How can i speed my computer up.?

Question

it's a windows XP. bought last year. getting kinda slow.

Answer 1

Things that slow your system down!
1. Computers basically have two types of memory. Ram and Rom. Lets start with Rom. Read Only Memory is a storage place where files, programs, music, pictures, etc are stored. An example of Rom is your hard drive. Next comes Ram or Random Access Memory. This area of memory is where your files and programs are moved to when you use them. You give the computer a command to play a game or maybe to listen to music or perhaps even do your math for you. You click an icon or program and the processor or brain finds that data on the hard drive or cd and loads it into ram. Ram is the place where most all of your programs and files run when you are using them. The processor then controls the ram and runs the software you have chosen. Now lets say you have 100 megabytes of ram in your system. You decide to edit some photos and you start your photo program which takes 40 megabytes of ram plus 5 megabytes to load the picture you edit. You now have 65 megabytes of unused ram. You decide to fire up your media player and play a selection of songs. The media player decides it needs 40 megabytes for the player operation itself plus another 20 megabytes for the stored album you want to play. We now have a total of 5 megabytes of unused ram. You decide to fire up Weather bug or google earth or some other software and its asking for another 20 megabytes of ram. You are now choking the death out of your rescources and what do you think the system will do? Any number of things can happen including simple system shutdown. Most users seem to think that they need everything but the kitchen sink running when they start their system and then scratch their bum and wonder why their system is running so slow. A few examples of software that loads on startup would be winzip, your audio mixer, music download programs, etc! You DO NOT need this crap running! Weatherbug for instance eats up about 20 megabytes of ram just sitting there not being used! Winzip takes another 5, Close down applications you arent using!

2. Viruses, adware, trojans, malware, and hijackers! NOTHING ON THE NET IS FREE! It all comes at a cost to the user! PORN SITES, GAMBLING SITES, FREE MUSIC DOWNLOAD SITES, FREE GAMING SITES, PEER TO PEER file sharing sites, etc are FILLED with this crap! Some of it simply redirects your search to a page they make money off of or hijacks your homepage, some of it constantly monitors what you are shopping for. Have you ever wondered how uncanny it is that you browsed the net for a new digital camera and the next day you were spammed to death with camera ads in e mail or have started receiving digital cam popups? Some of it simply is full of malware and viruses that will destroy data and in severe cases wipe out your hardrive!

3. I have heard everybody and their brother claim that their system is free and clean of adware. Adware removal tools are good to have but there isnt any one that will detect all adware! I dont care if its free or cost you a hundred dollars! Think about it. Adware is being produced daily. It takes the average adware removal company 2 months to even realize that there is a new piece of adware. Now they have to develop a tool to remove it! Theres another month! How much hidden crap is really in your sytem?

4. One of the biggest problems is anti virus software. It keeps your system safe alright but in the process it slows you down sometimes even worse than the original problem did! On the other hand, if you are using anti virus software and its NOT slowing you down, it isnt doing its job! If you use your system wisely, you dont need to run your antivirus software all the time!

Bottom line....the best system protection comes from the users own common sense! If you browse the net wisely and follow the simple ideas above you will find your system runs far better! Dont get me wrong....do use your adware removal tools.....keep them updated and when they tell you something is trying to enter your system DONT IGNORE IT! Dont waste money on adware removal tools either! The best is still free! Spybot, Spyware Blaster, Adaware, etc are all excellent choices!

Answer 2

well, there are several options: the best would be probably to uninstall all the programs that u are no longer using, these may be old games or old virus protectors that u never completely removed. just check to see wat u have in the control menu. Or try to not run as much at a time, for example if u have 4 different programs running in the bottom right hand corner it should show u all those programs, these arent always internet sites or anything, they can also be things like updaters, popup blockers, the sound, if u have adapters, they also will be there. Exit out of as many of those u can but dont exit out of ones that are necessary like internet connections and the sound menu or popup blockers, u usually want to exit updaters like the google updater, ect.

Answer 3

Simply install Linux - it's immune to all viruses, spyware, malware etc so you can safely surf without needing to have any security software installed, and so your PC will run like a rocket.

Get a geeky friend to set up your box as a dual-boot system, with Windows and Linux sharing the hard drive. Surf only in Linux, and use Windows for the stuff you're used to. If you never surf in Windows, you can uninstall all your security software and run fast again.

DC :)

Answer 4

up grade the RAM because you like to down load lots of stuff. When ever you access the program in which you downloaded the RAM has to keep it going. So up grade the RAM would be the best thing to do. OR START>RUN>MSCONFIG

Answer 5

http://bartman1.blogspot.com/ go here and follow if your computer runs slow also concider more ram

Answer 6

RAM