In the last several posts, I’ve talked about how you can speed up your computer by changing configuration items that you might otherwise overlook. In this post, I’ll cover a few more tips you can use to keep your computer working fast.

Consider These For Your Computer

One of the reasons your computer may be slow is that it relies on a physical hard disk to store and retrieve data. Don’t limit your definition of data to just the files you store. When you’re working on your computer, your operating system is stored on your hard disk, so every time you call on your OS to do something, you increase the risk that your computer will need to activate its hard disk to complete your request.

Mechanical items are comparatively slow, so when the hard disk gets involved, your computer will slow down. So how can you avoid this? Well, consider switching to a solid-state drive (SSD). They’re much faster than a mechanical hard disk and the all-around speed of your computer will improve remarkably.

Solid-state drives aren’t without their faults, but if speed is what you’re going for, this is definitely one area in which you can recover some otherwise “lost” time. The use of solid-state memory isn’t new. After all, that’s essentially what a USB drive is. As a replacement for mechanical hard disks, SSDs have been around for laptops for awhile. In the laptop environment, SSDs actually make a lot of sense because they’re at a lower risk of accidental damage from being dropped or mishandled.

They’re also really lightweight – a big plus when you’re lugging around a laptop! But how do they perform? In some operations – like read and write – SSDs typically outperform mechanical hard disks. They also offer marginal improvements in power consumption on laptops, though not significant enough to write home about. Another big bonus – they don’t generate a lot of heat, which can be uncomfortable for the user and can lead to early component fatigue in some configurations.

So what are the three main disadvantages of solid state drives? Cost, cost, and cost. Solid state drives are significantly more expensive than regular hard disk drives, so right now, the only opt-ins for SSDs are for those users who need the advantages of SSDs more than they need the several hundred dollars’ difference in price. The good news is that if you do opt for a solid-state drive, Windows 7 is optimized to make the best use of the device, so you can be assured that you’ll get excellent performance for your outlay.

Photo Credit: IntelFreePress, via Flickr

In the last couple of posts, I’ve talked about how to speed up computer performance at boot-up. By reducing the amount of work your computer has to do at startup, eliminating unnecessary delays, services, and programs, and by keeping your disk configuration information up-to-date, you can reduce the amount of time it takes to boot your computer.

A Few More Efficiencies

Eliminate the fonts you don’t use. If you have a large font collection on your computer, you should know that these extras come at a cost to you. Windows loads these fonts each time your system boots, so it’s really in your best interest to keep your font list trimmed to those you might reasonably – or even possibly – use in your normal course of work or play. You can safely eliminate all of the foreign-language fonts (and foreign-language support, for that matter) on your computer. If you never use Mandarin Chinese, get rid of the font. You can also trim out the fonts you can simply never envision yourself using! Cut back your font collection to what you really use, might use, or could possibly use and get rid of all the rest. That, by itself, will speed up your computer.

To eliminate fonts, go to the Fonts selection in the control panel. You’ll get a nice display of all of the fonts loaded on your computer. Select the ones you want to get rid of and fire away. Please note, however that there are certain fonts which Microsoft has designated as “protected system fonts.” These are not easily removable, so you may have to live with certain fonts you’ll never use and don’t want, compliments of Microsoft.

Boot from your hard drive first. It sounds silly because what else would you boot from, right? Well, your BIOS – that most basic operating system your computer uses to get itself going – has some options for boot up that you may want to consider. To access the BIOS, you’ll need to restart your computer and press whatever “F-key” leads you to it. Some computers are F2, others are F10. Still others want you to press the Delete key. However you do it on your computer, access the BIOS.

Look at your boot options. If your computer is set to check a CD/DVD or external media like a USB device first, set your computer to boot from the hard disk first, then look for other bootable media if your hard drive has gone the way of the dodo. This step will eliminate a short timeout delay that you’ll endure if your computer is waiting for disk media or a USB device to provide boot support. You can adjust your boot preferences so that you can still boot from alternative media if you’re troubleshooting or just plain in trouble, but you’ll get down to business faster if you first try to boot from the hard disk.

I’ll wrap this series up next week with some final tips for speeding up the process of booting your computer.

Photo Credit: warrenski, via Flickr

Slow computer performance is one of the most common complaints I hear from people who wonder whether they should upgrade their systems. The truth is that some people replace their computer systems prematurely, simply because the computer is slow to boot up. That’s unfortunate because there are things you can do to speed up your computer.

Getting The Most From Boot Time

People always want to “get the most” out of their computers, but for each person, the “most” is something different. In terms of speeding up your computer performance, getting the “most” may mean making configuration adjustments to your computer’s boot routine.

By making some simple changes, which may include disabling services you don’t need, you can reduce the time it takes your computer to boot. You may also be able to improve its operating performance by unloading the services you don’t really require.

The good thing about making configuration changes is that if your needs change, you can always reconfigure your computer to re-enable the services you’ve turned off. You haven’t permanently gotten rid of your computer’s ability to work; you’ve just gotten rid of the things you don’t need that currently give you a slow computer.

