Finding ways to speed up your computer is the most important thing you could do as a computer user. This might save your computer from being thrown out the window, or even smashed up with a hammer. This is how far people get pushed when computers don’t do what they want them to do. It is one of those annoying little things that you have to do all the time, maintenance jobs, just to speed up your computer.
When you have a slow computer and you are trying to work on it, you can easily get frustrated to the point of doing something drastic!
Hey but calm down! I have to tell you something truthfully. It’s your fault that your computer is slow because you do not perform computer maintenance on it. It is your responsibility to speed up your computer and make it run at its optimal performance. Don’t go blaming the computer because it is slow, follow these steps below and fix your problem now!
Most slow computers have nothing to do with your CPU speed and everything to do with junk files building up on your computer and the lack of organization. Lets see if we can help you make your computer run faster.
Here is a link to my computer maintenance tips and tricks and my computer maintenance checklist.
15 Tips on How to Speed up Your Computer
Delete unwanted files
When I say to delete unwanted files, I do not mean you should go around your computer and delete any file you do not want. In this case, I’m talking about the files that you have created yourself, and are totally aware of what they are. For example if you created a Microsoft word document and you no longer need it, and never will, then I suggest you delete that file. This is the kind of junk that clogs up your computer. You have to ask yourself, “Do you really need it?”
Files that you have created such as documents and image files can be safely deleted by going to the file on your computer, right clicking on its, and choosing delete from the menu. Keeping your computer or organized and junk free, is a great way to speed up your computer.
Delete hidden junk files
Hidden or temporary files are created without the user knowing. All you have to do is open files, browse the Internet, install programs, and more files are created in the background. There is so much happening in the background that most people are unaware of and do not know that this area exists. This is something you are going to have to learn about if you want to speed up your computer
Remove unwanted programs
Are you one of those people that constantly download programs and install them onto your computer? Every software program you have on your computer is taking up space. It is not only taking up space, but it might also be checking for updates and connecting to the Internet. It also might be starting up when your computer starts up. There are so many good reasons why you should remove unwanted programs.
Here is an article that shows you how to safely remove or delete programs from your computer.
After you have removed the software program that you did not want, make sure you restart your computer to complete the process.
Defrag to speed up your computer
Please note that solid state hard drives do not need defragging, so this step is only for a normal magnetic hdd.
When you install programs and save files on your computer, the files are automatically saved to the closest available space on your hard drive. This means that files for your programs are fragmented if your hard disk drive is not organized correctly. This is why we need to de-frag our computer to place the files back together and to place the most frequently used files at the front for easy access.
You should defrag your computer at least once a week if you use your computer often. If you do not use your computer that often, then you can defrag less often.
If you are using the Windows disk defragmenter which is located at start menu>accessories>system tools>disk defragmenter, you can choose to “analyze” first before you choose defrag. This feature will tell you if you need to perform this task or not.
Disk CleanUp
Disk CleanUp comes free with Windows and will get rid of the rest of the junk files that you have missed. Go to start menu>accessories>system tools>disk cleanup. You can see more information about this system tool on my computer maintenance checklist.
Always pay for a virus program!
By all means, you can waste your time trying to find the best free anti-virus program, but do you really want to risk it?
Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a free anti-virus program. In fact I will recommend Avast as my number one freebie. However, even though this proved to be secure, it is safer to have the extra security features that come with the paid versions. Now days most new antivirus also come with a firewall that if they do not, Windows provides a perfectly good firewall for free.
Over the past 25 years I have tested at least 10 paid virus programs and have ended up with Avast running on my computer. It does not annoy me, it is not asked be stupid questions that I cannot answer, and is not make me deal with difficult settings. I like a program that just does its job.
Please see Top 25 tips to protect yourself from viruses!
If you do not have a virus program installed you are risking everything! Sometimes your computer will gradually slow down when it gets a virus, and other times it will be crashing within minutes. Is that really worth the hassle?
