I’m often asked about the “one thing” users can do to speed up their computers. The question is a simple one; I wish the answer were as simple. Unfortunately, there are an unknowable number of reasons why computers slow down. Some are temporary and some are permanent; some exist and some don’t; some can be fixed and some can’t – or at least can’t be fixed without an investment of some cold, hard cash.

Speeding Up Computer Performance Isn’t A One-Shot Deal

There is no magic involved in speeding up your computer, but there are things you can do to prevent it from slowing down, or to boost performance. Ultimately, the component that governs how fast your computer works is the CPU. The more work the CPU is doing, or the more tasks it divides its time between, the slower your computer will appear to work.

You can lighten the burden on your CPU by making sure that you have the tools your computer needs to work efficiently. If you use a lot of graphics-intensive software (like games), you’ll want a good graphics card with lots of onboard memory. What the card can’t process gets handled by the CPU, so the more graphics capabilities you add to your computer, the better off you’ll be.

Your computer needs a lot of memory, especially if you run multiple programs at the same time. If you like to (or need to) multitask, you’ll want a lot of memory installed on your computer.

If you have a lot of files stored on your computer, you’ll want to make sure you have adequate storage space for these files, plus whatever “temporary” space the computer needs for applications. Defragment your hard drive often to make the best use of the space you have, and don’t store files outside of the file system – like on the desktop.

Keep your computer free of malware, viruses and other performance torpedoes. Programs that aren’t classified as malware, but run all the time deserve a careful evaluation. If you don’t really need it, get rid of it! If you can’t do that, at least configure it so it doesn’t run all the time.)

Clean your registry. Do registry cleaners work? Yes! RegCure will restore performance by removing unneeded registry code that your computer has to read and interpret. You’ll be surprised by what a difference a clean registry can make!

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There are certain things you can’t change about your computer without spending some of your hard-earned cash. The processor speed is fixed; the graphics processing capabilities are fixed; the amount of memory you have installed is also fixed. You can modify all of these things, but that will require an investment. If you’re hoping to speed up your computer without having to lay out a lot of money, consider these tips.

Little Things Can Make A Difference

What You’re Doing: Keeping unneeded files and data. Over time, your file system can become overloaded with materials you no longer need. Keeping track of where these unneeded items are takes up resources and space that you could be using for other stuff.

What You Should Be Doing: Pare down your file system and archive the materials you want to keep but don’t need to keep on your hard disk. Consider transferring this kind of data to a CD or DVD.

What You’re Doing: Keeping programs you don’t use. New computers often come loaded with “demo” software that either expires after a particular period of time, or is a locked version of the full package. Software publishers have agreements with PC manufacturers that permit the manufacturers to load these programs on the computer before it ships to the end user.

What You Should Be Doing: Eliminating unnecessary programs. When you go through your computer, remove all applications that you no longer need, or have never used. Demo programs take up space and resources. Remove whatever you don’t use, or no longer use. If you like to download shareware or freeware, but decide that what you’ve downloaded doesn’t suit your needs, uninstall it right away.

What You’re Doing: Letting regular disk maintenance slip. When you delete a lot of files, your hard disk becomes fragmented, making it harder for the computer to find the necessary storage space for new files and applications.

What You Should Be Doing: Defragmenting your hard disk. After deleting so many files, defragment your hard disk using the built in Defragment tool. This tool will enable your hard disk to optimize the placement of the data that remain on your hard disk and speed up access and write times. Even after you defragment, you’re still not done!

What You Should Be Doing: Cleaning your registry. After doing some wholesale deleting and defragging, you’ll also want to clean your computer’s registry. Each time you add programs, new entries get written to your registry. Not all uninstallers are created equal, however, and useless bits of program code are often left behind. A good registry cleaner like RegCure will help clear this information out and restore performance to your computer.

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Computers age more quickly than other equipment does, partially because the computer manufacturers are always coming out with newer, better, faster and cheaper components that expand the capacity of a computer and reduce its cost at the same time. This fact, along with several habits users may adopt, can add up to a slow computer.

Eliminating Bad Habits That Can Lead To A Slow Computer

What You’re Doing: Storing files on the desktop. This sneaky little habit can cause your computer to devote extra memory to your OS on top of what it’s already devoted to the file system. Each document or other item that is stored on the desktop takes up valuable operating memory.
What You Should Be Doing: Saving your files in the file system. Microsoft creates folders like your Downloads and Document folders to help you avoid storing files on the desktop. Use these folders when you download files or create documents. If you don’t like doing that, develop a structure within your file system to save your files. Don’t store anything on the desktop!

