Speed Up Computer

Now, I actually learn best by reading rather than by watching videos (as long as there are pictures, of course). So while one of the big appeals of this product is the easy-to-follow professionally produced videos with professional narration, for me the fact that every video also has a pdf ebook - and that there's also a BIG pdf ebook with ALL the individual pdfs in it is a very big plus. If you learn best by seeing it live, you're covered. Or if you're like me and prefer to read, you're still covered. Later, when you're into the maintenance phase, just opening up the pdf will keep you right on track.

This a logical, carefully designed progression where you run through the entire program first to get your machine cleaned up and to get familiar with the software (free! I like that too). This takes some time the first go around but it's very clearly explained. You'll learn exactly what to do, what NOT to do (that's always very important), how to use the software and a number of built-in windows utilities to fix your slow computer. After that there's a regular maintenance plan outlined that will take much less time but will keep your machine in great shape.

When you consider what some people are going to charge you for just a registry cleaner (you get one with this package, by the way), This program is exceptionally reasonable. I use quite a few free or open source programs but Tiit's come up with some I didn't know about that are very useful - plus he's set things up so you can download them without giving out your name and email to several of the sites (kind of sneaky maybe but I get so much spam and emails I don't really want that I liked it a lot).

You have got to understand a couple things though. Any kind of process to fix a slow computer can only do so much. If you don't have enough memory, if you have a disk that's full or very close, if you are having any problems with hardware components or if you have an old slow CPU, you can only expect so much improvement.

With the drop in memory and hard drive prices and the big big hard drives you can get now, helping things along with more memory and a bigger hard drive will usually be worth while. If you have a really slow CPU, you should consider a new machine, especially since both operating systems and programs are requiring faster CPUs, more memory and more hard drive space. Of course, even a brand new machine requires careful ongoing maintenance to keep its edge.

With the Fast PC Secrets program you can easily keep your computer in optimal condition. This is a great deal on a really essential tool set for every computer user: Fast PC Secrets. (And it's easy enough to follow that anyone can become a fast PC expert.)

After I finished running through everything but the defragmentation (yeah, I know, I should do that too, maybe tonight, but I did defrag the hard drive shortly before I started the Fast PC Secrets program - so "do as I say not as I do"), I'd picked up over 2 gigabytes of disk space. Since I'd moved a lot of stuff off the box and done what I thought was a pretty good cleanup about 2 weeks before I used the Fast PC program, I was impressed by the amount of junk still around. And it was almost all a combination of temporary files (from install programs), temp internet files and having too much space allocated for restore points. Maybe 2.4 GB doesn't sound like a lot, but it's an older laptop with a 30 GB drive (actual capacity about 27.9 GB), so I picked up just under 10% new free space.

The machine is running better and faster. It boots a bit faster (I have quite a few startup programs I needed to keep) and it shuts down faster. But the best part is that programs are loading faster and responding faster - even Windows Explorer.

Getting a ton of junk out of the registry is also helping - I was blown away by how much trash was still in the registry from uninstalled programs.

Kind of burns me how bad a job install and uninstall programs do. A lot just dump their unpacked temp files and leave them sitting on your disk and while the uninstall programs may claim to cleanup the registry they only do part of what they should do. With the size of some programs, having both the program files and the temporary files and maybe the compressed zip and or cab files hogging up your drive, you lose a lot more space than you should.

I will do a defrag soon, but even without it I'm real happy with the results from running through the program. My only issue had to do with the anti-spyware which apparently didn't match well with my machine and slowed it down - way down. That happens with some configurations and is probably similar to part of the problem that I had earlier with Norton 360. So rather than leave anti-spyware active all the time, I run a scan once a week or so. I also use SpyBot Search and Destroy and Spyware Blaster for additional protection. Those are freeware so you can add them to your defensive armament at MajorGeeks.com or other download sites.

Doing the cleanup the first time takes a while, but the videos and pdfs make that easy. The results were definitely worth it - and now I also have the tools to keep my machine running optimally. All in all this was well worth it and despite a lot of PC experience over the years, I learned a good bit. I like things that really work so it's a real pleasure to find a product like Fast PC Secrets. Check it out for yourself if you'd like to speed up your computer: Fast PC Secrets.

If you'd like to pick up a free pdf on using free anti-spyware programs, find out a little more about Fast PC Secrets or about spyware, visit the How Do I Speed Up My Computer? blog.




July 20, 2008 - One of the most useful parts of Fast PC Secrets is the cleanup program. I use it pretty often and every time it's amazing just how much trash accumulates if you use your machine regularly.