Avoid multitasking with large programs
If you’re anything like me, you will have 20 Windows open at the same time, with your Internet browser having at least 15 tabs opened as well. Yes I know it is crazy and I’m trying to reform. I have a lot of experience in multitasking and have realized that some programs cannot be open at the same time as others. For example you should not be running a large program like Photoshop or Pinnacle video studio, while running a virus scan at the same time. We all know what the right thing to do is, but we just can’t help ourselves.
Warning: Working on 20 programs at the same time is not good if you are trying to speed up your computer!
Use an external hard drive for backup
Nowadays there is no excuse for not backing up your files! It is unbelievably cheap to buy an external hard drive or even a portable USB flash drive to store backup files on. Both these portable devices are simple to connect to the computer via a USB plug. Once connected, you will find the device if you go to your start menu and then press on computer. For older versions of Windows it will be called my computer.
Also see this video on YouTube: how to move files around on your computer.
You can use these devices to store all of your files on, leaving your computer clean and free to work on.
Update programs regularly
Every program on your computer must be updated regularly. If you do not do this, you will find that you will get problems, guaranteed! Even Windows itself needs updating, along with any other applications and games, and even hidden device driver software.
To see if your device drivers are performing properly you can go to the Control Panel, click on system, advanced settings, and then you will find device manager under the hardware tab.
Here is an article: what are device drivers and why do I need them?
I use a program called Driver Finder. Most computers need a program like this because having outdated driver software on your computer can cause horrendous problems. Having the wrong driver software on your computer has been known to cause black screens, blue screens, and total computer crashes.
To find out if Windows needs updating, simply go to your start menu and type in the search section, “Windows update”. A link will appear in the menu, click on it to see your details. See the screen shot below.
Upgrade your computer memory
When you buy a new computer now days it should come with a minimum of 6 GB of memory installed. This should be okay for a year or two, however as times change, you will eventually need to upgrade your memory.
Older computers are in an even worse situation. People are using old computers to do new things that these computers were not made for. Upgrading your computer memory and increasing your hard drive size can help speed up an old computer.
When upgrading your computer memory in order to speed up your computer, there are two options, to do it yourself or get someone else to do it for you. If you are seriously hopeless with technical stuff, like my friend Deb, I would suggest you take it to a computer store for the upgrade.
If you are willing to give it a go you can buy computer memory online (making sure you have the right type) and do it yourself.
Please see this article: upgrade computer memory
That was 10 detailed tips on how to speed up your computer and now here is five more.
5 More Quick Tips on How to Speed up Your Computer:
- Keeping a clean computer means a faster computer. Therefore you should always organize your computer files in a way that makes them easy to find and also easy to backup.
- When you boot into your computer it is not only the Windows operating system that is starting, as most people have many other programs starting at the same time. To speed up this process you need to disable startup programs.
- A great way to speed up your computer is not to overwork it in the first place. For example most people have five or six programs open at the same time and they really aren’t using all of them. Close down programs you are not using.
- Keep up with your computer maintenance as it is will speed up your computer just by doing this.
- Another good way to speed up your computer is to disable automatic updates on certain programs. Did you know that programs are checking the Internet every time you start your computer to see if they need to be updated or not?I am not talking about disabling Windows automatic updates as it is really all the other little programs that are doing the damage. If you have a notification icon in the notification area you can usually right click on it to get to the settings and disable the updates that way.
How to Speed up My Laptop
Although all of these tips above and below can speed up your laptop, there are some tips that can just apply to laptops only.
All laptops built in the last 10 years make their batteries last longer by slowing down the computer processor when you don’t seem to be using all of it. Although this works great to prolong battery life, it means that your laptop runs slower when it runs off battery.
To switch your laptop back into normal mode, all you have to do is plug in your laptop and the computer processor will run at full power, giving you 100% of the speed you expected when you bought the laptop.