What You’re Doing: Running the standard installation routine. When you download or install a new application, the Setup.exe file or the installer file usually has a pre-programmed installation routine that stores the application files in a particular place in the file structure. It also adds the other files (like libraries) you may need to get the application to work properly. The installer routine often enters your new application into the “startup items” file set, meaning that the new application will start automatically. It also adds the application to the Start Menu and/or Task Bar, and puts an icon on the desktop.
What You Should Be Doing: Select “Custom Install” to look at exactly what the installer plans to do. Eliminate the extras like the Start Menu add-on, the startup items entry, the desktop alias and/or the Task Bar add-on. Start programs that you won’t use every day manually. The more extras you can eliminate from the standard installation routine, the better off you’ll be.

In my next post, we’ll cover three other tips that can help you change your work habits as they relate to your slow computer. Once you’ve purchased a computer, you can’t improve your hardware performance very much – at least not without spending more money. You can correct work habits that rob your computer of operating memory and lead to a slow computer, however!

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If your computer suddenly slows to an agonizing pace, you may be tempted to think that a virus or other type of malware is the problem. You may race to perform anti-virus scans or malware scans, and start thinking about what you’ve downloaded recently. The good news is that not all computer slowdowns are the result of malware or viruses.

Don’t Jump To Conclusions

When you’re trying to diagnose a slow computer, it’s important NOT to jump to conclusions about what the problem might be. An erroneous diagnosis can produce a great deal of unnecessary work, lost time and rarely gets you to the correct solution.

It’s never a bad idea to scan your computer regularly for viruses and malware. In fact, your anti-virus and anti-malware programs should be set to update themselves automatically, and should also be set to scan your computer frequently. For computers that have a reliable and trusted anti-virus/anti-malware program running on them, a viral infection is rarely my first suspect when a slowdown occurs.

I like to look at the performance of the computer to see if there’s something specific that’s causing the computer to misbehave. I also like to know what’s running at the moment. The Task Manager can give you an instant look at which applications and processes are running. A word of caution: don’t kill a process or application simply because you don’t recognize it by name. Some necessary OS processes have strange names. Take a moment to figure out what’s consuming the CPU’s time. If a process is consuming 100% or nearly 100% of the CPU, you may want to end that particular task, though.

Perfmon is a built-in tool from Microsoft that can provide a detailed graphical look at what your CPU is doing. This is a good troubleshooting tool that can help you pinpoint trouble because you can see the impact of starting and stopping applications instantly. It will also show you the impact of even simple things, like moving the mouse cursor around the screen. Use this tool in conjunction with the Task Manager to pinpoint applications that are misbehaving or that don’t get along with other applications you may have running on your computer.

Once you locate the troubled application(s), check with the software publisher to see if an update to your software has been published. If so, apply it, and any other patches to the OS that you may have missed.

If that doesn’t resolve the issue, consider running a registry cleaner like RegCure to remove registry entries that have been left behind or replaced with newer ones.

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If you’re looking for a faster computer but can’t afford to replace the computer you have, consider this: much of what slows your computer down is resolvable. You can get additional speed out of your computer by making some relatively simple changes to your start-up routine.

Why You Should Look At Your Startup File

Standard installation routines are good in some respects and bad in others. It’s easy to click a few buttons and get your latest download to install, but unless you really look at the “recommended” or “standard” installation routine, you may not know exactly what the installer will do to your computer.

Setting aside the nefarious possibilities, installers will add information to your applications folder (or whatever folder you specify); make entries to your registry; create icons and shortcuts that reside on the desktop, or in the system tray; and they may even add your new download to the computer’s Start Up file. In doing so, each of these actions requires the computer to either spend or devote some memory to this application. The application’s memory usage goes beyond the space it takes up on your hard disk. The application will claim a little bit of RAM, even when you don’t intend to use it.

To eliminate the extra memory usage, periodically review your Start Up Items file. Determine which applications you cannot (or don’t want to) start yourself when they’re needed. Leave those items in the Start Up file. For those applications you don’t need, or don’t mind starting on your own, remove them from your startup file. Your boot time will improve and your computer will have more memory available for the applications you do want to use.

While we’re on the subject of memory usage, take the time to close application windows you don’t need any longer, and close applications when you’re finished with them. Having multiple windows open can take up additional memory and slow your computer performance down. When you’re using a browser, consider opening multiple tabs in the same window instead of opening multiple windows when you need to see more than one Web page. Tabbed browsing is more efficient and eliminates clutter from your desktop.

When you finish with an application and close app windows without actually closing the application, you can use up memory. Quit an application as you finish with it and restart it if you need to. Also, don’t store documents on the desktop. Store documents and files in the file system to maximize your memory usage.

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