVG Anti-virus.
Get rid of Spyware.
Spy-ware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer’s performance.If your system is infected with spyware your PC will show symptoms like computer running extremely slow for no specific reason or you get pop-ups even when you’re not on the Internet etc.Spyware and Adware can load into the memory and slow it down.
Some of the good Spyware removal solutions include AdAware SE and SpyBot Search and Destroy.
It is very important that you do periodical scanning and removal of Viruses, Spyware and Adware to improve computer performance.
Defragment your computer to speed up access to data
Excessive fragmentation slows down your computer’s response time.Over a period of time, your hard disk can become “fragmented,” which means your files are scattered in pieces across your hard disk. Every time you access a file, your computer must search the entire hard disk to find all the pieces related to that file.So it will slow down the computer.
So it is better to defragment your hard disk once in a while.
To access Disk Defragmentor for windows XP and Windows 7 users click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
Before doing defragmentation better backup all your work onto a different computer, hard drive or disk. Make sure that you have a reliable source of power for your computer.If a computer turns off during defragmentation ,it may lead to more problems.
Uninstall Unused Programs
You may have installed many programs and rarely uses at least few of them.Even if you don’t use these programs, they can slow down your system.
Remove the unused programs by uninstalling it and thus free up the memory.
Streamline Windows start up files by using msconfig
This is a common issue which leads to computer performance degradation.Many computers have unnecessary programs running in the background which can cause decrease in performance. Use the windows utility called MSCONFIG to turn off unnecessary Start Up items that are eating up the systems memory and processing speed.
Read more about MSCONFIG usage and tips.
For Windows 7 or Windows Vista use ReadyBoost
If you’re using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system.ReadyBoost allows you to use non-volatile flash memory—like a USB flash drive or a memory card—to improve performance without having to add additional memory.
Clean Your Desktop ,Temp folder etc.
Clean out your temporary internet files and cookies.The temp directory easily gets filled up with hundreds of temp files over time, which can slow down computer performance.Also it is better to keep your desktop clean and not filled with hundreds of files and shortcuts.
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Great post from an expert and it will be a great knowledge to us and thank you very much for sharing this valuable information with us.
These are the basics apart from these I am using PC Optimizer Pro for cleaning my system's registry problems.