How do I make my computer run quicker?

Question

I don't mean a laptop either.. My computer lately has been running slow.. I do a disk cleanup and defragment at least one a week when needed.. So now what?

Answer 1

Do you have anti-virus, spyware programs and a firewall to protect you?
If not get them immediately!!
Here are some free ones;
AVG Antivirus Free http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti-virus-free/lng/us/tpl/v5
AVG Antispyware Free http://free.grisoft.com/doc/20/us/frt/0
Spybot Search & Destroy Antispyware Free http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/
Also your registry may need cleaning;
CCleaner Free http://www.ccleaner.com/download/

A great site for all around simple computer things is;
http://www.komando.com/
If you do nothing else but go there and look for help it is great, but I signed up for the free emails.

Answer 2

Disk cleanup and defrag basically just give you a warm fuzzy feeling of doing something good. They don't help much.

I've dealt with people saying "my computer is slow" for years. What exactly is slow? Was it "faster" before? How old is the computer? When was the last time it was given a once-over by a trained technician?

There are literally thousands of things that will make a once good running computer run "slow".

Most commonly (in no particular order)-

Hardware problems (specifically a hard drive going bad)
Virus's and spyware (just because you have an antivirus doesn't mean its doing any good)
Too many programs running on startup (very common)
Low system memory or very low hard drive space (both will cause a computer to run slowly)
Multiple virus/spyware/"security" programs running at once (especially Norton Internet Security and/or McAfee Security Center - both of these programs will make a brand new top of the line computer noticeably slower)

So, with that in mind -

1) Try to download (or get a friend to download) and make a cd for "Ultimate Boot CD". It is an image file (used to make a cd) of a VERY helpful set of utilities, including hard drive tests, memory tests, and a bunch of other things. Test the hardware as best you can. "Make sure the car runs before you put gas in it" as my dad used to say.

2) Start the computer in safe mode and log in as administrator (tap the F8 key while the computer is starting up). Does it seem to run faster that way? If so, you probably have more programs running on startup than the CPU or RAM has the ability to handle. Right click on the My Computer icon and select properties. Look at the processor and ram statistics. If it is an XP or Windows 2000 machine, anything in the range of 256MB of ram (common on XP machines when people thought buying a $400 computer was a good idea) thats a big part of the problem. XP and 2000 run reasonably well with 512MB RAM, and more is generally better.

3) Restart the computer. Is there a ton of icons down by the clock? Many times I have "fixed" a slow computer by simply shutting off the autostart of programs - biggest offenders - RealPlayer, Winamp Agent, MySpace/Yahoo/AOL instant messengers (especially all at once), WeatherBug, tons of others. Learn (read - look up on the internet) the msconfig command. You will be able to stop certain programs from running on startup. Do you really need RealPlayer running every time the PC starts? Do you even know what RealPlayer does? My point exactly.

4) Install a good Antivirus/Antispyware program. Norton and McAfee just don't cut it. Try AVG antimalware. You can download a trial version that is fully functional for 30 days.
Get it at http://esd.element5.com/affiliate.html?affiliateid=200064498&publisherid=50169&target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww6.grisoft.com%2Fdoc%2F41%2Fus%2Fcrp%2F0%2F%3Faffid%3D200064498

Install it, update it, restart the PC in safe mode again, and run a full scan (in safe mode) and see what it finds. If you don't intend to keep the program, uninstall it when youre done (control panel-add/remove programs). I've used AVG for years and it works wonders.

If all else fails, get a diagnostic done at a computer reapir shop. Just a diagnostic - should cost $25-60 give or take. Take their info and get support from friends, people on the web, etc.. on what to do to fix it.

Hope this helps.

Jason

http://www.onestoptechnologyshop.com

Answer 3

Defragmentation and cleanups are good things to do! Have you aslo tried scanning the disk for errors? You can do this by right clicking on the hard disk in My Computer.

First off, how much free space do you have on your hard disk? If your hard disk is 90% full or more, you could be leaving yourself open for performance problems as your system needs some free disk space to use as "virtual memory" on a regular basis. If you have a very small amount of free space, your system will run slower. You can increase available disc space by uninstalling rarely-used programs or files.

If you that's not the problem, a common problem is that you have too many programs running. Now, you may see a large number of icons in your system tray next to the clock on your task bar. Every one of those is taking up part of your system memory. The less memory you have available, the slower your computer may run. Try right clicking on some of the icons and selecting Close or Quit. Things may run faster!

However, not all running programs have an icon by which you can control them. If the above doesn't do it for you, assuming you're using XP, I'd click on Start and then Run and then type "msconfig" in the textbox there. This is a neat utility that lets you customize what is loaded into memory at startup. Easiest way to use this tool is to click on the Services tab at the top and scroll through the list, unchecking things you do not want to load. A word of warning, however, is that you won't want to unload some things as they are a fairly important part of Windows. But things like Realplayer, yahoo messenger, and many other programs have "smart starters" that basically load most of the program into memory at startup so that they load quicker later should you choose to use them. This, unfortunately, means that your PC will possibly run slower when you're not using them even!

You also could have a virus or some malware installed. If you do not have software to check for these, I recommend AVG irus scanner and Ad-Aware for malware scanning. They are both free resources available from grisoft.com and lavasoftusa.com respectively.

If this all fails, assuming you have no hardware problem like bad memory or such that *can* cause slowness (though you'll ususally see lots of errors instead), it may just be time to back up your data and reinstall Windows from restore or installation CD. Overtime, even if nothing is "wrong" per se, Windows' performance can degrade just as small, unreported things happen behind the scened of your PC--like botched software or driver installations. It's unfortunate, but sometimes it comes down to this.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

You may want to check your registry for some invalid entries. But be careful in doing so backup your registry before doing any changes. There are lots of registry checker out there if your gonna download one read the review first.

Check your systray if there are to many programs loading remove un-needed programs or exit it.

Answer 5

Run a scan for Spyware/Malware
There are soo many different tools for this...

and install something with real-time protection, like Avast!
AVG, or NOD32

Answer 6

some kind of spyware scanner will clean out alot. Go to download.com and get ad- aware (free) and try it out. Also memory upgrade is the cheapest way to make it go faster.

Answer 7

delete old files, defrag, add ram, if it's possible update processor, disable any ports that are not used, or add video and sound card, that will free some system ram.

Answer 8

You would have to get more RAM (RandomAccessMemory).

This is temporary storage for the data you are viewing. If you have more space for temporary stoarage then you can have more stuff open at once.

Answer 9

If you have an old computer (more than three years), than it is time to get a new one. I know it is expensive, but it is the truth if you want a fast computer.

Answer 10

You didn't mention Anti-spyware?


Download and install this: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2007/3000-8022_4-10766151.html?tag=lst-0-2

Update it, then do a 'Smart Scan'.