How to Keep a PC Running Smoothly

Windows Control Panel

Contributor

By Richard Burke
eHow Contributing Writer

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(11 Ratings)

The number one computer question I get asked and see asked on the forums is," Why does my computer run so slow?." There are many things that can cause your computer to slow down. Usually, the slow down is due to poor computer house keeping. Here are a few things you can do to keep your computer running smoothly.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Windows XP Computer with a CD Burner
Blank CD-R or CD-RW Media

How To Back up Your Data

Step 1

Free space

Unfortunately, most people don't back up their data and if they do for some reason they don't delete the files from their system. Windows uses the free space on your hard drive as "swap space" for running applications. If you don't have a lot of free space, applications take longer to run. By backing up your documents and removing them from your hard drive you can create more free disk space and your large windows applications will run quicker. A good rule of thumb is to keep at least 20% of your hard drive free. You can check your free space by opening MY COMPUTER and selecting VIEW/DETAILS.
Step 2

Select what you want to back up

Microsoft provides back up software with its operating system. If you have XP Home Edition you will need to install this option from your CD. You can also back up your data online using a variety of services like IBackup. This saves you the CDS or external hard drive costs but there is a monthly charge.
Step 3

Follow the back up wizard

You do not really need to back up your applications as long as you have them on a CD or other media so you can reload them if you have a computer crash. Microsoft makes it easy if you store all your documents in MY DOCUMENTS. Many users try to defeat this by storing there files all over the computer. If you store all your documents under MY DOCUMENTS then that is really the only folder you need to back up. Back up at least every month.

How to Remove Applications

Step 1

Control Panel

Another item that may cause slowdowns is the number of applications you are running on your computer. Most of them, you probably never use and you can free up space by removing them. Before removing any program, make sure you have a disk copy in case you want to reinstall it. If you don't know what a program is, don't remove it. It may be something windows needs to run. To remove programs, open the windows control panel which can be found on your START menu and double click on ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS.
Step 2

Remove programs

It may take a minute to populate the list. The tool will show you how often you use the program, how much space it takes up and give you and option to remove it. Click REMOVE to uninstall the program.

How to defragment your hard drive

Step 1

Disk Defragmenter

The less free space you have available on your hard drive, the more fragmented your files become. This also causes your computer to slow down. Files that are stored contiguously run faster than fragmented files. The smaller your hard drive, the more you should defragment. You should probably check at least once a month to see if you need to defragment your files. Windows will not tell you you need to defragment until file fragmentation is about 20%. I personally defragment if the analysis shows 10% and notice a dramatic increase in performance after defragmentation. To analyze your hard drive, navigate to START/ALL PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM TOOLS. Click ANALYZE.
Step 2

Analysis

Once you click analyze, you will see the report. If you want to DEFRAGMENT, just click the button. It will take a long time so go and do something else while it works.