How can I improve the speed and running of my pc?

Question

I am incredibly un-technical. I defragment and disc clean up on a regular basis plus I scan for adware and viruses although I have Norton. Is there anything that I can do to speed things up a bit.
Please dont get too technical cos I wont understand it.
Its either muddle through on my own or pay someone to do it and I know it can be very expensive.

Thanks to all who have posted so far. Some I dont understand but I am working on others

Answer 1

*****SPEED SOLUTIONS*****

Start up Files:

Every thing that appears in your systray (by the clock) when you start up is eating resources. Many programs will start when the PC starts by default. If it is not something you use the whole time you are on your PC from start to finish, get rid of the start up loaders. Things like Yahoo, AIM and such can be stopped in the respective program's preferences/options. Uncheck boxes that say Start "program name here" when Windows starts.

Other applications that may not offer this option can still be eliminated. Open "Run" on the start menu. Type in msconfig and click OK. Click on the start up tab. As you are not tech savvy, you will need to identify each file to deem if it is a necessary. Open your browser to Google. Enter the file names one at a time into Google. The first or second listing will identify the process for you. If the process is not for Windows, Norton, Internet/Network or any of your Hardware, un check the the box. Apply and reboot. On reboot you will get a dialog allowing you to choose to not run msconfig on start up. choose this option. You may have noticed your PC booted faster.

Hard Drive:

Saving too many downloads without burning them to discs can slow you down. Open My Computer. Right click Local Disc(C:). If the used space (the blue bit) takes up more than 2/3 of the pie chart, you need to burn some of your movies, pictures and videos to CD/DVD. Your hard drive looses efficiency past 2/3 capacity.

Memory:

Make sure the max amount of RAM allowable is installed on your PC. It's one of the cheapest and most speed ingreasing hardware upgrades you can make.

Spy Ware:

Spy/Ad Ware gets into your PC every time you go online. Get Spybot Search and Destroy and run it daily. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Security:

Norton's is known as a resourse hog. You might want to read up on this and choose something better. If you had pre-installed Norton, it has probally already expired, leaving you vunerable. AVG is free and effective if you cannot afford to buy a more efficient package. http://www.filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus/

Learning:

Read and learn. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/index.html

I hope this is helpful. Good Luck :-)

Answer 2

How old. ? How much memory. If less than 1gb of memory and fairly new computer bump up the memory some with a simple memory upgrade. Buy a new larger capacity chip and put it in place of the present chip then move the old chip to the slot next to the new chip. You always want largest size first.
If older computer then goto "Buildyourownpc.com" and start over. Programs and applications today are memory hogs and need the larger chips to process fast. New computers have large Cache sizes to handle huge chunks of data fast and efficient.

Answer 3

It sounds like you need to defragment your HD; since it does not start out slow. (The program comes with windows, and is put in "programs>accessories>system tools") ALSO, check the free space on your HD; you may need to remove some old files or programs you don't need anymore. (The windows swap file gets a fair amount of use in game playing!) It could, as mentioned by others, be slowed by overheating caused by dust buildup inside the case. (The CPU slows down to prevent burning itself up when it gets too hot on most systems in the last 5-6 years. This is a safety feature.)

Answer 4

to start.....i quit using norton all together. it is very bogging on the system. i also went back to internet explorer 6 instead of 7. i like the setup of 7 but it tends to be slower. last but not least..........SPYSWEEPER. i downloaded it, highly approved by cnet and various computer techs. they now have spysweeper with anti-virus protection. i sweep my computer 1 time a day or every couple days and it finds anything from traces of spyware to actual viruses and quarantines them. then if it is a file that you know you want to delete then you can. very simple to use and highly effective!! they have a variety of other products that you can also use.

Answer 5

Upgrade your RAM which is very cheap, close programs that you dont need when you turn your computer on (next to the clock) and if your using Norton Internet Security then that will slow down your computer.

Answer 6

Try doing a system restore,it will explain in the book you had when buying the pc how to do this.Or click on to set program excess and defaults,delete programs you dont need and remove windows opponents might help.

Answer 7

It is my experience that Norton is a resource hog. You might try downloading a free anti-virus program that is available on the internet such as AVG and see if running that makes any difference.

Answer 8

An inexpensive hardware upgrade can boost speed. Try doubling your RAM, I upgraded from 512MB of RAM to 1GB, which cost around £30, and it was a significant boost in speed. Its also very simple to install, its plug and play - just make sure you get the same make and model as your original.

Answer 9

The best way is to have a really really fast internet connection.

There is fast speed cable and also fast ADSL (ASDL) connections.
If you have one of those, you are half way there already.

If the slowing of your internet connection is recent, there had been many worms and its variants that are out there, and you need that constant updating of your Norton, or AVG or whatever you use.

Answer 10

you can delete files that are not really needed and kepp the important files or also if you have too many icons on your desktop try to put them in folders. You have to make space on your hardware