A brand new computer always run extremely fast but after a few months of Internet searches, documents, and new programs, it can start to run extremely slow. Having a fast computer will not only save your sanity, it could save your job. If you depend on your computer to run fast for your livelihood, here are five tips to speed up your computer.
Tip # 1 – Perform a Clean-up
One of the best ways to make your computer run faster is to start going through your program files and the “My Documents” folder to see what you can get rid of. You will be surprised to see how many old files are hanging out on your system that you need to get rid of. There are a lot of programs that you probably don’t use that you need to get rid of. Go to your Control Panel and then hit the “Remove Programs” icon and start deleting old programs. One thing you need to be careful with is that you don’t delete the programs that are used by other programs you do you all the time. However, if it says it’s been a few years since you last used that program, it’s probably a good bet that you can get rid of the program without worrying that it will affect anything else.
Tip # 2 – Hard Drive Clean
An easy way to make your computer fast is to do a quick hard drive clean by opening up the internet and cleaning out all of those temporary Internet files. Click on “Tools” and then “Internet Options” and then click on “Delete temporary files”. This will get rid of all the cookies that have been stored on your system in order to make web sites load properly. If you have passwords and user names saved on the system, they will pull up in the cookies so once you delete them you will need to re-set all the passwords on your system once it’s cleaned up.
Tip # 3 – System Defragment
When you install new programs, delete files, and just use your computer generally, things will start to get bogged down and it will be difficult for the system to search through the hard drive in order to link programs together in order to pull them up and work properly. This is why the computer may take a long time to boot up or why it takes awhile for the Internet to work. Running a system defrag is a simple way to link all of the files and programs back together. It will take an hour or longer for the computer to run through the complete defrag so do it during a time when you don’t plan on using the computer for awhile. In order to run a system defrag, click on “My Computer” and then click on “Local Disk” and then on “Help”. Once you are here, type “defrag” in the search section and instructions will appear that will easily show you how to run a disk defrag. It will also show you just how much space you have available on your system.
Tip # 4 – Increase your Memory
Many people buy a computer thinking that it has a ton of RAM when it really only has a few megabytes. One of the best ways to make your computer faster is to increase your memory. If you don’t have money to install new RAM, only run one program at a time. Some programs need a lot of memory to run so if you run them alone it will be much easier than running with 3 to 4 different programs.
Tip # 5 – External Memory Storage
Instead of saving all of your files on your computer’s hard drive, get an external hard drive. USB external storage devices work great and they often hold several gigabytes. You can also upload your files to an online storage site.
