Faster Computer in 7 Easy Steps

I think every person I have ever consulted to about their computer has asked me how to make it run faster and more efficient. What they don't seem to know is that it is a very simple process in 7 steps to increase the performance of your computer. Just follow the following steps and in no time your machine will be running faster than if you doubled your RAM.

Uninstall Useless or Unnecessary Programs

Most machines have programs that the user hasn't and will never use so they take up space and memory. You must get rid of these. But please do not just delete the icon from your desktop, to properly delete them you must totally uninstall the program. For XP users go to control panel -> add/remove programs, and for Vista users go to control panel -> programs and features.

Stop Programs Starting on Boot up

This one is a personal hate of mine, your boot up process can last a lot longer than it should if you have a bunch of programs trying to startup in the boot process. To check what programs you have running and to delete them you must go to the startup area which can be found at start -> programs -> startup.

The other area you must check for startup programs is your msconfig (not as hard as it sounds). Simply go to start and type in run, now in the run area type in msconfig and then go to the startup tab. Here you will see all your programs opening on startup, to stop them simply uncheck them.

Defrag Your Hard Drive

A lot of people I have spoken to have heard of the term 'defrag' but have no idea what it is or how to do it. It is such a simple process as your computer does all the work for you, you just have to know where to go.

• Open the All Programs Menu
• Open the Accessories Menu
• Open the System Tools Menu
• Open the Disk Defragmenter
• Defrag Your Hard Drive
• Defrag Your Computer

Some computers have a setting to defrag on a regular basis, this is better as the PC does it all for you.

Adjust Visual Effects

Windows XP provides a number of interesting visual effects like animated windows and fading menus. These effects, however, can slow down your computer alot. You should adjust these effects to suit your current hardware and memory capacity. Reducing some of the effects can result in performance gains.

Scan Your Machine For Errors

Errors and bugs within your computer can slow it down dramatically, run this scan and delete errors.

Delete Spyware and Adware

Once again these nasties and cause many headaches for a PC user, so use this scan and get rid of them.

Virus Scan

Just like adware and spyware, viruses can cause huge problems for your PC. You should run a regular scan on your PC.