Quick And Easy Computer Boost

Like most devices, in which they are used in general, you only actually use about 20% of your computer and it's capabilities about 80% of the time. Like a car, computers also need to be serviced every 10,000 miles, the problem is computers are not good at self maintenance and alot of stuff hangs around and slows down the computer when used over a long period of time.

There are old programs that haven't been used in a while, stuff in the Recycle Bin still hanging about, lots of documents, pictures, videos, emails that start to increase in number, and 'under the hood' of Windows, there is temporary files in use every time you open a program or use the internet that while effective for a little speed boost in the very short term, actually slow down the computer in the long term.

We will first get rid of the detritus, the garbage, the unnecessary, the unloved, the unwanted..... OK, I feel you got the picture....

See that little piccy of a garbage can on your desktop? It may even be called a Recycle Bin on yours. Well, right click on it and select from the drop down list, "Empty Recycle Bin".

Next, open your favourite email program, and do some house cleaning. Select those emails that you have had for a while and delete them. Go on, do you REALLY need to keep that email with a good joke from 3 years ago?

After your email program screams stop, next go into your Control Panel and select "Add/Remove Programs" In Windows XP or "Programs And Settings" in Windows Vista / 7. Wait for your list of programs to load. Now you will remove those programs that use haven't used in a long time. Please be aware, if are not sure what a program does by looking at it's name, it's best to leave it there. We want to remove only those programs you installed that relate to photo editing, games, office programs, music playback, video editing and the like.

Over time, you computer access' files on your hard drive. Your hard drive stores information in sectors, and on alot of occasions when files are deleted or moved, open spaces with no information are left on these sectors. So it may take longer for your computer to find information as it needs to access it.

Defragmentation is a process that moves these sectors containing information closer together so your hard drive will then take less time it needs to find what it wants.

Since this process of 'defragging' can take several hours, I recommend running this process by starting it and leaving it to run overnight, but DON'T shut down your computer, you will stop the processfrom completing.

Disk Defragmenter is usually found in Programs/Accessories/System Tools/ Disk Defragmenter on all Windows versions.

Adding a second hard drive will also provide a small speed boost to your computer. This is especially true if you do this when you have a brand new computer. You can store your Windows and programs, as well as the virtual memory file (virtual memory is when your computer uses your hard drive as a scratch pad when it runs out of physical RAM) onto the first drive. Then all your data, your documents, video's, photos, etc onto the second drive.

It is also an advantage if your Windows system starts to misbehave as well, since all your important information is stored on a differing hard drive.

Most modern computers purchased will come with one to two gigabytes of RAM. Most applications are also RAM hungry and the more your computer can handle the more it will use. This is especially true of the latest games available and for video and photo editing programs.

If you are using Windows 32-bit (which will be 98% of current computer users) obtain a maximum of 4 Gigabytes of RAM for your computer. If you are using Windows 64-bit, currently the maximum you can input is 8 Gigabytes (also it's motherboard dependent).

For those of you not sure what type of RAM goes into your computer ask someone knowledgeable about this or your local computer supplier.

Increasing RAM to the maximum your computer is the single biggest speed boost you can provide it and can be up to a 15-20% speed boost in certain circumstances.

Any and all of the outlined suggestions above can be down according to your time, your budget and in any order. As more information comes to hand I will outline additional features or function one can use to even further increase your computer speed. Enjoy.

In my years of being an "In The Wild" Computer Field Technician, I was fortunate to come across one item of software that firstly, astounds me that it is still available for FREE.

CCleaner - The first C stand for c**p, is an extremely useful, yet very powerful utility software. It will re-invigorate your PC by getting under the hood of windows and cleaning out that clutter that would take you hours on your own as well as doing a better job than Windows does on it's own.

What does it do??? Well it has the power for the following, it will eradicate;

For Internet Use
Temporary Internet Files
Cookies
Internet History
Recently Typed URL's

For Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer
Run (In Start Menu)
Search Autocomplete
Thumbnail Cache

For Windows System
Empty The Recycle Bin
Temporary Windows Files
Clipboard Files
Memory Dumps (you get these when you have an issue with Windows like a Blue Screen of Death and Windows restarts)
Chkdsk files
Windows Log Files
Windows Error Reports
Orphaned Start Menu ShortCuts
Orphaned Desktop Menu ShortCuts

And also has some further advanced options.

It has a registry cleaner which will remove registry entries left over from badly deleted, incorrect entries or removed programs. I have found this especially helpful when I have had to manually remove malware from a computer and cannot track down it's related registry entries (which makes it come back after a computer restart). This facility also has a backup so if you accidentally stop your computer from starting normally, one can start in *SAFE MODE* and restore the previous Registry Backup.

There is also a section for removing what programs start when you turn on your computer, a section to uninstall programs or remove entries that are still listed, yet you know the program is no longer installed. Also, there is a facility to remove specific System Restore Files.

The average computer user doesn't know that they have approximately 4 Gigabytes of temporary files and files from their internet caches. Why does a computer have these? It because it makes it easier for Windows to access these files and makes it somewhat quicker for Windows to operate. The issue is, when you start using more than 3 programs, EVERY single program starts accessing these temp files and it will actually SLOW down your computer over time, because your hard drive has to find one, your program to run and secondly the temp files it also needs to access.

You have also approximately 40 Gigabytes put aside if you have your Windows System Restore turned on. This windows utility actually helps to restore your computer to a previous state if you install a new program and suddenly that program and windows stops working properly. The issue here is Windows does an automatic store every week and this takes about 5 Gigabytes of room each time.

Although this is a great FREE item of software, being very judicious and careful using it. It is extremely powerful and can stop your computer functioning properly if you do not know how to use it effectively. I suggest you have someone very computer savvy install and have a look at the program BEFORE you start using it yourself.

On the plus side, it will remove a lot of garbage and initially your web browser and some programs will seems a little slow after using it (until the second and third time you use those programs as new temp files are created) you will gain a lot of hard disk space back.

This program is available by clicking the link below

CCleaner Download