The services that run on your computer can cause an increase in the time it takes to boot the computer, so this is one area to consider when you’re looking to speed things up. You can access a list of the services that are running on your computer by typing msconfig into the text box at the bottom of the Start menu. If you’re squeamish about turning of system services, you can activate the “Hide all Microsoft services” checkbox at the bottom of the Services box. That will remove Microsoft services from the menu, leaving only services that are enabled via your applications.

You can evaluate each service independently. Often, your computer manufacturer will have services and utilities that start automatically, but aren’t really needed all the time. These services are prime candidates for “turnoff.” The services will still be on your computer; you’ll just need to start them manually if you really want to use them.

You can also take a look at some Microsoft services that you may not really need. Remote access services (like remote login) are good removal candidates if you never access your computer remotely. Disabling this service might also afford you a little extra protection from malefactors who may otherwise be able to access your computer using the remote login capabilities. If you use Microsoft Office, you may also find some services that you can disable. Also, some other Microsoft applications may enable additional services. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t use an application, you don’t need the extra services that come along for the ride.

In my next post, I’ll look at other elements of your boot up routine that you can modify to get back a little time and a little performance.

Photo Credit: julianlimjl, via Flickr

When you talk about “computer memory,” it’s sometimes hard to remember that computers have different kinds of memory. The “working memory” is called random-access memory (RAM) and is supplied by physical components that plug into the computer. Read-only memory (ROM) is hard-coded in chips on the computer. Virtual memory is actually hard disk space that doubles as RAM. There are other specialized memory units that computers use for specific purposes. The interaction between these different kinds of memory can cause a slow computer.

Memory Fills Up Fast

A computer’s RAM tends to fill up fast. Because RAM is in such demand by the operating system and applications in use on a computer, the computer also uses virtual memory to help shoulder the load. Virtual memory is hard disk space that is set aside and used like RAM. The size of a computer’s “virtual disk” is adjustable, but if you plan to adjust the size of the virtual memory allocation, you need to understand what you’re doing.

In order for virtual memory schemes to work properly, the computer has to have a minimum amount of hard disk space free and available. Once the memory is allocated to virtual use, it cannot be used for long-term data storage. If a computer’s hard disk becomes too full, the computer may not have enough free disk space to accommodate the virtual memory configuration. This can lead to performance problems, slowness and even system freezes and crashes.

To ensure that your virtual memory addressing function works properly, you’ll need to keep your hard disk well maintained. This means limiting the amount of data you store on your hard disk. Trimming data can be a little tricky. You want to keep your information nearby, but you also want to keep your computer free of digital debris.

Periodically, clean out your Downloads file and rid yourself of the downloaded information you no longer need. Clean out the temporary files that sometimes accumulate on your computer as well. Consider moving photographs, videos and other large file-size items to a DVD or CD for “nearline” storage. Having a backup copy of these kinds of files is probably a good idea anyway.

If you do a lot of copying or file transfers, you’ll want to defragment your hard disk regularly to ensure that you have contiguous hard disk space available for virtual addressing. This alone can help keep your system running smoothly and quickly. You’ll also want to use a recommended registry cleaner like SpeedUpMyPC 2011 regularly to help keep your computer’s registry file tidy.

Photo Credit: pravin.premkumar, via Flickr

The Gartner Group has indicated that it expects enterprise IT sales to slow in 2012, compared to sales of IT products and services in 2011 and in earlier years. Gartner bases its prediction on the assumption that the economy is either entering or has already entered a recession. IT purchasing will slow as a result to about 4 percent, down from about 6 percent this year. Does that really mean slow computers? Not directly, but typically it means that businesses will be hanging on to their IT resources longer than they would otherwise.

Slow Growth Means Tough Decisions

Slow growth in IT also means fewer new hires and longer upgrade cycles for software and services. With elongated product replacement cycles, computers that are currently in service have an increased likelihood of losing performance over time. That will translate into slower computers. It also means that fewer new desktops – the ones that typically use the faster, more efficient processors – will be deployed in 2012.

If businesses are slow to purchase new computers and IT services, what are consumers going to be doing? Consumer spending on computers will remain comparatively healthy, according to Gartner. To date, PC shipments have not met initial expectations, but the industry analysts don’t expect sales to remain perpetually slow. Computer sales in 2012 are expected to increase slightly, as consumers move to take advantage of newer PC technologies, thinner and smaller devices, mobile devices, longer battery life and touch screen technologies.

Overall, Gartner expects PC shipments to increase by nearly 11 percent by the end of 2012, although it acknowledges that the first part of 2012 will be slow. Computer shipments will be affected by the outcome of the debt crisis in Europe. If European countries cannot find an equitable resolution to their spending woes, this forecast may turn out to be exceptionally optimistic.

In the mean time, if your own personal economy doesn’t permit the purchase of a brand new computer, consider ways in which you can get the most mileage out of the computer you have. That would include ensuring that your computer stays as responsive as possible.

One of my recommendations is SpeedUpMyPC 2011. This program will help keep your operating system in good working order by helping to clear out performance clogs before they can impact your computing experience. In addition to removing performance obstacles, SpeedUpMyPC 2011 can help you optimize your computer performance to meet your specific computing needs.

SpeedUpMyPC 2011 has been downloaded more than a million times and is hard at work making sure that your computer has what it needs to perform at its best.

Photo Credit: Easterbilby, via Flickr