How To Make Your Computer Faster

Is your new computer not running as fast as it did before? From the moment you first start your computer it begins to build up temporary, junk, and malicious files that ultimately slow it down. To make your computer faster, it may require one or more fixes.

Removing temp files is just one task to perform on your computer. In this article, you will learn several tasks you can perform to help make your computer faster. Though this process may seem tedious, it is necessary. Not only will you regain lost speed and performance, you may reduce a threat to your computer or personal data.

Run through the list of tasks below to help speed up your computer. Which tasks you run depends on what issues you are experiencing. It’s more of a ‘process of elimination’. An example…say you are having difficulty running a particular program. You may need to purge temp files, run chkdsk, and possibly reinstall program. It is not until after each task, you will discover if it fixed your problem or not.

Keep a watchful I on gimmick software programs, and any number of website rouses. I found a tweet that had the following link in it: How to Make Your PC Faster Will Registry Cleaner Really Speed Up Your Computer? Facts Here Exposed , tweeted by Doreatha _Frye. The article says, A slow computer equals an unhappy owner. But did you know that it can easily be solved simply by using a registry cleaner.

For the most part, I stay clear of messing with the registry; be very cautious about using any type of Windows Registry cleaner. Many times, these programs make deletion errors.

Instructions below will be based on Windows 7 and Windows Vista, unless otherwise provided. Some instructions involve editing Windows Registry;

The Microsoft Support site says, The Registry contains information that Windows continually references during operation, such as profiles for each user, the applications installed on the computer and the types of documents that each can create, property sheet settings for folders and application icons, what hardware exists on the system, and the ports that are being used.

Microsoft has also provided the following warning:

Remove Temporary Files

Removing temp and junk files will not only free up disk space, it will help your computer run faster. The temp files have many locations, including the prefetch folder. There are a few ways of doing this; manually, via Windows built-in Disk Cleanup, though limited, and third-party utilities.

To run Windows Disk Cleanup, follow these steps. These steps, and more can be followed on: Delete files using Disk Cleanup. Microsoft says, If you want to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your hard disk to free up disk space and help your computer run faster, use Disk Cleanup.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista Users

Windows XP Users

You may also use third-party utilities such as CCleaner and BleachBit. CCleaner has a free version as well as a fee-based Pro version, and BleachBit is free at this time. Though I provide this advise…use the registry cleaning functionality of any program at your own risk.

CCleaner, per their website, CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your Windows PC. It protects your privacy online and makes your computer faster and more secure. Easy to use and a small, fast download.

BleachBit, as described on their website, BleachBit quickly frees disk space and tirelessly guards your privacy. Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn’t know was there.

Identify and Fix System File and Disk Errors

Windows comes with a very good built-in utility called Check Disk (chkdsk), or Scan Disk in early versions of Windows. Running this utility usually resolves a high percentage of problems, both minor and seemingly more significant issues.

Scan For and Remove Spyware and Viruses

Spyware, one type of malware, has become increasingly threatening. To help keep your personal information safe, and your computer free of viruses and the damage they can create, it is important to have proper security software, such as BitDefender, installed and kept up to date. You should also perform scheduled scans. If you have sufficient security installed on your computer, keep it updated regularly, and use caution in your online browsing, you will reduce your chances of having spyware or viruses.

First and foremost, keep your Windows operating system up to date. You will find frequent updates to the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Specifically for spyware, there is a very good scanner by Malwarebytes. You can easily do manual scans of your computer for any malicious files, cookies, etc. Just note that most of these programs only look for variants of code that has been identified in their respective database. Programs such as BitDefender do incorporate code to help identify possible threatening code based on past spyware and viruses.

Here’s what some have said about Malwarebytes:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.51.2.1300 – TechSpot Downloads. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware can detect and remove malware that even the most well known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect. Easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application. Shareware. Techspot.

Malwarebytes Anti Malware 2011 | Buy Anti Spyware & Anti Malware …. Malwarebytes Anti Malware software detects, defends and removes a variety of malware from your computer. Toptenreviews

Optimize Windows

This is something usually neglected by most users. Thinking back to when you first used your computer, it was probably fairly quick. Now, however, the animations are slow or jumpy, windows do not open as fast, etc. As we install programs and make use of the computer in our own way, it may be advantagous to disable some of the process-hogging effects. Review the following to see what you could live without.

