Speed Up Computer

If you’ve ever suffered through the re-installation of your operating system, you know (or at least you should know) that reinstalling the operating system is a last-ditch effort to correct an intractable problem. Unfortunately, a lot of users (and technicians alike) use it as a cure-all when basic troubleshooting and maintenance don’t resolve a slow computer problem.

Is Reinstallation Necessary?

Reinstallation may have been necessary – even preferred – at one time to take care of slow computer problems. In my view, it’s akin to pulling out the biggest hammer in the toolbox. I tend to avoid re-installation until I’ve exhausted all other options. I do this partially because there are a lot of settings and adjustments I’ve made to my personal computer that I simply don’t want to lose.

There is also the issue that once a fresh installation of the operating system has been carried out, you may find yourself spending an additional hour (or hours) applying every patch and service pack that’s been issued since the new OS was introduced. If your version of the OS is new, this can be relatively painless. If not, you could be applying 40-60 patches and one or more service packs to your “fresh” installation. And you also run the risk that after completing this Herculean task, you’ll still be left with a slow computer.

A better approach is to determine why the computer is behaving slowly in the first place. Computers can slow down for a variety of reasons – including lack of physical memory, lack of available disk space, and significant fragmentation on the hard disk. You could also experience problems with device drivers that have begun to misbehave. There’s also the odd possibility that a recent OS update or patch isn’t performing as expected.

Once you’ve determined that your computer has sufficient resources to run the applications you use, you can also check the network connection and the servers you’re connecting to. If your computer operates normally with its network card disabled, your problem isn’t likely to be solved by replacing the OS.

People tend to ascribe odd computer behavior to viral infections. While it’s true that viruses can certainly slow down your computer and decrease its ability to perform, a good anti-virus program will not only detect and remove offending malware, it will also prevent your computer from being impacted in the first place.

I advise people to download a registry cleaner like SpeedUpMyPC because it not only manages the registry, it also optimizes the computer for the best possible performance. If you’re not impressed with your computer’s performance, download a copy of SpeedUpMyPC and see for yourself why more than a million PC users rely on it to speed up their computer performance.

Photo Credit: Abraham.williams, via Flickr