How to Boost a Computer's Performance
So you bought a state-of-the-art computer and it's working wonderfully! Except .. .months later, it suddenly starts performing slower. The programs start getting stuck, the operating system doesn't load as fast--what gives? Here are some ways to unclutter your computer and boost its performance.
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Instructions
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Run your anti-virus program. Often, a trojan, worm or other virus your computer may have contracted is quietly sucking the bandwidth to the point where your computer is as slow as a snail. A short scan may ignore them, but a full system scan, especially when the computer is in Safe Mode, may detect those hard-to-find, pesky little critters and wipe them out.
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Get rid of spyware. Do pop-up ads appear randomly? Does your Web browser sport a shiny new--and totally useless--toolbar? Run Spybot or Lavasoft's Ad-Aware programs. They're free to download and regular spyware sweeps will get rid of the clutter and make your computer run faster (see Resources below).
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Defrag your hard drive. This may take a while, so you may want to schedule a defragmentation overnight. This will free up memory. The more memory your computer has to work with, the faster it will run.
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Add memory! If your computer has 256 megabytes of random access memory (RAM), buy a chip and upgrade it to 512. Nowadays, most new computers don't even come with less than 1 GB of RAM. You will find your computer works much smoother with more RAM.
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Free up hard drive space by deleting unnecessary files. Do you really need the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy on your computer? Burn it to discs and get rid of it. Freeing up hard drive space also boosts a computer's performance.
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Check your hard drive for errors. You can schedule such an examination to run the next time you start your computer.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't be tempted to mess around with your computer's registry unless you're absolutely sure you know what you are doing.
Don't wait until your computer is slow to the point where it's almost impossible to do anything. A computer is like a car -- too much negligence and it becomes harder to fix.
