how do you keep your computer in the fast lane instead of having the computer slow down after a few months.?

Question

in keeping your computer in the fast lane you have to reinstall windows every couple of months. I want to stop doing that. Is there an alterntive way I can keep it in the fast lane.

Answer 1

Defragmenting a computer normally doesnt do sh!t.

Slow computers normally get like that because they have lots of programs running in the background that you can't see.

Click start > Run and type TASKMGR
Click the processes tab. Then look down at where it says "Processes: "

It should tell you how many processes are running. You should definitly not have any more than 20 if your computer is has less than 256 MB ram, if it has 256 then i wouldnt let it get above 30.

To clean up the computer and get it running fast, Click Start > Run and type MSCONFIG

Click the STARTUP tab and untick anything that looks suspect.

Oh and another thing: If you have Norton Antivirus, UNINSTALL IT!!

Norton Antivirus is almost worse than a virus because it slows computers down so much. Download AVG Free Edition and run that instead.

Definitly defragment it but you probably wont notice a lot of difference.

Oh and download Ewido antispware from http://www.grisoft.com (you can also get AVG from here) and do a big scan for spyware, spyware is one of the main reasons computers get slower.

Spyware normally comes frmo porn sites and free games etc etc etc... be careful what sites you visit... and never click YES to a box that appears when you are at a website unless you KNOW FOR SURE that it's safe.

You could also go to www.merijn.org and download Hijackthis, this si a tool that is used to remove excess programs that run in the background, there are a lot of website that can help you to know what programs are bad :)

Answer 2

A computer, like a house or a car, needs maintenance. Delete programs and files you don't use. Get a good firewall, anti virus and anti spy ware program and run it frequently (at least once a week). Defragment your hard drive once or twice a month. Be organized with your files. Back them up on a DVD or attachable hard drive. In the end you'll probably have to reinstall the OS, but it definitely shouldn't happen every couple of months. I have my current computer for over two years and I haven't had to reinstall Windows XP yet...

Answer 3

Lavasoft.com.....get Adaware...adware removal tool.
Do NOT use the pc for viewing pornography on the Internet.
When downloading programs, use the "open" option rather than "save" to save on disc space.
Purchase a good PC maintenance program such as Iolo's System Mechanic 6. This will help you keep your registry tidy and free of erroneous data, plus it will inform you automatically when your system needs to be optimized.
Virus scan once a week.
Defragment the hard drive twice a week.
Keep the CPU in an area which will allow good airflow to keep it cool.
Open the CPU cover every 3 months and use "canned air" to blow out dust, especially from the cooling fins on your processor.
Every 3 months, remove all photos, songs, installation files, etc. that are no being used. You can burn those to CD or DVD for future use.

Answer 4

You find one please let me know. Even the most stable systems with nothing added seem to slow down and if you install and uninstall apps on a regular basis it just kills them.

Reg cleans, defrags, defrags with page file removed, HD checks all seem to help but I like you am about to reinstall my current personal system as it's running like a P3 and I do this for a living.

One thing we have started doing is getting a base image of our systems using Ghost or other such application so we can go back to "Zero Day" and not have to go thru the full Windows install, drivers, 700 updates, primary applications and so forth. If you use a USB drive for all your data then a reimage of your boot drive keeps you from losing to much in data or time.

Answer 5

Here's some things I do and use to keep my computer running up to par, hope it helps!
1. When the internet page comes up, click on "Tools" in the upper left-hand corner. Scroll down to "Internet Options" and click on it. In the middle of the little box that pops up, click on "Delete Cookies" and "Delete Files". This will get rid of some of the junk that gets put on your computer from internet sites that you visit.
2. The most important thing to have is a virus scanner. Without this, your computer is pretty much a sitting duck and vulnerable to any virus out there on the web. Several ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like AOL for instance provide free virus tools to help you protect your computer.
3. Download.com provides a vast amount of progams that you can download onto your computer that can help maintain it and even improve performance. The three trials that I recommend downloading, unless you wish to buy them, are:
a. Spybot
b. WinASO Registry Optimizer
c. Ad-Aware

Answer 6

Have you tried just defragmenting it, instead of reinstalling windows? Try that first. It's should be under your control panel, performance and maintenance. Just follow the step by step instructions. Sometimes the program has to run for a while to complete.

Answer 7

Start by cleaning it up on the inside. start-control panel-internet options-settings-view files...top left click edit-select all....file-delete-ok....X out....click ok
then click delete files-ok, delete cookies-ok, clear history-ok, X out, close control panel.
Then defrag thats something I though everybody knew. If you already know that one then..excuuuuuuuuse meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee rotsa ruck

Answer 8

Run msconfig and make sure you disable all your start up ...

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