Computer Faster?

Question

What is the single "most effective" thing I can do to my computer, that is free, to make it faster, with noticable differences? I'm not just some random person who doesn't know anything about computers. I run spyware removal, adware removal, etc.

Answer 1

Overclock your computer. You might also want to:


1. Reduce the number of programs that load on startup. you can use the "msconfig" run command (start menu > run > type "msconfig" > [Enter] > startup tab > uncheck any program you don't need to load on startup > Reboot)

2. Delete obsolete and useless files using Disk Cleanup (start menu > all programs > accessories > system tools > disk cleanup)

3. Defrag your hard drive (start menu > all programs > accessories > system tools > disk defragmenter).

4. Turn off visual effects you don't want. (right click "My Computer" icon > Properties > Advanced tab > under Performance, click [Setting] > under Visual effects, uncheck any visual effects you don't absolutely need > [Apply] > [O.K.] > reboot.)

5. Disable Windows Indexing and any other Windows service you don't need (start menu > control panel > administrative tools > services icon > disable any service you don't need). Use Majorgeeks' Black Viper guide to determine which services you can safely disable (http://www.majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12).

6. Optimize your memory usage. Read "Boost Windows XP Performance by Optimizing Memory Use" (http://winston-blog.blogspot.com/2006/09/boost-windows-xp-performance-by.html)

7. Turn off System Restore. Personally, i keep system restore enabled but many computer experts suggest turning it off for improve performance and increase security.

Answer 2

The single most effective thing you can do to speed up your computer without spending money is make sure you're running as few pieces of software as possible.

For example: are you running a virus scanner in the background? That's slowing things down. Are you running the Windows Indexer in the background? That's slowing things down. And so on.

Of course, you might get a bigger speed gain if you have a huge misconfiguration, find it, and fix it -- but chances are you don't. So shut off applications and services running in the background that you don't need. That includes removing spyware, naturally.

Having said that, unless you have an application which is a real hog of system resources, you're going to see a noticeable gain -- but still only a slight one. Anything more than that costs $$$, and you can get the biggest gain with smallest cost by making sure you have enough memory that your computer never writes to the hard drive because it runs out of memory (aka Virtual Memory, or Swap Space.)

Oh, and if you REALLY want to speed it up for free, install Linux with a lightweight window manager (not Gnome or KDE.) I doubt this is the kind of thing you're talking about, though.

Answer 3

Read this series of articles on speeding up your computer. They are the best on the web and did a great job on my computer!

10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows XP
http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2005/12/03/645/

10 Intermediate Ways To Speed Up Windows XP
http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2005/12/05/652/

More Ways To Speed Up Windows XP
http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2006/01/12/706/

Good Luck :)

Answer 4

There are some general things that you can do to possibly speed up your PC.
1) Defrag your hard drive, Drive fragmentation makes it take longer for your computer to read and write files. Defragging will generally produce some performance increase
2) Uninstall any software packages you no longer need
4) Delete temporary files and Temporary Internet Files
3) Disable as many windows services as you can. (See http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12 )

As a note the Norton line of products SEVERELY degrade system performance. I would additionally suggest changing your anti-virus solution if you are running norton. I would recommend McAffee ($) or AVG (FREE)

Answer 5

well since you're not just some random person who doesn't know anything about computers u should know that there is no free way around this, but yes try disablin non used programs or jus plane remove em' from your computer, but u might wanna try adding memory, try gettin a larger hard drive with a pretty high RPM thoese r simple wayz to speed up your computer, but hey u already knew that right

Answer 6

because of the fact the guy above me suggested, it relies upon... The middle 2 Duo strategies plenty swifter then that 10-3 hundred and sixty 5 days-old P4, and it particularly is extremely in all hazard that the P4 can no longer even use extra then 3GB of RAM besides, reckoning on the OS it particularly is working... i'd slap extra RAM in that middle 2 Duo device and throw the different one away.

Answer 7

Read this article:

http://www.helpero.com/Questions-and-answers/Computers/Windows/How-do-i-optimize-speed-up-windows_715.html

Helpero is a web site that helps every Internet user, from all over the world, solve any computer related problem.

Answer 8

reduce the number of programs running at startup (start menu, run... msconfig), choose the startup tab, disable things you don't need

Answer 9

defrag on a regular basis.

Answer 10

http://bartman1.blogspot.com/ go here and follow if your computer runs slow NEVER RUN MSCONFIG