how do i make my comp run faster?

Question

is there anything to make my computer faster? i have a laptop by the way, 256mb ram and 40gb hard drive, i know its very crappy, but is there any way to make it faster?

Answer 1

There are a LOT of things that can cause a computer to run slow. The most common reasons are too many files, spy-ware or other mal-ware and the hard drive not being Defragmented.

If you don't have any anti-spy-ware programs I can suggest the ones I use: Spybot Search & Destroy from:

http://www.safer-networking.org/

And Ad-Aware se Personal from:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

BOTH are FREE! If you want them, save them as zipfiles to your desktop. And install them from there. Then UPDATE them. All the anti-malware progs in the world won't do much good if not UPDATED constantly and USED REGULARLY. I update and use mine every evening before I shut my 'puter down.

Get rid of un-necessary files in cleaning your cookies, files and history by right-clicking the Internet Explorer icon.

Then click on "My Computer">right-click on Drive C> select "Properties"> do a disk clean-up.

This is where you need to disconnect from the net entirely. So, print this whole answer off so you can follow all instructions from beginning to end while OFF-line.

Go to Start and click it>Run>type msconfig>select the Startup Tab>UNCheck EVERYthing in there. This will turn off all the programs that are running in the background eating resources and slowing your computer...including your anti-virus and other anti-malware progs. This is why you're DISconnected from the net at this point. Once you have all those things unchecked, Reboot by clicking the OKs. Your computer will reboot itself.

Now, back to where you did the disk clean-up and select the "Tools Tab" this time. Click the "Defragment Now" button. This will take a LOOOONG time if you've never done it before so be ready to occupy your time while this operation completes.

Then go back to the Properties of My Computer>click on the Tools Tab, again, and then click "Check Now" in the Error Checking box. Follow the prompts, only don't allow it to Restart the computer. Keep the computer on.

Go back to msconfig and ONLY check the programs you WANT running in the background like your anti-virus and other anti-mal-ware programs, etc. Don't worry about the stuff that is not checked. It can still be used, but won't be running in the background eating up resources slowing the computer.

Shut off the computer manually. Reconnect to the net. Reboot allowing ScanDisk to run before the computer automatically boots to Windows.

You should notice a difference in the speed of your computer now.

If all of this doesn't work you can go to http://cnet.com and sign up for free with them and take free classes on all kinds of computer and electronics related subjects. I did that and it helped the computer I'm on a LOT!!! It also taught me some things. I even took the lessons and copied and pasted them to Word Docs and burned them to CD so I'd have the instructions for later if/and/or/when necessary.

Answer 2

You can increase the amount of RAM from 256MB to the maximum allowable by the system. If you can purchase 1GB of memory and the system will take it, do it. Without your machine type, model number, and manufacturer I can't tell you what type of memory to buy.

Now this will increase the performance of the computer bringing it closer to how it shuld operate. Don't be surprised if the computer is not leaping out of it's shoes.

You can also try Defragging the computer. Based on what you've described your only choice short of replacing the notebook with a newer one is to upgrade your RAM.

Answer 3

without wishing to sound techie, first make sure you regularly run the defragmentation and disc cleanup in accessories, tools also uninstall any applications you do not use to make more room on the hard drive, if you can buy extra ram memory, 256 is very small these days, 512 or 1 gigabyte is better, there is also a speed benefit to restricting the programmes that start up when the computer is switched on but this is more tricky, there are free programmes to download that make it easier,

Answer 4

Defrag and clean-up your hard-drive often. To do these tasks go to Start | Control Panel | Performance and Maintenance. To defrag, click on "Rearrange items of your hard disk to make programs run faster" and to clean-up click on "Free up space on your hard disk." Also, be sure to scan for viruses and spyware on a regular basis, and update the virus definitions often, as well.

Answer 5

you should get more ram if your laptop starts lagging when too many programs are running at one time. If your laptop is overheating, I have also heard the there are special cooling pads that you can put it on to reduce heat, or install another fan. If you go to circuit city or somewhere like that they could diagnose your problem better. I hope I have helped.

Answer 6

U havent mentioned the processor speed of it, but anyway i think u should put more ram on it to mak it 512mb at least so booting up will be faster.

Answer 7

Maybe your comp has lots of downloaded things in it, take some time to delete the unwanted things from your comp and see the results . Still problem ? Wait and see if you see no changes then maybe you can bring the Virus disc and check if your comp has got virus .If yes then clean it with the virus disc you have brought.

Answer 8

I know this sounds funny.

Everytime you hibernate your PC, it stores the current image into the harddrive and uses it to boot up next time. If you keep hibernating your PC, it tends to slow down, due to excessive memory (RAM) usage.

Give your PC a complete restart once a week atleast to allow it to boot afresh.

Answer 9

Clear your cache.
Delete your temp. internet files.
Delete your computer's history.
Delete things off of your computer that you don't need that is taking up space.
De-frag your computer.
And finally, go to the start menu, click run, type msconfig, click ok, go to the tab that says 'startup' uncheck everything, click apply, then click ok. you'll need to restart your computer to make these changes take effect.

It should be faster then. =]

Answer 10

Scan Disk, Defrag. Clean out temp internet files, cookies, trash bin, old emails.