Speed Up Computer

In the past several posts, I’ve offered tips on ways to speed up computer performance. Here are a few more suggestions that can help you get the most out of your computer.

Help Is Already Available On Your Computer

Your computer comes with a set of very helpful tools that are designed to keep your computer running, identify potential problems and help you avoid problems over the long haul. These tools are part of the Windows operating system, so there’s nothing extra to buy. You simply need to know what these tools are and where to find them.

The first tool you want to familiarize yourself with is Check Disk. Check Disk has been around since the days of DOS and it’s very basic and very handy. Check Disk examines your hard disk for disk errors and damaged files. It corrects what it can and locks out what it can’t fix, so your hard disk doesn’t trip over the “bad spots” and damaged files on your hard disk in the future. Run Check Disk periodically as a maintenance task. You can also get yourself into the helpful habit of running Check Disk after your computer crashes inexplicably.

To find Check Disk, right click on the startup disk icon and select Properties, then Tools. Select “Error Checking” and let Check Disk do its thing. Check Disk can take several minutes to run, so this isn’t a task you want to undertake when you have to get some work done. If Check Disk finds damaged files, you can look at them to see if you can tell what’s been corrupted. It may help you with troubleshooting later on. Otherwise, there’s no reason to keep broken file bits hanging around.

The next tool you want to know about is “Disk Defragmenter.” You’ll also find this under Properties/Tools. Defragmenting your hard disk is another maintenance task you don’t want to skip. As you create and erase files on your hard disk, your drive begins to store files in little bits of available space on the hard disk. Disk Defragmenter puts those pieces back together, or at least close to each other to minimize the amount of time it takes your drive to find, reassemble and read a file.

Disk defragmenting is another potentially long task, so leave plenty of time for this one. If your disk is not seriously fragmented, this task can be completed promptly, If your disk is badly fragmented, however, restructuring your files can take hours (literally). This is a good overnight task, or something you can run when you know you’ll be away from your desk for awhile. As a maintenance task, consider setting this utility to run overnight weekly or monthly.

Next week, I’ll have more tips to help improve your computer performance.

Photo Credit: NightRStar, via Flickr

There are a lot of reasons your computer can slow down, and there are just as many things you can do to speed up computer performance. But there are a limited number of things you can do to allow your computer to provide consistent performance over time.

Registry Cleaners Do Make A Difference

One tool that you don’t want to be without when it comes to improving computer performance is a registry cleaner. Now, to be sure, there are dozens of registry cleaners available today, but not all registry cleaners are equal. SpeedUpMyPC 2012 is different because it not only clears out unnecessary lines of code in your computer’s registry database but also optimizes the performance of your computer so you get the most out of your computer each and every time you use it.

There’s nothing quite like SpeedUpMyPC 2012on the market today. Optimizing your computer performance is essential to getting the most out of your computer, especially since there are so many processes at work on your computer at any given time.

SpeedUpMyPC 2012 carefully analyzes your computer and determines the way you work. Then, it makes the changes that best suit your computer and your computing needs. SpeedUpMyPC 2012 monitors your PC and keeps it running smoothly around the clock. With SpeedUpMyPC 2012, you’ll get the best service and support, too. Download product updates, enjoy unlimited professional support and use as many as three licenses for your product purchase.

SpeedUpMyPC 2012 can keep all of the PCs in your home or small office working smarter throughout the year. SpeedUpMyPC has received rave reviews and has been downloaded more than a million times by satisfied users who rely on it to keep their computers running quickly and reliably.

SpeedUpMyPC 2012 not only helps your computer operate more quickly, it also minimizes the downtime you can experience with PCs that haven’t been optimized for use both on and off of a network. SpeedUpMyPC 2012 even offers a money-back guarantee if you don’t see improved performance on your computer after installing and using SpeedUpMyPC!

There’s absolutely no reason to put off trying SpeedUpMyPC 2012! Clean up your registry and keep it protected, while optimizing the performance of your computer’s major systems and network connections at the same time. Don’t settle for an ordinary registry cleaner. Insist on the best – SpeedUpMyPC 2012!

Photo Credit: zoonabar, via Flickr

If you connect your computer to the Internet via a broadband connection (DSL, cable modem, etc), you may wonder exactly how fast your computer is. Keep in mind that when you connect your computer to the Internet, you add variables that can change the apparent performance of your computer, but that doesn’t mean your computer has gotten slow.

Troubleshooting A Slow Network Connection

To troubleshoot a “slow” network connection, you’ll first have to isolate the problem. The problem could be in one of several areas. The bad news is that you have real control over just one potential problem spot: your own computer. That makes locating the source of the slow response a critical part of getting the problem resolved.
The easiest way to determine whether a slow connection is on your computer or elsewhere in your setup is to disconnect your computer from the network. This will help you determine whether the problem is with your computer or outside of your control.

If your computer seems to operate normally when it is disconnected from the network, the problem may be with your network configuration. The first thing to do is verify all of your network settings. Even simple things like an error in the DNS server address can cause enormous delays when your computer is connected to the Internet. Once you’re sure your network configuration is correct, look for other, less obvious causes.

