How to speed up a computer running very slow

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 8 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #136 in Tech & Geek, #2,592 overall

Why is my computer so slow? It shouldn't be that way, should it?

If you have been using computers for a few years, you might have noticed that, over the course of a few months or years, every computer you use slows down. It takes longer for it to start up, and the programs that used to load up in just 2-3 seconds, now take 5-10 seconds. I myself used to wonder: "Why is my computer so slow? It shouldn't be that way, should it?". Well the truth is it should, if you use it. This happens to every computer out there: every computer slows down with time and use. Fortunately, for every slow computer out there, there's also a few ways to speed it up. There is a number of ways how you can optimize your computer performance and get your computer to perform as if it were new. If you don't think that your computer is slow, but play games and want to run games a bit faster, then the tips here will also help you optimize your computer for gaming

Why is my computer so slow? 

There's a number of reasons. Computers have a limited ammount of processing power, so a lot of programs running simultaneously can slow a computer down considerably. Another reason is that some operations that are performed on the computer's hardware are slow due to the design of the hardware. For example both the hard drive and RAM is used to store information, however, RAM is many times faster at storing information (it's drawback being that it only stores the information until you power off the system). As such disk operations such as checking files with an antivirus or defragmenting a hard drive, or checking the hard drive, slow down your system considerably, and even loading programs from the disk slows down your computer.

A tool for the lazy among us! 

If you don't want all the hassle of messing with your computer in order to configure it, there's a great tool called Perfect Optimizer that tries to automatically optimize your computer in the best way possible. If you're interested in how to optimize your computer by hand, read on!

Step 0: Make sure you don't have any viruses! 

What's it good for: general well-being!

Although there are many viruses out there, if you have one your system doesn't slow down. A virus or spyware is a program like others, it's not aimed at performing resource intensive tasks. However if you have a lot of viruses, trojans, worms and spyware, these programs do slow your system down just because they usually start up along with Windows and there's a lot of them and each needs a bit of resources. So if you don't have an antivirus protecting your computer 24/7 - get one.

If you're not sure whether you have malware on your computer or not, download NoAdware.Net and use it to scan your computer for these programs.

Step 1: How many programs are you running? 

What's it good for: speed up pc boot, speed up pc startup, increase overall performance

Spyware is just a special case of a more general problem: too many programs loading at Windows startup. Most of the programs you install don't need to load when your computer boots up. However there are some programs (RealPlayer, Java, Quicktime) that register themselves or some of their components to start automatically each time you boot your computer without even asking you whether you'd like that or not. These components may update that program, or allow you to access it from the system tray, or do something different. In order to remove these programs from the list of programs that start along with Windows itself, Windows has a tool called MSCONFIG. To run MSCONFIG click on the Start button and depending on whether you have Windows XP or Windows Vista either click Run or click on the search field and enter 'msconfig'.


In the MSCONFIG utility switch to the Startup tab and you should see something like the above although with a lot more items, probably. Some of these you may want to disable, others you might prefer to leave starting up. It's up to you which ones you should keep running. If you're not sure whether you should leave or remove some program because you're not sure what it does, there's a great list of programs you may find on the Startup tab along with descriptions of what they do, it can be found here.

Step 2: Changing the size of the page file 

What's it good for: speed up program loading

The page file is used so that programs could have more memory than would be available to them if Windows only used physical memory. By default Windows chooses the size of the page file in the way it thinks is best and when that is not enough the file is expanded. However this way the file is susceptible to fragmentation described below. So before doing the next step it's better to first set up Windows so it uses a fixed size page file.

To do this you have to do the following:
  • Click Start, right click on the Computer icon and choose Properties.

  • If you're using Windows Vista click Advanced system settings on the left, if not skip this step.

  • In the window that appeared click on the Advanced tab and click Settings under the Performance section.

  • Click on the Advanced tab in the Performance Options window and click Change under the Virtual Memory section.

  • If you're using Windows Vista untick the box that says "Automatically manage the page file size on all drives".

  • Choose drive C: and click on the "Custom size" option.



It's generally a good idea to enter twice the amount of recommended memory as both the initial memory and the maximum memory. The recommended memory is stated in the "Total paging file size for all drives" section. After entering the values click OK and restart your computer.

Step 3: Defragmenting the hard drive 

What's it good for: speed up disk operations, program loading

Disk fragmentation occurs when a file needs to be broken up into several fragments in order to be stored on the hard drive. Due to the way hard drives work, fragmentation means it will take more time to read a file from the hard drive. If you'd like to know more about why this happens, you can read the entry from Wikipedia.

To defragment the hard drive Windows contains a tool called Windows Defragmenter. However, I recommend using Diskeeper 2008, since it's quite a lot better than the default Windows Defragmenter (you can look at the comparison chart here). Unfortunately it's not free so here are instructions on how to run the Windows Defragmenter.

To defragment using the Windows Defragmenter for Windows XP, click Start, click Run and enter 'dfrg.msc', in the Disk Defragmenter choose drive C: and click Defragment.


If you're using Windows Vista, then to run the defragmenter click Start and enter 'dfrgui' in the search field. In the Disk Defragmenter click the Defragment Now button.

Step 4: Fixing registry errors 

What's it good for: speed up pc boot, speed up pc startup

The Windows Registry was introduced along with Windows 95 as a replacement for all the ini files that were used for storing configuration options before. The registry is a centralized place for all of the configuration options not just for windows itself but also for all other programs. There are some benefits of this approach, but also there are disadvantages. For example not all of the programs uninstall correctly, file associations, options specific to the program, some changes to the operating system a program makes and other things may be left behind. As a result of this the registry becomes bloated with garbage, and because the registry is loaded into memory as a whole, the bigger the registry the more time it takes to read it. So the registry should be cleaned routinely. Unfortunately there is no tool in Windows to do this, so I would recommend using RegEasy for this purpose.

