Repair News Articles from the Tech Industry
November 7, 2007
5 Ways to Make a Slow PC Faster
Listed below are 5 tasks that you can perform in order to make your PC run faster.
Keep The Hard Disk Free Of Unwanted Information
Your system is at its best performance when it is brand new because at that time it does not contain any unwanted information. Your PC starts filling up when you start installing additional programs, creating and storing new files, browsing the web and downloading emails. Over time, a lot of unwanted files and programs collect on your PC and unnecessarily slow it down. Therefore, your first step to make your slow PC run faster would be to get rid of this unwanted stuff. You can do this by using the Disk Cleanup tool. In Windows XP, you can access this tool from Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup.
The Disk Cleanup tool is your one stop tool to compress old files, empty the recycle bin and get rid of unwanted temporary internet files, cookies, downloaded program files, and other temporary files. If you open the More Options tab on the Disk Cleanup dialog box, you may use the options available on this tab to uninstall unwanted Windows components, applications, and old System Restore snapshots.
Defrag the Hard Disk
As your PC gets older, files on it start getting fragmented as parts of the same file are physically stored in multiple locations on the hard disk wherever space is available. This not only increases the load on the hard disk head because it has to move all over the disk to read a single file, but also slows down your PC. So, after you have used the Disk Cleanup tool to remove unwanted files from the disk and freed up space on it, use the Disk Defragmenter tool to defrag the hard disk and make it contiguous.
Repair Registry Errors and Prevent Registry Bloat
After hard disk problems, registry errors are one of the main causes of deteriorated PC performance. Registry errors are usually the result of registry bloat, which occurs due to an accumulation of a large number of unwanted, incorrect, obsolete, and malicious information in the registry. A bloated registry is unstable and can easily get corrupted and fragmented. A corrupted registry considerably slows down your PC and also starts generating system errors.
To keep your registry free from junk and to speed up your PC, you may use a registry utility to regularly scan, detect, and remove unwanted information from the registry. These utilities make registry repair a very simple task and help you maintain a healthy, error-free registry, resulting in a high-performance PC.
Perform Regular Antivirus Scans
Malware programs such as viruses, worms, and Trojans are also major threats to your PC. When these malicious programs infect your system, they replicate quickly and spread all over the hard disk and even to other PCs through network connections and email attachments. They may alter existing registry keys or add malicious program codes in application files, due to which you may encounter frequent system errors and system freezes. Your system may become so slow that it may take you hours to finish a simple task. In more severe cases, malware infections may also cause physical damage to your PC resulting in data loss.
To ensure that your PC is free from these infections and to speed it up, you must install a reliable and efficient antivirus tool on your system. Always keep this tool updated with the latest definitions and use it regularly to scan and remove any virus infections from your PC.
Perform Regular Antispyware Scans
Spyware programs are different from other malware programs. These programs stealthily install on your system to steal your personal information and trade it with external sources for advertising purposes.
If you do not have any antispyware program installed on your PC, it is quite likely that your system is infected by some kind of spyware. These programs are one of the major causes of poor PC performance. Many spyware programs add several registry entries and junk files on your system that increase the number of system errors and drastically deteriorate system speed.
Therefore, the last and one of the most important tasks that you need to perform in order to speed up your PC is to install a reliable antispyware tool on your system and keep it updated with the latest definitions to detect and remove any spyware-related information from your PC. You may also use your registry cleaner tool to scan the registry to ensure that there are no spyware keys left behind deep within the registry.
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