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!

Photo Credit: Domenico Nardone, via Flickr

Speeding up your computer may or may not be high on your priority list. As your computer ages, however, you’ll begin to wonder whether you can get more out of your existing computer without needing to replace it. Computers slow down for a lot of reasons. Some of these issues are temporary; a process is using most of the computer’s memory or CPU resources, or an application has gone “rogue.” In this case, the quick fix is a simple restart. Each time you restart the computer, you will reinitialize the computer’s memory. This will remove any processes that have gone off on their own.

Fixing Computer Speed and Performance Issues

In other cases, an external problem that isn’t “temporary” may be causing the computer to work harder or less efficiently. These external actors include hardware malfunctions, viruses, malware, and inappropriate hardware configurations for the tasks you’re trying to accomplish. These problems are resolvable, provided that you know what they are. Make absolutely sure that you’re working with a clean, capable computer.

In yet other cases, the culprit is infrequent or incomplete maintenance. For the most part, when it comes to computers “deferred maintenance” doesn’t have the same permanent long-term impact that deferred maintenance would have on a house or an automobile. “Deferred maintenance” can be addressed with techniques like disk defragmentation, regular viral scans, regular malware scans, and registry cleaning.

Registry cleaning turns out to be an important component of regular maintenance because leftover bits of abandoned code can accumulate the registry. These useless bits of code will slow down the computer’s performance because, even though they’re no longer needed, the computer will read them and follow these instructions to the extent that it is able.

Sometimes, these abandoned code bits cause the computer to wait for a response, or search for something that is no longer available on the computer. A registry cleaner will clear out all of this useless code and eliminate the computer’s need to read and follow these instructions. If you read regularly, you know that I recommend RegCure. Millions of users have downloaded it and trust it to keep their registries clean.

Performing regular maintenance on your computer, including defragmenting the hard disk, scanning for viruses and malware, making regular system and driver updates, applying patches, and keeping your registry clean will take care of many issues that would otherwise eventually slow your computer down.

Photo Credit: Ethan Prater, via Flickr