Great article, as a repair tech I could not stress enough these tips you provided here to all of the customers I serviced. They are easy to do, Virtually free, and extend the service life of the machine. Yet just like an oil change they are the usually never performed.
Hi Michael
LOL I am really bad at looking after my car, but very fussy with my computers.. I have actually blown up two cars because I did not put water in them..
Thanks for this useful tips. My suggestion is that we can use some tune up utilities for easy one click speed-up our computer.
THanks for this article. I would like to know however how to recognise unwanted files and programmes so that I can remove them. Of course many are obvious what they are by their names, but there are many things on my laptop that I have no idea what they are and am afraid to remove them. Is there an easy way to recognise what type of files they are and what they’re for?
Thanks
Good question!
It will take more than a simple answer to help you with this one… I will write an article about it and post the link here for you…
Thank you.
I look forward to receiving the link and reading the article.
I am a MOST untechnical person, but I am enjoying learning stuff here and I am very grateful to everyone who shares their knowledge and expertise.
Thank you again.
I forgot about this post http://tips4pc.com/computer_tips_and_tricks/what_files_are_safe_to_delete_or.htm
I think I have a corrupt registry (and possibly the OS) and was wondering if I can re-install Windows 7 pro over the existing OS, like you could with Win XP and before to “refresh” windows, to help speed it up and rebuild the registry. There are a lot of things going on in my computer that aren’t happening with my laptop or my wife’s computer and they are all running Windows 7 pro. I am hesitant to do this because it tells me I will lose all of my files and programs I have installed since installing Windows. I sent Microsoft support the same question but have not received any answers from them. Any insight?? Thanks…
Why do you think you have a corrupt file?
Can you backup your files first?
Heres how to recover data from a hard drive
Here’s formatting a hard drive
You can ask more questions in the forum.
Thanks for this useful tips. My suggestion is that we should simply format my computer without any practice for speed up the computer.
Thanks
Hey,
Just a quick tip when posting new articles…
Having a personal input on the software, hardware, information or technical info is fine, also very user friendly, but is also coinciding of having a bias opinion.
For example, be sure that when you say “Always pay for a virus program!”, you better have a good reason why. 25 years of testing around 10 different anti virus software is not a good example to send upon new users. Have you tested many freeware versions? have you tested NEW antivirus software that runs on new machines of 2010? The amount of change with anti-virus programs have changed drastically, not just with the updating of software security features, improved performance and updates, but they have also grown to a very large collection of software from many different companies that are totally free!
Sure there is always the paid version for the program, but people don’t know what exactly their paying for, infact, what their paying for may just be;
1. customer support telephone number: which we never use.
2. customer email technical support: again, no one uses. its simpler for a google search!
3. additional spyware searches such as; cookies(which if are infected will be deleted by antivirus), spam (again, if affected will be deleted by any free anti-virus program), firewall(believe it or not, this is just a HUGE annoyance, on-top of that, does every new user know what every port that the software will be using when connecting to the internet? Do they know what to do when that pop-up comes from the bottom of the screen saying “accept” or “deny”, with a bunch of information that only shows a very small part that is pertinent needed to show the user WHAT the software is, WHAT its trying to access or WHAT system resources. My personal opinion, unless you are very worried about your personal data getting breached; or for people who continually download from your email attachments or from limewire saying “funny_clip.exe” that turns out to be a keylogger that steals every bit of data from your computer, then get a third party firewall! But be warned that you will continually have to monitor the activity and get to know EVERY program that wants to access the internet or computer resources.)
Good collection of articles, keep it up!
Really Phil???
Would you rather me lie about how many virus programs I have tested? The only advice I give here is from genuine experience and I am more than allowed to give my opinion and I always allow others to form theirs.
Hi Mitz,
Nice tips for computer optimization. I just wanted to add one more tip if you don’t mind. This has to do with the Windows services that start-up by default when you boot up the computer. Many of these services are not needed for regular work, so by settings these services to “Disabled” you save both RAM memory and also you speed up the start-up time of your system.
