How to Make Your Computer Faster

Your computer is a few years old.. it's had a long run but it's starting to run slower and slower. You're thinking of trashing it.. Take heed though, there is a way to get your computer back to running at its fastest. There are plenty of ways to this, all for free! Just follow the instructions for the article and you should get your computer back and running fast in almost no time! (Note this article only applies to Windows XP computers)

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer
• Internet
• (Optional) External Harddrive

1. Download Avast! from Download.com Get some anti-virus software
   
   Thinking of paying? You don't need to! Go to Download.com and get Avast! Home Edition (my recommended pick). Update it and run scans at least once a week. This keeps the viruses off your computer, helping it run faster.
   
   (If you would rather pay for a product, consider Kaspersky Anti-Virus or NOD32.)
2. Download Ad-Aware and Spybot from Download.com Get some anti-spyware software
   
   Go to Download.com and download Ad-Aware SE Personal AND Spybot Search and Destroy (or more if you wish). Run scans at least on a weekly basis. Anti-spyware is NOT the same as anti-virus, just trust me, you need BOTH.
3. Uninstall your programs from the Control Panel Uninstall all unnecessary programs.
   
   Clean up all that junk that has been piling up on your computer for all these years. Go to Start > Control Panel > Add & Remove Programs, there you should be able to see all the programs that are currently installed on your computer. Remove the ones that you don't think you, or anyone else who uses the computer, needs anymore. Just make sure you know what you are uninstalling before you do so.
4. Both these programs are valuable tools Get CCleaner and TweakUI from Download.com.
   
   Run CCleaner and use it's Cleaner and Issues tools everyone now and then. They help clean up registry errors and temporary internet files.
   
   TweakUI lets you customize the way your XP looks and run, so you can disable unnecessary animations and such.
5. How to get to Services *From now on only do these tweaks if you really feel up to messing around with your computer a bit. I recommend you make a System Restore point before you do any of these tweaks.*
   
   Turn off unnecessary services.
   
   How? Go to Start > Run > type "Services.msc" > Enter.
   Go to http://smallvoid.com/articles/windows-xp/services/ to see which services are necessary, and which aren't. Turn off the ones that aren't by double clicking on the service, and changing it from Automatic to Disabled.
6. Using CCleaner to clean up your Registry Turn off unnecessary start-up programs.
   
   Go back to CCleaner and go to Tools. Then click on the Startup tab. You should see a list of items that start up when you boot your computer. Before deleting ANY entries, go to this website http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/search.php and make sure the startup item you are deleting isn't a necessary item.
7. Using TuneXp Download TuneXp from download.com.
   
   Enable any of the settings that you see fit. Consult the Help > Documentation articles if you aren't sure what to enable and disable.
8. The Windows Defragmenter Defragment your hard drive.
   
   For free, you can use the Windows defragger (Right-click your hard drive, go to tools, defragment), but there are much more efficient and better (and not free) products out there. Consider investing in PerfectDisk or Diskeeper.. there are trials for the products that last 30 days so you can try it before you buy it.
   
   Update: I found a great free program. Head to Download.com and search up, "Auslogics Disk Defrag". I use it myself, it runs fast, looks nice, and increases performance. I highly recommend.
9. Disable the Indexing service Disable disk indexing
   
   Right-Click your hard drive in My Computer and uncheck the option that says "allow indexing service to index this disk for fast file searching".
10. The Lifehacker Article Reformat your hard drive.
    
    This requires a bit more time, but the results are WELL worth it if you have had your computer for over a year. Make SURE to back up all your data before doing so.
    
    Here's a great article for it:
    
    http://lifehacker.com/software/windows/geek-to-live-how-to-format-your-hard-drive-and-install-windows-xp-from-scratch-157578.php
    
    I highly recommend doing this if you've had your computer for over a year and haven't done this.
11. Upgrade your system
    
    The most simply fix is to purchase more RAM. Check how much RAM you have first (Start > Control Panel > System or Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System).. if you have less that 512mb of ram, it's time to upgrade. I recommend a minimum or 1gb.. It's cheap now-a-days and is by far the cheapest, easiest, and most noticeable upgrade you can perform on an old system. Here's an article to help you out: http://www.ehow.com/how_895_install-ram.html .
    
    Upgrading your CPU can help too, but it gets a bit more complicated. Some CPUs aren't compatible with certain motherboards.. and in most cases simply buying a new computer
    
    If you are ambitious, try visiting this forum for more information:
    
    http://www.computerforum.com/

Tips & Warnings

• Feel free to get more than 1 anti-spyware software; if one product doesn't catch something, there is a good chance another will.
• Go to computer forums like http://forum.notebookreview.com/ or http://www.computerforum.com/ for more information.
• Go to TweakXP.com for more tweaks. Be careful what you do, however.
• Do not use 2 anti-virus products at the same time. This could cause some headaches.
• If you don't feel comfortable applying some of these tweaks/fixes, DON'T!
• Always create a system restore point before applying these tweaks.