Practical Tips to Really Speed Up Your Computer

No one wants to wait a long time for his computer to start or to shut down. However, the computer does not always listen to your command to get the job done immediately. Instead, it moves forward at a slow pace to do a task that can often put you in a state of extreme uneasiness and discomfort. In fact, there are many aspects dealing with this problem which causes the operating system to react slowly. Below are tips that could definitely accelerate the speed of your computer.

Erase the Program Completely

It is easy to use "Add/ Remove Programs" to delete some installed programs in the computer. However, it does not help you to remove the registry and fix missing files and entries of the programs, which may also affect the speed of your computer. This is because your computer needs time to look for them. This will definitely cause your computer to become slow. You can use a trust computer booster/ optimizer program to clear out these files in order to stop the computer from wasting time looking for them. "Nortonuninstall", a product developed by Symantec, is good to get this job done. However, this product has been banned from use as it was claimed to destruct some copyrighted software. Due to this issue, Symantec has come out with a new product, Cleansweep, which has a similar function. If you are unable to get this software, you may use some other trusted software with a similar function. Make sure you clean the registry and other unwanted files once a week to keep your computer running smoothly. The more you run this, the more it will fix the errors and problems which will secure good performance of your computer. From this explanation, you will understand that you do not always have to spend money buying RAM because it will not have the function of cleaning these unwanted files.

Check Your Application Software

Some installed programs can make your computer run very slow. In order to check whether these are the reasons that your computer is becoming slow, run Windows in "Safe Mode". Of course, "Safe Mode" should operate slower than when you run in "Normal Mode". Nevertheless, if you realize that your computer runs in "Safe Mode " faster than when you run in "Normal Mode", then the start-up procedures are possible likely reasons for your computer running slow.

Reduce Icons on Your Desktop

If there are too many icons on your desktop, the speed of your computer can also become very slow. This is because the system needs to launch these icons individually while loading them onto the desktop. Similarly, if there is an anti-virus software icon, it will always start by scanning these, which will further reduce the speed of your computer. Try placing as few icons as possible on your desktop. It is recommended to place any other icons in another folder or to simply delete them altogether from your desktop.

Reduce the Storage of Fonts

Though Microsoft Window Operating System enables you to install from between 1000 to 1500 fonts, you will probably face problems once you install more than 500 fonts. Some of the common problems include installed fonts disappearing suddenly and at the same time causing the Windows start-up performance to drop sharply. It is always better to only keep the fonts you want while deleting all unnecessary fonts that may reduce the speed of your computer. To delete the unwanted fonts, you should take note to perform it with care so that you will not delete certain fonts that are required by Windows. Those fonts include Verdana, Arial, Trebuchet, Tahoma, Times New Roman, MS Sans Serif, and Courier New and they should not be touched on your system. To delete any other fonts, go to My Computer and then to your local disk C, double clicking on a window folder, and then double clicking on the font's folder. Highlight the fonts you want to remove, then right click your mouse to select Delete.

Eliminate Background Setting

Are you aware that the beautiful background that you chose for your desktop is indeed a waste of resources? Not only that, but also it reduces the speed of your computer considerably. Therefore, you should disable this setting by right-clicking the cursor on the desktop. You will see a dialog box of the "background"; choose "no" when its window appears. In the "appearance" box, change the dark green color to black or any plain color.

To Accelerate the Operating System

Windows XP

1. Perform a disk clean up from time to time. Click Start which appears in the bottom left corner of your computer. Next, click Run. In the dialog box of Run, type in "cleaning.exe" and then press OK. This will take you between a few minutes to a few hours depending on how frequent you do a disk cleanup task, but it is definitely recommended.
   
   
   
   
   
2. To load Windows faster, click Start, and then Run. Next, you should type "msconfig" in the text field and press Enter. Click on the BOOT.INI tab at the top. You will see a box labeled Timeout with 30 over to the right. Change the 30 to 3.
   
   
3. To speed up the processing time, simply go to Start, Control Panel and System. Next, click on the Advanced tab and click the setting button under the performance. Now, select the "Adjust for best performance" button, then click Apply and lastly the OK button.
   
   
4. Go to Start, then click Control Panel. Next, click Add/ Remove programs. Browse through the software and highlight the unwanted software to perform a task by clicking "remove".
   
   
5. Download a free copy of AVG's Anti-Virus and Windows Defender to perform the task of removing spyware and viruses. Always update and run your spyware and virus software weekly.
   
   
6. Remember to disable any unwanted programs which will prevent Windows from loading faster. To do this, click on Control Panel, then open Administrative Tools, and select Services. If you are not sure which to disable, consult your dealer for further information.
   
   
   
   
7. Always perform the defragment task to improve load speeds. To do this, go to Start, and then click Run. In the Run dialog box, type in "dfrg.msc" carefully in its text field. Lastly, click Defragment to start performing the task.
   
   
   
   
8. Convert the hard drive from FAT16 or FAT32 into NTFS to enable faster access time. To perform this operation, go to Start, and then Run. In the Run dialog box, type in "cmd" and then press OK. When the command prompt window opens, type "CONVERT C:/FS:NTFS"(do not include quotes). Then, you follow the instructions to get your drive to convert into NTFS. NTFS drives are only compatible with Windows 2000/NT/XP and Vista.
   
   
9. To speed up the loading of the menus, simply go to Start and click on Run. Next, type in "regedit" (without quotes) and hit enter. Search for "HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop", choose MenuShowDelay and right-click on it. Next, select Modify to reduce the number to 100 but not too less than that.
   

Windows Vista

1. Perform disk clean up and defragment your hard drive routinely.
   
   
2. Do not open too many programs at the same time as this will decrease the loading speed.
   
   
3. Use built-in tools such as Task Manager and the Reliability and Performance Monitor to examine which processes utilize more RAM and CPU.
   
   
4. Delete any programs you never want to use in order to free up space on your hard disk. To do this, go to Start button, and then click on Control Panel. Next, click on Programs and then click on Programs and Features. Select the program you wish to remove by clicking Uninstall.
   
   
5. Make sure you always choose as few as possible programs to load at start-up as possible.
   
   
   
   
6. Some programs may be loaded automatically at start-up. You should find them and disable them using the Windows Defender. To do this, go to the Start button, click on Control Panel and then click on Windows Defender. Next, click on Tools, and then click Software Explorer. Click Startup Programs that appears in the Category box. Highlight the program you wish to stop from running by clicking Disable. Last, click Yes to confirm this task.
   
   
   
   
7. Boost your computer by upgrading its RAM to 2GB or more.
   
   
8. Restart your PC regularly at least once a week to clear out its memory for a better performance. The longer you keep your PC running, the lower its memory will be. So, try to restart your PC after opening many programs, e-mail messages or websites.
   
   
9. Cut down on the visual effects which may cause your PC to run extremely slow. To adjust the visual effects, go to the Start button, click on Control Panel, and then System and Maintenance. Next, click on Performance Information and Tools. This is followed by clicking Adjust Visual Effects. You should type in your password if you are prompted to do so. In the tab of Visual effects, check the box of "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.