do they have any programs i could use to make my pc run a little faster?

Answer 1

Cleaning/defragmenting your harddrive WILL help your PC run faster, but not significantly. The only real way to speed up a computer, is to upgrade it. Sorry. However, stopping unnecessary programs will help a lot if you have a lot running (remember, they're using RAM and CPU in the background). To stop them running at the start, click Start, then Run, then enter "msconfig" (without quotes). click the startup tab, and remove anything unnecessary (i.e. Windows Media Player, MSN Messenger, Skype, Steam, LimeWire... anything you didn't ask to run at startup. However, don't stop your Anti-Virus.

Answer 2

Most of the "utility" programs (Norton etc) out there that claim to make your PC faster really don't do much at all. Some "RAM optimizers" will actually slow your system down even more since they use more resources just to run and the ones that work don't make a whole lot of difference compared to a hardware upgrade.

Here are a few suggestions you can try to help your PC run a bit smoother without buying anything extra.

1. Scandisk and defrag your hard drive periodically.

2. Close any excess programs running in the taskbar (Quicktime, Winzip, etc) you don't need to free up more usable RAM.

3. Make sure you have at least 10% of your drive space free at all times so you have ample swap space for "virtual memory" usage. If your drive is full, then you need to move some excess files off and either store them on a removable disk or burn them to a CD/DVD.

4. Scan your system periodically for spyware and viruses. Some of these can really slow your PC to a crawl.

5. In XP, right click on My Computer... Go to Advanced, and click the Settings button under Performance to set your PC to Adjust for Best Performance. This will remove the skinned XP look and all the extra visual menu effects and on a slow system you'll be surprised what a difference it makes.

Answer 3

SpeedUpMyPC 2.0. Never used it though. There are a few others I can't remember at the time. Just search around and you'll find others. Minimize the number of desktop icons, clear out your cookies, temporary Internet files, and downloads. Run disk cleanup and disk defragmenter. These things will help speed up your PC. Also, Best Buy does a PC optimization to help your computer run a little quicker. It's basically a series of tweaks that make things run better. Contact their Geek Squad for more info.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

Hi. Stop all unnecessary background processes, clean up your hard drive and defragment. Some PCs allow over clocking of the CPU and RAM, but it can be risky. If you are a gamer consider a better GPU. Hope this helps!