Computer Running Slow? Here's How To Fix It

No matter how fast your computer was when you first bought it - sooner or later you will probably experience slower running times. This can be due to a number of reasons – many of which can be attributed to the general “wear and tear” of your operating system.

Software gets installed but not uninstalled correctly; your hard drive becomes “fragmented” and slow. Additional programs are allowed to load when your computer starts up. Your registry system becomes clogged with old registry keys.

Eventually you’ll just want to buy a new computer! But thankfully, you don’t need to go to that extreme just yet.

Because in this article, you will find 4 of the most important things you can do to increase your PC performance, and improve a computer which is running slow.

Here are the four tips.

Turn off background programs.
Look at the bottom right corner of your monitor, next to the time. Do you see all those little icons? These represent programs and applications that are currently running on your PC. Many of these processes automatically start when your computer loads.

It’s a good idea to only allow crucial programs to load here, otherwise your PC will take longer to load.

There are many programs known as “startup managers” which can help you disable these programs. But there’s also a manual way. Warning: Only do this if you’re familiar with using a PC, and are confident that you know what you’re doing.

Here’s how to do it manually:

1. Click on the “start” button.
2. Click the “run” button.
3. Type “msconfig” (without the quote marks) then click “ok”.

This will open the system configuration utility.

Click the “startup” tab.

Here’s an image of what you should see:

All of those boxes represent applications that are running when your computer starts. By un-checking certain processes you can stop programs loading at start-up – which means your computer will load faster and generally operate quicker.

Run Scan Disk, Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter.
These three applications come as standard on all Windows operating systems. Scan Disk will detect inconsistencies and errors in your files, and correct them. (If your computer ever crashes or turns off unexpectedly – then you should run a Scan Disk).

Disk Cleanup will free up hard drive space by deleting unneeded files, such as those files in the recycle bin, temporary internet files, old installation files, and temp files. While you won’t need these files any more, it can still free up quite a lot of space – especially if you haven’t done this for awhile.

Disk Defragmenter will arrange or all your files in a linear, logical, and organized way. It won’t affect where you find your files on your PC, instead, it organizes how your hard drive finds them. This can increase your speed considerably if your hard drive is heavily fragmented.

All three of these utilities can be found under Start > programs > Accessories > System Tools and a Windows XP operating system.

Run a registry cleaner software application.
With time, your system registry will become fragmented, and full of “registry keys” which are no longer needed. This can make programs load slower, or sometimes not at all. It’s a good idea to use registry cleaner software to fix this rather than do it manually – as one tiny mistake can cause big problems.

At the very least, you could download a free trial of RegCure and defragment your system registry.

Reformat your hard drive and reinstall your Operating System.
Although this can be a drastic last step, reformatting your hard drive and installing everything again can make your PC run much faster.

Why?

Because doing this will be like running a brand new computer. No files will be fragmented, there won’t be any incorrect registry keys, and a lot of the left over junk and programs you no longer need will be gone.

If you do decide to reformat your computer and start again, make sure you back everything up which you may need later on. It’s helpful to write a quick list of the software, applications, and drivers you will need to install after you’ve reformatted. And don’t format your hard drive until you’ve made sure you have all the software and drivers you’ll need to get it running again!

In conclusion, your PC performance and speed will generally go down over time. But with good general PC maintenance along with a few useful applications such as a registry cleaner, and standard Windows applications like Scan Disk, Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup – you can keep your computer running in tip-top shape for much longer.