Top 4 Ways To Speed Up Your PC
September 25, 2009
As a PC owner, from time to time, you get fed up and frustrated with the slowness of your computer. Maybe a certain program takes a long time to load, your PC boot-up time is ridiculously slow, or it takes forever just to do a simple task, like getting the start menu to open up.
Whatever it is, the slow PC problem is a real problem for millions of computer users. While there is not a sure-fire fix for slow PCs that will work, or even help, in every situation, here are the top four ways to speed up your PC.
#1. Reboot
You’d be amazed at just how many people never bother rebooting their computers, considering that this in itself is one of the biggest culprits in terms of slowing down a computer. After all, so many people now use 24 hour Internet access, with their computers being a part of their daily life, but what they don’t realize is, all computers need to be rebooted frequently in order for them to function as they should.
You need to bear in mind that there are several programs which don’t shut down completely even when you close them. Furthermore, many software programs tend to have memory leakage, and over a period of time this can have an adverse effect on your computer’s available memory. Obviously, when your computer is short on available memory it inevitably begins slowing down until it reaches a snail’s pace. By rebooting your computer you’ll be allowing it to reset its memory and you’d be surprised how this alone can result in your computer speeding up.
#2. Upgrade your memory
A computers available memory can be likened, albeit loosely, to the muscles of the computer. If you have weak, or low, memory, that is likely one of the biggest issues that you have concerning your slow PC. Anymore, 512MB RAM should be the bare minimum, and that’s only if you are running Windows XP or an earlier operating system; if you are using Windows 7, you need at least 1GB, and Windows Vista requires at least 1.5GB of memory. Ideally, though, you should consider having at least 2GB of memory in your PC if you have a 64-bit system, you play games, or you like to run more than a few applications simultaneously.
#3. Defragmenting the hard drive
A fragmented hard drive is an inefficient hard drive. If you havent run your computers built-in defragmentation tool yet, you are probably losing out on a lot of speed that you could be enjoying. When your files are heavily fragmented, it takes your computer more energy to open those files, and subsequently other files, and it just clutters up your whole computing experience.
Remember, it’s not without reason that Microsoft includes a defrag tool with all of their operating systems. Essentially, you should defragment your hard drive at least once each month and providing you do so, the resultant increase in speed will certainly be noticeable. In fact, it will be even more noticeable if you haven’t run the defragment tool for quite some time.
#4. Use a registry-cleaning program
Registry cleaners allow you to de-clutter your Windows registry. Which, if you dont know, your registry is like the brains of your computer. When you install or uninstall programs, add or remove drivers, etc, data is added to, and taken out of, your computers registry. However, sometimes programs do not uninstall correctly, or they leave information in the registry which is either just taking up space, or will cause conflicts with certain programs, which in turn can lead to a system slowdown and intermittent errors on your PC. Running a good registry cleaning program every once in a while is recommended if you want to keep your PC at its optimal running state.
In many cases, even using a couple of these tips will help you to improve your computers speed significantly. While just about everybody experiences a PC slowdown on occasion, its not a fun experience, especially when you think the only options are to format your PC or send your computer to the repair shop. By using the tips above, you will help to ensure that you can enjoy a speedier PC today, and hopefully, for many years to come.
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