Tips for improving your computer’s speed

Does it seem like your computer is running slower than it was when you brought it home from the store? Over time, computers can slow down because files become disorganized or unnecessary software can consume valuable system resources. There are a number of things you can do to improve your computer’s speed.

Before you do anything, you should back up your computer. Some of the tips below may cause pre-existing, but hidden, problems to surface and keep your computer from starting. If this happens and you have a backup, you should be able to restore important files just in case something goes wrong.

Remove unused programs. One of the first things you can do is remove programs you no longer use. Programs take up space on your hard drive and some run in the background and use up resources such as system memory.

Install and run antispyware software. Spyware is software that infects your computer, usually through e-mail, but it can also be spread through Web browsing or installing software. Spyware cannot usually be removed through the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. You will need to install and run specialized antispyware software. There are many different spyware detection and removal packages available, some free and some not. Here are a few:

Windows Defender. This is a free download from Microsoft.

Norton Internet Security. Norton Internet Security provides much more than just antispyware services: it also includes antivirus, antispam and parental controls, a two-way firewall, advanced phishing protection, intrusion protection and rootkit detection. You can download this product directly from the Symantec Web site, and is only $69.99 for a one-year subscription.

Spy Sweeper. This product also includes antivirus protection for $39.95 for a one-year subscription. You can get it at the Webroot website.

Ad-aware. Ad-aware by Lavasoft is the original antispyware software. It comes in several versions, one of which is free.

***Be aware that you should only run ONE firewall and ONE antivirus program at a time on any given computer.  If you try to run more than one of either program, they will conflict with each other and slow your computer to a crawl.***

Free up wasted space. After removing unused programs, you can then run the Windows Disk Cleanup tool. To run the Disk Cleanup tool, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.

2. Right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties.

3. On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. Disk Cleanup will spend a few minutes examining your disk.

4. The Disk Cleanup dialog box will appear. Select each of the check boxes in the Files to delete list, and then click OK.

5. When prompted, click Yes. Disk Cleanup will spend several minutes removing these files, which will provide you with more space.

Defragment your hard disk. Over time, as you work on files on your computer, opening, changing, and re-saving the file, parts of it can get placed onto different areas of the hard disk. When your computer needs to load that file into memory for you to work on, it will have to pull those file fragments from wherever they are on the drive. This can slow down your computer. Files will load much quicker if they are stored on contiguous areas of the hard disk. Defragmentation can improve your computer’s performance by reorganizing your files. To defragment your hard disk, follow these steps.

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.

2. Right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties.

3. Click the Tools tab, and then click Defragment Now.

4. The Disk Defragmenter appears. Click your hard disk drive, and then click Defragment.

5. Disk Defragmenter will work for from several minutes to several hours, depending on what size hard drive you have and how fragmented it is. When prompted, click Close.

If you have more than one hard drive, repeat each of these steps for each hard drive.

Disconnect unused network connections. If your computer is, or ever was, attached to a network, you have probably mapped a drive to a location on another computer so you could transfer files back and forth. As long as you have these drives mapped, Windows XP will attempt to reconnect the drives every time you start your computer. If the remote computer does not respond, Windows XP will wait for a response, slowing down your computer. Also, some programs will attempt to connect to the remote computer when you browse for files and folders, again slowing you down.

To reduce this problem, disconnect any unused network drives.

1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.

2. On the Tools menu, click Disconnect Network Drive.

3. Select the network drives you no longer need, and then click OK.

Performing these steps on a regular basis should improve the performance of your computer.

If you have done all this and your computer is still running slow, it may be time for a memory upgrade. Every program you run, including Windows, and every file you open must be loaded into system memory, also called Random Access Memory, or RAM, before you can gain access to it. The more programs you run, the more RAM you need. Windows XP and Windows Vista require large amounts of RAM just to run; then if you also add several programs, your system can start to run out of RAM. When this happens, Windows will take unused parts of itself or other programs running and move them over to the hard drive to free up system RAM for whatever program or file you have asked it to open. When you need the information that it just moved to the hard disk, it must move something else to the hard disk in order to retrieve the information it now needs. This can degrade your system’s performance. If you think it’s time for a RAM upgrade, you will first need to determine how much RAM you currently have. To do this, complete the following steps:

1. Click Start, then point to My Computer.

2. Right-click My Computer, then click Properties.

3. On the General tab, look at the bottom right for the amount of RAM currently installed. If it reads 256 MB or less, it is definitely time for an upgrade; if it reads 512 MB, you still might want to consider upgrading.

If you decide it’s time to increase the amount of RAM in your computer, you first need to check your user’s manual to find out what type RAM you can use and the maximum amount your computer can accommodate. Then, you can contact me to get an estimate for upgrading the memory in your computer.  Check the Contacts page.