Disable Windows Effects

If you can live without the fading menus and other effects, try disabling them:

1. Open ‘Control Panel’
2. Click ‘System’
3. Click on ‘Advanced system settings’ in the left column
4. Click the ‘Advanced’ tab
5. Click the ‘Settings’ button, under the ‘Performance’ section and make changes

Test various setting combinations until you reach a happy medium of increased performance and effects.

Computer Slow to Boot

Reduce the number of applications that automatically start when the computer starts. You can do this with Windows built-in utility called ‘msconfig’.

1. Click on your Start Menu
2. Type ‘msconfig’ into the Search box and press Enter
3. Click on the ‘Startup’ tab and stop any one of the applications listed from starting by unticking the checkbox

Be careful not to disallow system functions, or other programs needed in your Windows session.

For me, I use a great little application by NEOSOFT TOOLS: Chameleon Startup Manager.

Start Menu Loading Slow

In a Windows Answers Question, Windows Explorer very slow, the inquiry was, Navigating through folders in Windows Explorer has become increasingly slow.  Pages take 10-30 seconds to refresh.  Even right clicking on an item takes a long time to respond. ~Yellowjacket69

If you have purged your temp folders and ran CHKDSK, there are a couple other options; disable ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers’, which I have presented two methods for. You can also decrease the time it takes to show cascading menus.

Disable ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers’

Method 1: Change folder options

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and click Folder Options to open the Folder Options dialog box
2. Click the View tab
3. In the Advanced Settings list, click to clear the Automatically Search for Network Folders and Printers check box
4. Click OK

Method 2: Change registry key

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER
2. Locate the following registry subkey:
3. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced
4. Right-click System, point to New, and then click DWORD Value
5. Type NoNetCrawling, and then press ENTER
6. Double-click NoNetCrawling
7. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK
8. Close Registry Editor

Decrease the time it takes to show cascading menus:

1. Open Windows registry editor, regedit
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. Double-click on ‘MenuShowDelay’ and change the Data to a lower number (in ms), such as 400
4. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer

Slow Right-Click Context Menu

Your best bet is to remove unwanted entries from showing in the right-click menu. The best way I have found is to utilize a small utility called Context Menu Editor, by bartdart.

Send To Menu is Slow to Open

The Send To context menu item can come in really handle, if it doesn’t take a day and a half to open. You can edit the entries here:

1. Open ‘Computer’ or ‘Windows Explorer’
2. Enter ‘%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo’ into the address bar and press Enter
3. Edit as you please

For Internet browsing, may I suggest you…

Decrease The Number of Open Browser Windows or Tabs

Take a look at your memory usage some time and see how much it really takes to have multiple browser windows, or even multiple tabs open at one time. Bookmark those sites you are interested for future reference and close them. Or, do what I do…use Session Manager extension in Firefox. This way, I can simply open a session to work on various projects.

Speed Disk Accessing

You can use the built-in Disk Defragmenter to decrease the response time of opening programs and files.

In short, each program, or data file, is made up of dozens, if not hundreds of linked files. When you save a file, Windows needs to save the files wherever it can. If you are short on disk space, your files may become fragmented. This means, they are not contiguous; they are scattered and when Windows needs to access a file, it is required to locate all the various file parts. Defragmenting attempts to place all file parts into a contiguous group.

I should note, that with modern technology and the size of hard drives these days, defragmenting really does not do much in terms of performance, unless you are short on disk space.

You can learn more by watching a video on the subject: Video Tutorials

Update Windows

Make certain to turn on Windows Update. You may set Windows Update to automatic, so that your computer downloads and installs all the updates without requiring your interaction.

Make Hardware Changes

Though you can certainly increase the performance of your computer through upgrading your computer hardware, it can become expensive and time consuming to do so on a regular basis. With that said, there are a couple less-expensive upgrades you can make.

Upgrade Hard Drive

Increasing the size of your hard drive will help your computer function better, be less fragmented, and provide more contiguous space for more-efficient use of virtual memory.

Increase Memory

Though it is possible to ‘overclock’ your existing memory, it will not provide you a whole lot of performance increase. It is best if you can increase the amount of RAM in your system, or at a minimum, increase the speed of the memory modules used.

It is important you understand what type of memory your motherboard is compatible with, and the amount of RAM it will support. Pending on your version of the Windows operating system, you may be limited on the amount of RAM your computer may utilize.

In Summary

You should now see some improvement in computer performance. If you still have naging issues, may I recommend you utilize our FREE tech support service and request our assistance: FREE Tech Support Request