Clean Up Your Act!
Tweak Two - Monthly Maintenance
Essential!
Everyone knows that computers running 'Windows' can sometimes
be a pain-in-the-arse and slow down over time.
While not an exhaustive list of solutions to these
problems, this collection of remedies offers several ways to speed up your
computer.
Complete with step-by-step instructions, even novice computer users should be able to
follow the steps.
The instructions apply to all versions of Windows.
- 1.) Defragment Your Hard Drive
Over time, the data on your hard drive gets scattered. Defragmenting your hard drive puts your data back into sequential order, making it easier for Windows to access it. As a result, your files will be found and loaded faster.
- 2.) Uninstall Unneeded Programs
Removing programs that you no longer use can free up space on your computer and speed up your system's performance. However, you need to uninstall the programs properly to see much improvement; deleting them is not enough.
- 3.) Adjust Visual Effects for Better Performance
Windows XP provides a number of interesting visual effects like animated windows and fading menus. These effects, however, can slow down your computer and use up RAM.
- 4.) Run Scandisk Daily, or programs such as this FREE crap cleaner:CCleaner and this great FREE registry cleaner to clean your 'temp' files and registry, at least EVERY DAY!
- 5.) Scan for Viruses
Viruses can wreak havoc on your computer. Detecting and cleaning viruses is an excellent way to improve your system's performance. There are many antivirus programs to choose from, but the best one is AVG by Grisoft.
- 6.) Check for Spyware and Adware
Spyware is software that allows companies to monitor what websites you visit or even access your computer. Adware is software that displays advertisements. Both use system resources and slow your computer down. Detecting and removing the programs will improve system performance.
- 7.) Stop Programs from starting on Windows boot
One way you can speed up your computer is to prevent programs from launching themselves at start-up. Not only do the unwanted programs delay the start of Windows, they also continue to slow down your computer since they use system resources.
- N.B. I urge you to change to 'Firefox' web browser,
also free, as it has an anti-pop-up blocker built in, and it is much more stable, reliable and user-friendly than those other lumps of rubbish from microsoft: IE5, (Internet Explorer) IE6 and IE7!! - I write XHTML and CSS code, and if there is anyone needs help
with this or anything to do with computers, M.S. Office, etc., just drop me a line at ts@newtownsaints.co.uk - More Tips »