Step 5: Taking it one step further: Windows services 

What's it good for: speed up pc boot/startup, increase overall pc performance

Windows has these special programs called "services". Some of them you need enabled, others you don't. However, the services are what the system depends on, and if disabling the programs that run on startup only disabled these programs and the worst thing that could happen if you disabled the one you need was that your iTunes could stop automatically updating, disabling services that you need may prevent Windows from functioning the way it should, so proceed with caution here, and write down which services you are disabling and what their previous state was, so that if something goes wrong you could return the settings back to what they were by booting into Safe Mode (to do that you have to press F8 when Windows is booting up)


If you're using Windows XP, then click Start, click Run and enter 'services.msc' in the dialog and consult this article on which services you should disable. If you're using Windows Vista then click Start and enter 'services.msc' in the search field and consult this article on what services you should disable.

Visual effects 

What's it good for: increase overall performance

In order to speed up Windows even more, you can turn off some or all of the visual effects. This, however, is sacrificing looks for speed. To disable some or all of the visual effects, do the following:

  • Click Start, right click on the Computer icon and choose Properties.

  • If you're using Windows Vista click Advanced system settings on the left, if not skip this step.

  • In the window that appeared click on the Advanced tab and click Settings under the Performance section.


Reader Feedback 

Lensmaster

businessonapage wrote...

Hi Eugene,
This lens is a great read. I found it easy flowing and useful. Two ways I found to reduce the background processing (which slows the computer when you don't want it too) are:
- Switch off automated Windows updates (WXP: control panel -> Security Center) and do them manually when you do not require the PC (WXP: control panel -> Windows Update LHS menu) and
- Reduce the number of folders that the Indexing tool uses (WXP: control panel -> Indexing Options -> Modify)

ReplyPosted July 06, 2009

Lensmaster

david muruganatham wrote

thank u friends,very use full things.

Reply Posted July 06, 2009

Lensmaster

eugene2k wrote...

in reply to From Ms Aundy Nando
Wow! My first Nigerian scam letter! I'm exstatic! Thank you so much!

ReplyPosted June 27, 2009

Lensmaster

From Ms Aundy Nando wrote

From Ms Aundy Nando
Rue de jarddins ABIDJAN 01.
COTE D'IVORIE, West Africa.

Dearest one,

Permit me to inform you of my desire to go into business relationship with you, after going through your profile and I prayed over it and selected your name among other names due to the nature of my proposal, which requires a reputable and trustworthy person. Someone who will be kind and sincere to me.
l am Miss Aundy Nando, the only daughter of late Mr and Mrs Ambrose Nando. My father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan here, the economic capital of Ivory Coast; he was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their business meeting. My mother died on the 22nd may 1989 and my father took me so
Special because l am motherless.

Before the death of my father on 10th December 2007 in a private hospital here in Abidjan, he secretly called me on his bedside, when I sat down to listen to him, he started crying, why? (1) He complained that I am too young to be managing my life with no one to take care of me,(2)That I have not finished my university education as he planned for me, he revealed to me that he has a sum of US$8.500.000.(Eight MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) left in a security company here in Abidjan, that he used my name as the only daughter for his next of kin in deposit of the funds.

He also explained to me that it was because of this wealth that he was poisoned by his business associates, that l should seek for a GOD fearing foreign partner in a country of my choice where l will transfer this money and use it for proper investment purpose, that I must finish my university education by the help of a business partner abroad, that he or she should help me obtain a resident permit in his or her country. He also gave standing instructions to the company that the deposit must be transferred outside this country. According to my father, the money was deposited as art works to avoid attracting attention to the deposit.

I am now ready to do all these since my father my bread winner is no more. l am honourable seeking your assistance in the following ways.

(1) To serve as my guardian in your country while I will depend on your expert advice since l am a girl of 20 years.
(2) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country in order to further my university education and to secure a residential permit for me in your country.
Moreover, l am willing to offer you 15% of the total sum as compensation for your assistance in the transfer of this deposit to your country. Furthermore, you can indicate your option towards assisting me as l believed that this project would be concluded within seven days you signify interest to assist me by contacting the security company.

Hoping to hearing from you soon. May God bless you as you extend your helping hand to the needy? Please contact me through my private id address ( aundynan12@hotmail.fr)

Love
Ms Aundy Nando.

Reply Posted June 27, 2009

Lensmaster

Amman473 wrote

hi Eugene.....! u solve my problem %u2026%u2026. Thankxxxx

Reply Posted June 11, 2009

Lensmaster

milo wrote

Thanks so much ever since i got my computer till now ive been paying over $100 to get it formatted to make it faster for about 2 months so this helpes out alot!

Reply Posted May 29, 2009

Lensmaster

dorraba wrote...

Great article, Liked is very much, very usefull incofrmation

ReplyPosted April 24, 2009

Lensmaster

patel sumit wrote

very use full,
thanks.

Reply Posted April 24, 2009

Lensmaster

nyokalover wrote

vey informative. thank u

Reply Posted March 12, 2009

Lensmaster

Eugene wrote

in reply to Gezehagn
The only way to recover a lost MS Access database password is to use a password cracking tool such as the ones listed here: http://www.softplatz.com/software/access-2003-password-recovery/

Reply Posted February 27, 2009

 
Next Page
1 of 2 pages