How do I spped up my computer?

Question

I have a Compaq Presario 5020 and it is running slower than usual, I have defragmented it and cleared the cookies, temp files, and history. My internet is supposed to be running 5 megs but when I do a speedtest it says I am only running just under 3 megs. is there a way that I can make it run like new again?

Answer 1

If you are an extremest, back up your files on an external hard drive and scrape your computer. (as in wipe the whole HD clean of its files) This will significantly clean your computer up, and speed it up too.

Otherwise, if you dont want to go throught that painful and time consuming process, you can buy more RAM, and install it yourself, or hire someone to do so. At least 1 gig of RAM is nice, and it speeds up your computer. The internet speedtest might also be faulty, and maybe your internet connection is bad, either because your internet is slow, or the wire you're using is damaged.

The best way, by far, is to upgrade your RAM. That will speed up your computer nicely

Answer 2

Some other general stuff you can do includes cleaning up some unused files. CCleaner (ccleaner.com) is a great program to clean up unused files on the file system and has a handy section that cleans up some basic registry problems.

Once you do that, you can also optimize your registry. http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

It won't alter information in your registry, but it will reduce the size it takes and the memory that it takes to load it.

I also turn on the ability to view hidden files and folders and delete the first directories that show up in the Windows folder starting with a $ sign. Those are uninstall programs for windows updates and service packs. If your system has been running fine with the current setup, I've found that it's pretty safe to delete those to clear up a lot of space.

The less files you have on your hard drive, the more files the drive can move closer to the spindle of the HD platter itself. The closer to the spindle of the platter, the faster the computer can access them.

Answer 3

1. You do defrag once a month. 2. Look through your programs in Add and Remove and uninstall those, which you do not use for months, especially which came with installation CD. 3. Run msconfig from Run and choose selective start up. Uncheck the boxes in Startup next to the programs you know you don't need when Windows start. 4. Leave as little icons on the desktop as you can (it takes time to fill it). 5. I noticed that deleting temp files from Internet option and with CCleaner is not enough. So type in Run %temp%, temp and prefetch. Delete. All these steps you make after you run antivirus and antispy programs and disk cleanup. I just want to add that you can clean registry after making backups with Ccleaner. It is safe. Restart the comp.

Answer 4

How to make your computer faster
A clean computer is key to a faster computer. Run the 3 scans below.

Update and run your Anti-Virus program. Don't have one? You can run a free online scan from Trendmicro. When I have tested it it takes some time to run it but it may be time well spent if it can fix any problems.

Download and run http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Download, update and run Spybot---http://www.safer-networking.org/ . Don't forget to use the Immunize feature.

Download, update and run Adaware---http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/products/select_your_product.php

Now lets clean up your registry.

Download RegScrubXP--http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?d...

Safely cleans junk out of the Windows 2000/XP system registry. All changes made to the registry are fully restorable to it's original condition. You can make an exclusion list of registry entries that RegScrubXP will not display as problems. You can sift through a list of file extensions, company names, run upon startup programs, Internet Explorer history, and uninstall programs to delete what you think is junk.

Download CleanUp---http://www.stevengould.org/software/clea...

Free disk space, make your computer run better/faster and protect your privacy - all in one easy solution. All for free!


Now lets clean up your disk.

Do a Disk Cleanup and Disk Defrag. You can find both of them by following the path below.

Start>all programs>accessories>system tools>Disk Cleanup. Let it do its thing. You can check every box that has something to delete.

Now follow the same path and do a Disk Defrag. Again just let it do its thing.

Now lets tweak your connection. There are many programs out there to do this. I will give you 2 of them.

The first one is TCP Optimizer.

Description: The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. There is no installation required, just download and run.

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php...

You can get support for the best way to set it up right from their forum http://forums.speedguide.net/

The second one is Cablenut.

Windows XP tested and approved

CableNut is a tool for optimizing your Internet Connection. We have provided a way to tweak any option you may want to in the adjuster. You can load "CableNut Custom Setting" files that are included with the program to tweak your Internet connection.

http://www.cablenut.com/

Again support is available right from their forum.http://www.broadbandnuts.com/index.php?p...

Answer 5

If your computer has become extremely slow. There are 5 things you should do:

1) Make sure your hard drive is not full (you need at least 200 MB for Microsoft Windows XP). To check for space availability on your hard drive, click on Start, right click on My Computer, right click on Local Disk (C:), choose Properties, Free Space is the hard drive space you have available.

2) Run antivirus program to check for viruses (for example Norton Antivirus or MacAfee).

3) Run antispyware programs to check for SPYWARE software (for example spybot, ad-aware or Microsoft AntiSpyware). You can download spybot at spybot. Microsoft antispyware actually removed link hijacking spyware and popups that Google could not block. You could download Microsoft Antispyware at Microsoft antispyware

4) Choose Start, Run, msconfig, Startup, remove the programs you think should not be there. (this is a very dangerous task , if you remove the wrong program some of your applications may not function right, if you are not sure which programs to remove call a technician)

5) Run Disk Defragmenter by choosing Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

Answer 6

Here is a link from Bleeping Computer that I have found very helpful. There is a ton of good info here. Best of lick to you.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic44690.html

Answer 7

Try removing any old programs or files that you no longer need or use, or you can buy additional sticks of memory for the computer, and place them into the expansion slots inside your PC.

Answer 8

One option would to upgrade to a Gigabit ether

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833156156

Your ether/NIC is 10/100 this will increase it to 100/1000. Which in turn should get you a test like this.

Download Speed: 27618 kbps (3452.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 360 kbps (45 KB/sec transfer rate)

Answer 9

Restart it! If you have windows xp when you first start it keep on pressing ctrl and f11 un til something pops up then pic restore then your comp will be set like the first day u bought it. but if you have important stuff in in be sure to save it in a disk!

Answer 10

get faster internet and a dsl not dial up cause thats the slowest one around!! try cleanong ur cashe files lowering the numbers call ur inter,serv,pravider to help you do this it makes it faster too