We’ve all been there – you need to get some work done, but your PC is dragging, sluggishly completing tasks, occasionally freezing, unable to handle several open apps at once. In fact, if it were going any slower, it’d be going backwards. But there is hope. Unless your system is just too old to handle current applications, there’s no reason that you can’t give your trusty old computer an overnight performance boost.
We gathered together a list of essential tips guaranteed to squeeze a little more speed out of your underperforming desktop or laptop. Ranging from the dead simple to more complex, below you’ll find a number of easy fixes with an immediate payoff to longer projects that will increase speed if you apply a little elbow grease. Check ’em out now and thank us later, when you’ve finally rejoined the 21st century and have enough juice to fire off an email while browsing the Web.
Uninstall and Delete Unused Applications
You may like to install downloads that you think are interesting, but interest wanes, and all of those applications wind up taking up space on your hard drive, cluttering your Systray and slowing your startup process. Worse, if they are the more pesky type of apps that load at startup, they’ll always be sapping your system speed. Not using them? Then get rid of them. Here’s how.
On Windows XP, click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features. On Windows Vista, click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Uninstall a Program. Now, look through the list for the offending program or programs. You will likely find a bunch of junk that you didn’t even install. Select any one of them and click Remove or Uninstall. Reboot if necessary, but not until you are done uninstalling all of the programs you no longer want.
Again, many programs load at startup, which means slower boot time for you and decreased available RAM during regular use. If you have a load of icons crowding your Systray, you should disable some of them (do you really need a separate app running 24/7 on the odd chance that you’ll want to burn a DVD this very second?). To eliminate unwanted satrtup apps in Windows XP, click Start, then type in msconfig and hit Enter, then click the Startup tab. In Windows Vista, click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Change Startup Programs.
To disable startup items, uncheck the boxes next to each unwanted app. A word of warning here: Leave anything that is from Microsoft or your PC’s manufacturer alone, and don’t disable anything having to do with antivirus, networking, or programs you installed and want to run (e.g. iTunes or ZoneAlarm firewalls). But pretty much anything else – think automatic software updates, Bluetooth monitors, DVD helpers, and anything from iWin or Real – can go.
Clean Up Your Hard Drive
If you’re like the average computer user, you probably have a ton of shortcuts on the desktop and a Recycle Bin that’s filled to the brim. Granted, the shortcuts only slow you down, not your computer, and the Recycle Bin has a minimal effect on performance. But as long as you are sprucing up your PC, you may as well get rid of the clutter while you’re at it. It’s easy and quick using features built into Windows.
Start by clicking Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup (or Start, type in Disk Cleanup and hit Enter). Choose My Files in the next window, select the drive to clean (if you have multiple drives) and hit OK. As you can see from the image below, it’s not uncommon to have gigabytes of trash junking up the place. Just select what you want to get rid of and hit OK and Delete Files. Mission accomplished.
Eliminate Adware and Spyware
Keeping your system free from adware and spyware is vital: After all, you should be the only one using your computer, and these programs can provide a serious drain on system resources.
Add Some RAM
If you can handle a screwdriver without poking an eye out, you can add RAM, or system memory, to your PC. With RAM prices at about $10 or $15 per gigabyte, this is a simple and quick upgrade that will give noticeable results and can boost speed as much as 20 percent. Check your PC manufacturer’s web site to make sure you find the correct RAM, and then buy it somewhere else. RAM makers such as Crucial and Kingston offer RAM lookup tools on their websites too.
Installing the RAM is just as easy. While it is slightly harder to access the RAM slots on a desktop, once you’re inside the case, it’s a piece of cake. For laptops, just look on the back for a panel, sometimes held in place by a screw. Once open, you can pop out the RAM chips and/or add new ones. Reboot and verify that you have the extra RAM by looking in the system preferences, by clicking Start > Control Panel > System.
Defrag That Drive
Now that you have cleaned up your PC, shuffled stuff around, and removed programs, your hard drive looks like a chunk of (virtual) Swiss cheese. It’s time to defragment.
Defragging puts all your data ducks in a row, so the hard drive does not have to waste time skipping around for the next bits and bytes. In practical terms, it puts all the data in compact blocks so that the drive can access related information quickly, improving performance.
First, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. In the resulting box, you can schedule regular defrags, or defrag right now. The PC will analyze itself and tell you if a defragmentation is necessary. If it is, just click Defragment Now. Select the drive or drives you want defragged and click OK. Mind you, this will likely take quite a while, so now is a good time to go to bed or catch up on that novel you’ve been procrastinating on.
Final Thoughts
For another performance boost, you can always upgrade to a faster hard drive (7,200 or 10,000rpm). Though the speed increase in a faster drive is undeniable, note that you will have to back up and transfer everything to the new drive. For that reason, it is often better to simply buy up on your next PC instead of going through the hassle of installation. But however you choose to eke extra speed out of your system, at least it’s bound to go to a good cause, right?
Source: by Robert Hibbert – DigitalTrends.com
RevTechPC 