Great tips Harris! 🙂
Great tips Mitz. Since I started my blogging journey, I have been installing lots of new programs and softwares and of course my computer has slowed down.
I used to use IE, but after doing some research, i found out FF is much faster and so I went with FF and I am glad I did. It really does make a difference.
By the way, Thank you so much about the link to your artcile about deleting temporary files, I always wanted to do this, but I am always afraid I am going to delete something essential.
Hi Satrap..
It is very important for us bloggers to delete internet marketing tools as we usually create loads more temp files when working on the internet..For example I get articles delivered in Elance and open them from there. I should save the article first to my computer and then read it but I do not..This creates an entire file in the temp folder. I do use a program to clean my files out now though as it is just too much to do computer maintenance and everything else as well.
Oh, That’s an interesting point. I didn’t know that. So I gather its always best to actually save any files you receive first onto your computer instead of opening them from whatever site you are on?…
Also, how has been your experience with PC Speed Doctor? Is it pretty easy for a non tech person like me to use?…
Thanks in advance Mitz.
Yes I really loved using Pc speed doctor but then Auslogics gave me Boostspeed 5 to try out..that was so good I dropped Pc doctor.. Here is a post about it… http://tips4pc.com/computer_security/protect-and-maintain-3-computers-for-1-year-for-under-100.htm But there will always be a newer and better program made.
the most important thing to do is defrag your computer. it helps to re organize the data in your computer.
Yes I only recommend Avast. You can try it free but the paid version is absolutely great! Depends on what you do on your computer as to what you need.. I have files to protect so I buy Avast! 🙂 http://tips4pc.com/articles/software%20tips/virus_removal_software.htm
I believe that Avast is one of the worst anti-virus programs out there, I have had to fix many many computers for people who have used this program, I have never had an issue with AVG Free anti-virus and would recommend this product to anyone! Sorry to leave a negative feedback on Avast, but simply put, it is NOT the best program for a non computer savvy user!
I never used to …and I did have an issue with CCleaner messing up my computer but now they have improved and I love the fact that they will speed up my computer for me..No one has the time to do all the computer maintenance needed and I need my computers to work for me, not the other way around. I am really not too sure about tiny little left over entries in the registry causing too much trouble..I actually think the cleaning part is the one that speeds up the computer..
Great write-up! This is actually awesome tips. Your system has really helped a lot in speed up our PC, by eradicating application crashes, hence my system now could be at smooth run. Wow, thanks for sharing I’m actually grateful with your help.
A good article – I don’t however think that all commercial antivirus programs are superior to their free counterparts – agreed something like AVG doesn’t have the muscle of Norton or NOD32 but Avira Free Antivirus is a very capable program that is also very light on system resources (= faster PC!)
Getting anti-virus is always the first step when I get a new computer. Although it can slow the computer down, it’s still a must have. Norton is the best av programme in my experience. Sophos on mac is recommended too.
Yes I agree that if you are careful then most free antiviruses will do the job.. But you would need to keep your eyes open as there are so many ways to catch one!
Hi, Thanks for the Article… I am looking for it from last 1 month. I m a web Designer and every time when I m working on my Computer its happened… But now I have the solution… Thanks All … EVC
My laptop is too slow when I run the virtual machine (Windows XP Mode) and sometimes Thunderbird and mozilla not responding when I opened the Photosop CS2 at the same time
Specification: Intel Core i3-370M, 2GB DDR3 memory and 320 GB HDD. For antivirus I use KIS 2012. Do I need to upgrade the memory to speed up my laptop? and can you explain why choose Avast
Hey, my advice would be to upgrade to upgrade your memory to 3/4Gig at least. Also switch to Google Chrome, rather than mozilla. Also try getting windows 7. XP just isn’t built for today’s world.
One of the better guides I’ve read on the internet.
Very well explained and precise.
