Computers are a great tool to aid us in all aspects of our lives. It especially helps us as a productivity tool. The value of this help is severely reduced when the computer is sluggish or slow. The methods described below will significantly speed up the computer.
Relief for slow computer speed problems
There are many possible causes for system slowdown and sluggishness. I will describe some of the most common ones below and indicate the remedy to be used to boost computer speed.
1. Inadequate system resources
Modern computer operating systems demand high speed cpus and gobs of memory.
The primary factor preventing computer speed up is inadequate memory. Most modern systems should have at least 1 gig of memory and 2 gig is even better. Adding more memory will provide a significant boost.
2. Unnecessary, annoying or dangerous software hogging your system
Make sure that your system is protected against viruses and spyware. Be sure to have an effective Internet Security Suite running on your system.
3. Fragmented or disorganized hard drive
Over time data gets fragmented on your hard drive and your computer has to waste time stringing it all together.
To correct the fragmentation, defragment your hard drive. To clean up the junk data, delete unnecessary files. Check for and repair certain disk errors. The details for these steps are here Microsoft Disk Optimization
4. Windows XP contains a huge list of special effects and visual enhancements such as animated menus, fade effects, cursor shadows, menu shadows etc. Turning off these settings can make Windows XP running faster and use fewer system resources
5. Unnecessary start up programs
Various programs that you install add some extra programs to the system startup which may not be necessary and will slow down startup and general operation. Identify and remove these programs.
6. If you don't do a lot of file searches, disable the Windows indexing service.
The time you save on a search is generally not worth the general degradation in performance which the indexing service causes.
7. Use Firefox as your main browser.
Not only is Firefox faster for each page, it is also less subject to virus and spyware attacks.
Additionally, I have found that over time having a lot of browser windows open really slows things down when they are IE windows. I have not found this to be the case with Firefox.
Follow the steps above and get the most speed that you can.
David Freitag
The Computer Doc
To learn exactly how I help users get the most out of their computers and solve their problems visit http://www.ask-the-computer-doc.com where you will find everything you need about boosting your computer speed and computer Internet security and much more.
Source: www.articlesphere.com
