Does your computer take forever to start up? Does it take forever to get on the internet? Does it take forever to switch between windows? Does it take forever to do just about anything?
Your system either has viruses, needs some serious cleaning, needs more RAM, is getting seriously outdated, or all of the above.
Viruses and other BadWare
Run CCleaner, run your anti-virus program. For info on CCleaner and our current AV recommendations, read this article.
Spring Cleaning on your system
- CCleaner again to the rescue (read about it here)- set it up and run it. Don't forget to make a donation to the great folks who wrote it!
- Defrag - Go into your System Utilities (in Windows, go to Accessories>System Tools) and choose Disk Defragmentor. Vista lets you schedule disk defrags, so make sure this feature is turned on if you have Vista. How this works: every time you make or edit a file, it is saved in pieces on your hard drive. Defrag gathers the pieces and moves them next to each other so that the process of getting them together the next time you open a file is faster.
- Check your drive space. Go to My Computer, right click on the hard drive your programs run off of (usually C:) and choose "Properties". If you have less than 1/3 of your drive free, it's time to get rid of some unused programs and files.
Delete unused programs: Go to your Windows Control Panel, and choose Change/Uninstall Programs. It could take a few minutes to generate the list, so be patient. Once you have the list of all the programs on your computer, go down and look at each one to see if you need it. If it is a Windows or Microsoft program, and you don't know what it is, leave it alone to be on the safe side. Also leave ones that match the brand name of your monitors, speakers, video card, sound card, etc. Delete Google Desktop and other Google add-ons unless you really use them a lot. These are processing hogs and slow small system down significantly. Same for iTunes and other Apple products, and any and all messaging programs.
Move old files: Space is cheap these days. Get a USB storage drive and copy old files over to it. Once you have verified the copies are good, delete the originals off your computer. - Updates - if you do not have your Windows, MS Office, and other critical programs set to automatically update, make sure you manually run updates every month or so.
If you don't know how much RAM you have, here is how you check: Right-click on My Computer and choose "Properties". Read through what pops up and find the number next to RAM. If you have Vista, you need at least 2G RAM (we recommend 4G or more). If you are running XP, you need at least 1G (we recommend maxing out to whatever your system will hold). If your RAM is measured in MB, this means you have less than 1G, and you need more RAM. Any computer supply store can install more RAM for you (unless your machine is really old.) Our favorite Dallas area store for this is MicroCenter. (We can do this as well, but we charge $105/hr.)
Outdated Machine
If your machine is more than three years old, congratulations! You are now running your computer past average life expectancy! It's like getting a bonus life. If you keep your computer clean and lean, and don't do a lot of video and graphic-intensive work on it, you can beef up your RAM or get a larger hard drive to improve speed. However, if you are trying to do graphic-intensive tasks, or if your system is about five years old or more - it's just too old to keep up with current demands. We don't recommend investing anymore into it - start saving your money for a new system.