If your computer is connected directly to your service provider’s network, verify all network settings with your service provider. If you have a firewall turned on, verify that the traffic you’re sending out and receiving from the Internet can pass. If you have a firewall, but don’t know how to use it, consult the Technical Support group at your network service provider.

Alternately, if you have the time and energy to do so, learn a bit about administering your firewall. Don’t simply disable your firewall; it’s there for a reason. Firewalls can keep your computer safe from malicious users who are looking for an available computer to “borrow” for file storage, malware distribution, identity theft, or hacking practice. With a little effort, you can configure your firewall to reduce your risk on the Internet, and improve the performance of your computer. If you suspect a problem with your firewall, your Internet Service Provider may be able to help with configuration and testing.

In my next post, I’ll show you how to measure your upload and download speeds.

Photo Credit: Kjell Olsen

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on slow computer performance
• Registry Cleanup – Making Your Computer Perform Better With A …
• Solve Slow Performance
• Free Registry Cleaner Finally Great Software

• Related Blogs on slow network connection
• Government Grants

• Related Blogs on slow pc
• Fix a Slow Running Computer Today Completely FREE

Your computer seems slow and you don’t know why. Nothing happened to it, but it just isn’t as fast as it used to be. What can you do? Don’t despair! There are a number of things you can do to speed up a slow Photo Credit: . Knowing what slows down a PC and impairs its performance is the first step in making sure your slow PC returns to tip-top shape and stays there.

Check Your Memory

First, your computer will perform better if it has all of the memory and hard disk space it needs. If you purchased a computer with the minimum recommended RAM for your operating system, or upgraded an older computer to a newer operating system, more memory may be in order. Your computer can tell you how much RAM is installed, and the manufacturer’s specifications can tell you the minimum memory requirements.

Keep in mind that the memory requirements for the operating system don’t take in to account any applications you may want to run. Their memory requirements will be in addition to what the operating system needs. You can’t go wrong by adding more memory. If you can’t add memory, look at the possibility of adding flash memory to your computer. This removable memory will help free up some of the onboard memory in your computer and may improve its performance.

Check Your Disk Space

The computer uses the hard disk to write and store temporary files, so your next goal will be to check the amount of space available for these temporary files. If you’re close to your usable limit on disk space, delete old files you don’t need and defragment your hard disk.

Next, look at the programs that load when you boot your computer. Shut off programs you don’t use but that automatically start up when you boot the computer. Your computer may be configured to load multiple language support, remote access and sharing tools, network applications and logon programs, instant messaging applications, and similar programs. Unless you use these things regularly, you don’t need them and they take up valuable memory. One word of caution: your antivirus program(s) run at startup. Leave them enabled!

Remove programs you don’t use, and don’t store files or folders on your desktop. The desktop is a special space that takes up valuable resources. When you clutter it with files and folders, you use additional resources. Store your folders in the file system where they belong.

Clean Your Registry

Finally, run a registry cleaner like RegCure regularly. RegCure will remove abandoned and damaged files, and unused or corrupted registry keys that may conflict with other applications. These leftovers are frequently the source of computer freezes and crashes, and can slow the computer to a standstill. RegCure monitors your computer to make sure these things don’t pile up. RegCure is trusted by millions to keep their computers operating safely and quickly!

Photo Credit: Keeper 182

There is probably nothing more annoying than a pc that takes longer than a geriatric cow poke to boot up. Waiting for your PC to go through the motions can be especially annoying if you just have one little task to do, like check your e-mail and you need to wait ten to twenty minutes in order to get it done.  Let us take a look as to why the start up process is so slow and what we can to about it.

The icon army

If you take a quick look to at the bottom right panel of your screen and see a giant army of icons assembled, indicating that you have over a dozen processes running at once, this is probably why your computer takes all day long just to boot up. A lot of the processes that you choose to download, such as messenger applications like Yahoo and MSN  will automatically embed themselves into your startup tray unless you are tech savvy enough to keep them from doing so. Having all these applications open upon start up is akin to trying to speed to work during rush hour traffic. Your computer’s processing power and memory becomes bogged down as all these processes vie for attention.

Boot out to boot up

In order to get your PC’s boot up time back to something reasonablelike a minute or two, you might want to get rid of a few unnecessary processes in your start up tray. There are several ways that you can do this.

If you are feeling like a pro you can click on the Start menu, go to Run and then type in: msconfig.exe. This will take you to Window’s system configuration menu. Now click on the Startup tab and check out all the programs that began running when you turn your computer on. Getting rid of the ones that you do not need can be a little tricky and if you have any  doubt about a program, leave it alone until you know some more about it. There are lists availble on the Internet that will let you know what processes are absolutely necessary, and which one are not.

A slightly easier way to do it

If you do not feel like going through lists of processes and are afraid of playing doctor with your computer, I did find a slighlty easier way to get rid of some start up processes and make my computer faster. RegCure, the registry fixer, actually has an option that lets you decide which uneccesary programs you want to remove from start up, taking all the guess work out of what to get rid of.