Are there any routine checks to speed up my computer?

Question

I currently have a Pentium 4 2.8GHz processor with 512MB SDRAM. The last couple months its been acting a little sluggish. Are there any routine checks I can do to maximize the speed of my computer?

I have ran disk defrag, and disk cleanup, and we have updated anti-virus software and spyware, and ad-aware programs... any other suggestions?

Answer 1

You seem to be doing the right thing except:Removing junk. The best I have found is ccleaner available from www.ccleaner.com. It will remove all your junk, has a tab for "issues" {obsolete registry entries}, and you can save cookies for the sites you trust. I have used it since it was introduced, and it is reliable.And free. Such a deal!

Answer 2

You sure can!

Do the following:

1) Go to MY COMPUTER and then right click on your C drive and go to properties.
2) Do a disk cleanup and disk compression.
3) Do a disk defragment so that it organizes your entire hard drive.
4) Do a virus scan and spyware scan so that it completely destroys the critters.

Then go to START, then RUN. Type msconfig and hit enter. Under the start up tab, uncheck all the unnecessary programs running during startup.

512MB is enough so I dont think you need more RAM unless you are a gamer.

Answer 3

Yes.. you can defragment your Hard Disk... and there are some "speed up" programs out there that will optimize the placement of files on your HD.. but I'm not familiar with how well any of them work...

another thing... do you have a firewall/spyware/virus checker?... some spyware can significantly slow down your computer.. even if it is not intentionally malicious spyware.. just tracking cookies.

Answer 4

You can start by defragging your hard drive
check START / programs / accessories / system tools / disk defragmenter

norton av tends to slow the computer down a lot but I don't know a great av to replace that yet. Maybe nod32.

Anyway also installing lots of programs can slow the computer down. Check for useless programs and uninstall them through control panel

cheers

Answer 5

Sounds like you are doing the right things so far.
Sometimes all those anti-virus and spyware programs are actually what is slowing down your computer.

Clean up all the programs out of the startup group, all those little icons down by your clock are all programs running when you boot up.

Answer 6

U can use a spyware program. If u are using Microsoft Windows X
u have to reinstall windows every 6 months. Meanwhile check ur virtual memory. It must be double the amount of physical memory.

Answer 7

I am not an expert but you should ask yourself what king of programs do you have in it. even though you have a super computer if you have for example a lot of songs or videos in it those files make your computer slow. I think there is a way were you can reorganize your hard disc in order to get space or add memory. but you must take it with a expert person because it could be dangerous doing it yourself.

Answer 8

disk defrag will be your best option
right click on my computer then click manage
the at the towards the bottom on the left click disk defragmenter
high light the drive you want and click analyze
the more red you see the worse shape the pc is in
then click defragment

Answer 9

Disk cleanup and defrag

Answer 10

and....
get a good spyware remover...
try to have about 50% freespace on the main drive....
turn off some non essential system processes and turn off all startup programs.