And I agree 100% on paying for an anti-virus. It will only make things easier for you in the long run. I use Avast and it totally does its job. I’d recommend it to anybody looking for an antivirus software.
Anyway, thanks for sharing these tips man. I’m sure many will find this useful.
Good tips.
Is there a reason you didn’t include cleaning up the registry?
Some people say it messes up your system, but I have yet to see that.
From my own experience, cleaning up the registry with CCleaner does show an improvement in overall performance like games running more smoothly etc.
Norton is a security suite that includes antivirus programs, spyware removal tools and Internet protection programs. Computer security is very important in protecting personal information limiting network intrusions and protecting system components from hackers and attackers. When used under the wrong circumstances, Norton products will drastically slow down your computer and hamper system performance.
I have removed it from relatives and friends computers and saw a much faster machine.
Hey Mitz, lot of information about great support on speedy work on PC, however we really spend more time on these purpose, I think digital equipment makes our life easier and a bit complicated and time consuming.
Yes it is ok. That is a great free program.
Hey Mitz… great tips and I am trying to follow all of them. The big “unknown” seems to be what programs to end inside the startup (msconfig) or exactly which ones to shut off completely or uninstall. Some of these names are utterly CONFUSING. And how one program can end up having three branch files downloaded/open at the same time.
*M* problem is that my images on the internet never show up (Pinterest is basically a bunch of boxes with little red “x”s in them) and my internet is constantly freezing. I have to either ctrl+alt+delete it away, or refresh a million times… and it will happn like every five minutes. And I am not even that complicated… just a basic, @ home computer.
🙁 Something tells me that I probably have to hire someone or pay a ridiculous amount of money for something that could be easily taught. Lord knows I bought a geek squad membership for two years that is UTTERLY USELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Try installing Windows updates and java updates. These might help you see the pictures.
Maybe, your date/time isn’t properly synchronized or you have network issues If your behind a router, download and try TCP Optimizer and get your settings on their website by looking for the link ‘i.e. IP Analyzer’. If your using wireless connection, type this at run ‘services.msc’ and look for ‘Wireless Zero Configuration’ under Services. Double-click it, then stop the service and set it to disabled.
Hey Mitz,
Great article with some really helpful suggestions for giving your PC a speed boost.
I maintain a few PC’s that are used by the public so they get a lot of abuse. The other day I decided to give them a good clean out of dust etc. The heat sinks where matted in fluff and dust so I cleaned them and whilst I was there, I replaced the thermal paste on the CPU’s. It was like they were new PC’s after doing that! Just goes to show it’s not always just about software, but hardware too.
Very true Mike..Really good tip to add here! 🙂
Hi
can you help me please,
i have a pc & i am using windows xp
the problem is when i install any new
software or when i do any change like
when i create a new account or when
i delete any programs from add & remove programs,
immediately when i restart my pc i lost every things like
I did not do anythingeven if repeated the way more than
ten times it will not change anything. what can i do?
how i solve the problem? is this problem also
related to computer freezing?
Thanks
Best regards,
junk files like text documents do not slow down your computer nor would upgrading your ram unless you are using programs that would really need more
Hey Mitz, really helpful article. I also clean out programs that launch at Startup. Removing unnecessary programs from starting up with my computer speed up the boot process 🙂
I use my PC mainly for home use and internet browsing. Do I really need Java ? I know Java Script is a different program all together, but Java seems like a huge program for my computer to lug around for just a few sites that might need it. Plus, all the viruses that routinely attack Java .
Thanks….
I personally have done without java a few times on certain computers..It has been fine until an error message appears.. But nothing major though..
Thank you for the effort of sharing this helpful information to us Mitz. Many of us are actually having problems with our slow PC and we need this. Currently I’m using Regcure: regcurelicensekeycode.com for optimizing my PC but I want to try out the PC Matic. I’ll do the test scan and I’ll just post another comment if all is fine with this software. Great article, soo informative.;.