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Free
PC Clean-Up
Fix your computer right now - free tips and advice on how to clean up your PC or notebook computer. Read our
easy-to-follow steps on how to clean up your computer
and make it run faster and more efficiently. Next,
learn how to install the best free computer virus protection. Once you are finished,
make sure you protect your computer from harmful viruses and spyware - learn how
to protect your PC . |
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Home > PC
Clean Up > Speed Up
Speed Up My Slow PC
Most computers today will not suffer from hardware failure, broken components,
or become obsolete as quickly as computers did in the past. The dilemmas people
faced day are viruses and now where, and computers that are slow and blocked
down. This article will provide you several free ways to speed up your PC.
It happens to all of us, one day you
realize your computer isn't running as fast as it was the day you booted it for
the first time. Programs that used to fire up in milliseconds, now have you
wondering if you can take a potty break before the hour glass stops spinning.
Over the years the face of Windows has changed but other things remain the same.
The interface is very different, however, the basics of computer tune-ups still
apply for the newest versions of Windows. This won't be a how-to but, rather, a
general guide to point one in the couple of directions to improve system
performance. |
Quick Fixes
The first thing you need to do, is run through our computer quick fix cleanup instructions. This section will take you through
the steps of disabling startup programs, perform disk cleanup, and help you to identify unneeded system
tray processes and disable them. How did you get all these unneeded programs
and processes to start up and automatically run on your PC? Some were installed
as trial versions of software, other programs were installed long ago and have
never been used since. Do you suspect spyware or malware has intruded your
PC? We'll show you how to get rid of them.
Remove Bloatware
If you purchased a computer from a major retailer, more than likely it was
delivered with a plethora of bloatware (also known as junkware) installed 'for your user experience.' If
you have no use for them, uninstall them. Most of them tend to inject themselves
in window's startup and create services that run in the background, robbing you
of CPU cycles and RAM.
Nowadays, brand new computers come preloaded with so much useless garbage and
gimmicky trial software. These preloaded programs offer minimal use to you, and
the industry, and refers to them as Bloatware. Bloatware often consists of
software from merchants that have a marketing agreement with the computer
manufacturers that allows them to have these pieces of software preinstalled on
a brand new computer. Some examples of Bloatware include: limited trial
versions of Microsoft Office Software, 60 day trials of antivirus software, pay-as-you-go
wireless internet service software, and diagnostic or tutorial software that
runs in the background and drains your computer's precious resources.
Check your computer's Programs directory and see what icons are on your desktop
to find out what you should remove. Remember, simply deleting the shortcut icon
on your desktop does not delete the program itself. Also, remember that to
properly remove a program from your PC, you cannot simply delete a file or
folder, which you will need two run what's called an Uninstall for that
particular piece of software.
The conventional way to remove a program once you've determined you
don't need it, is to go to your Control Panel, then click on the "add and remove
programs" option, select a program from the list and click to uninstall that
program. The Uninstall process will completely remove all program files, short
cuts, and most importantly, make the necessary changes to your computer's
registry so that the operating system knows that the program has been completely
removed from your PC. We prefer to Uninstall programs is by using a third party
application called CCleaner. We only recommend a small handful of third party
applications that are designed to help clean up and speed up your PC. CCleaner
is one of them.
 A
new "uninstaller" program we recently came across is called PC Decrapifier.
Its name says it all - it removes "crap" from your PC. It is a simple file
that you download and run on your PC. It lets you pick from a known list
of BloatWare programs that are installed on your PC which ones you want to
remove - you simply place a checkmark next to the items you want uninstalled and
let PC Decrapifier do all the work. The beauty of this is that it
uninstalls all of the programs in one shot, saving you time and effort.
Click HERE to visit the PC
Decrapifier website and download the program.
Clean Up your Hard Drive
One of the main reasons causing desktop and notebook computers to run slow are
the numerous programs and processes automatically running in the background.
This may include programs that automatically start up and load a computer starts
up, and processes that are running transparent to you in the system tray.
Both of these things can be serious hogs of your computer's resources and can
bring your computer's speed down to a crawl.
Uninstalling applications, installing new ones, and even just using the ones
that you have can create system clutter that can pile, nickle and dime-ing you
out of the performance of yesteryear. CCleaner (official
website ) is a tool that will tighten up the registry and dangling DLL
files, along with helping you maintain some semblance of privacy on your PC. |
The latest version of Windows may appear to be a new operating system (OS) , but it still frags up a hard drive
just like an old one. Personal documents, program files, and system files are
all subject to becoming fragmented. Windows has a built-in defragmentation
program but sometimes even Windows needs a little help keeping it's business in
order.
Clean up your
Pagefile
The Pagefile and Registry are held in a locked position when you run your
defrag -- this means when you run a defrag session, you are not changing the
status of your Pagefile or Registry. A tool like Sysinternal's 'PageDefrag' (official
website )
can remedy the fragmented state of your pagefile and important registry files.
As you remove programs and install new ones parts of your operating system's
innards become less contiguous.
For the rest of your files, you may want to opt for a commercial defrag tool
like Norton's Speed Disk from the Norton Utilities suite of products, O & O
Defrag or a freeware utility like Defraggler or Auslogics Disk Defrag. These
types of third-party software are often capable of doing a better job than the
built-in Windows utility.
As mentioned above, the pagefile is an in-use system file and cannot be moved
when a defrag is running. Although this is true, there is a way around this. If
you disable the pagefile, followed by a reboot then Windows will delete the
pagefile. This gives you an opportunity to defrag your hard drive including the
space that the page file was using. After your defrag is complete turn your page
file back on, ensuring that your pagefile is using a contiguous chunk of space
on your hard drive. When enable your pagefile set it to a specific size, for
example, 3GB. If your pagefile is set to automatically adjust its size, then you
increase your chances of creating a fragmented page-file.
Another method of manipulating your pagefile to increase system performance is
to off-load it to a secondary hard drive. Doing so will free up internal
bandwidth the system is using to move data to and from your main hard drive,
that is hosting your operating system.
Tune-Up Windows Vista
If you are running Windows Vista operating system on your desktop
or laptop PC a, you will likely notice when compared to other operating systems,
your PC is running quite a bit slower. It may take longer to load up, operate
more sluggishly, and generally feel like it is underpowered or overworked. One
thing you can do, it is disable Windows Vista Aero .
Aero is a Windows Vista feature that is purely cosmetic. It merely enhances the
look of your windows desktop and folders. Find out more about how to speed up
you Windows Vista computer.
If you have performed all of the above steps, performed our quick
fixes to clean up your PC , and find that your
computer is still running slow, you may want to consider increasing the amount
of RAM on your desktop or laptop PC.
Other Speed Up Tips
There are several other things you can do
to speed up your PC. Other things that slow down your PC are unneeded
Windows services running in the background. Disable Windows services that you don't need. Here is an excellent guide as to
what Windows services can be disabled, as well as, their default settings.
This is more of an advanced
step, but anyone who is willing to dedicate a little patience and diligence can
greatly improve their operating system boot time and log in time. Reducing the
amount of services loaded will have a direct affect on the number of modules
loaded in RAM and lowers the rounds of multitasking your CPU must perform to
keep those services up and running. This method also improves the security of
your system by shrinking your attack surface area.
You have probably noticed the biggest delay when using
your desktop or laptop PC is during the boot-up process. If you previously shut
down your computer, your PC has to run through the boot-up cycle before you can
begin using your PC. This boot-up cycle involves running a whole slew of
diagnostic checks, initiating all of your startup applications and processes,
and simply getting windows running to a point where you can began to use the
programs on your PC. For this very reason, we do not recommend shutting down
your computer after every single session (or every single night). Instead, make
use of the special features in your windows operating system that sets your
operating system to a Sleep or Hibernate mode.
If you are using a desktop computer at home,
simply walking away from your desk at the end of the night and leaving your
computer idle will eventually put it into a dormant sleep mode. In Sleep mode,
you've ceased any active processes that you are running on your desktop, however
a lot of background processes are still being run. In Hibernate mode, you cease
or shut down just about all running processes, park your hard drive, and
the result is very little is actually running on your computer. If you are
using a desktop computer, the differences between the two modes are subtle and
have little or no impact to you. If you're using a notebook computer, the
differences are more significant. By setting your laptop computer to Hibernate
mode, you will conserve your battery life much more significantly that if you're
in Sleep mode. If you are a laptop user, we highly recommend setting your
computer to Hibernate mode if you are running off battery power and you are not
actively using your laptop. Also, Hibernate mode helps you speed up your PC --
when you come out of Hibernate mode and revive your computer, it takes just a
fraction of time to warm up the system and began using all of your computer's
functions. And this will save you a great deal of time in the computer's
boot-up cycle when compared to starting up your computer after a complete
shutdown.
Many laptop computers today are equipped with a
special media player mode. This allows you to play DVD movies on your laptop's
screen without actually having to start up and running your windows operating
system. There are significant battery life savings if you do use the media
player mode in that your computer is not running your full operating system and
all of the resources required. Instead it is operating just like a portable DVD
player. Moreover, media player mode allows you much quicker access than a full
start-up of your computer's operating system. Not only use a tremendous battery
power, but the media player mode starts up quickly and the controls are
responsive and easy to use.
CCleaner
is a very useful
and user friendly software that allows for even novices to
keep a healthy computer. The basic program is very small and
free to download. Consider using CCleaner to maximize
efficiency and productivity with any personal or family
computer. The main cleaner is able to analyze and delete
superfluous information. This includes things like temporary
internet files, internet histories, cookies and recently
visited URLs.
The registry cleaner allows users to scan for missing file
extensions for preloaded programs. This can be used to help
restore issues where a person may have accidentally deleted
necessary files for the computer to run. There is also a
feature which displays a Startup list where users can enable
or disable various programs that initially start when the
computer is first turned on. Another very convenient feature
is the system restore that allows for a person to reset the
settings to a previous date and time if the computer becomes
infected with a virus or malware.
What's Next?...
Once you have taken care of the Quick Fix PC Clean-up items
and the PC Speed-up items, it's time to move on to
finding and eliminating spyware on your PC and a complete and thorough virus
scan. Once you are finished cleaning up your computer and fixing the
conflicts and problems, you must take precautions against these problems popping
up again in the future.
If you are beginning to have problems with your
computer, you should consider taking the time to set up a good backup plan for your precious files and learn more
about how to protect your privacy when you are online .
That's all for now. The aforementioned tips can make a rookie look like a Tech
Wonder. The tools mentioned are ones that I use and recommend to my clients and
family. If you have suggestions of worthy alternatives send them in. Thank you
for reading.
Thanks to
Terrance Turner.
>>Continue to our next step: Eliminate Spyware
Clean Up Steps:
1. Quick PC Fixes
2. Eliminate Spyware
3. Anti-Virus Scan
4. Set-Up a Firewall
5. Update your Computer
6. Backup your Data
Protect your PC:
1. Protect your Privacy
2. Secure your Wireless Network
3. Avoid Internet Phishing
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