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Speed up your computer - Simple tweaks to make your computer faster

Do you want your computer or laptop to run faster for free? I recently wanted to do the same thing when my desktop PC seemed quite slow. So I went to Google to search for advice and I found a very helpful article called "Easy Tweaks for a Faster Computer" by Mark Scapicchio. This article was written back in October 2003 in an article of Windows News. The article was written for Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP. You might question the article's relevance due to how old it is, but actually Windows XP was released in 2001, giving plenty of time for searching for tweaks. The article was not new enough to include Windows Vista however. The article is free to view and the tips in the article cost no money to implement. On the same topic, I also dug up a newer article called "How can I make my computer run faster, for free?" by Brian Bergstein, written in 2008. Since the article is quite new, I assume all the information holds true to both Windows XP and Vista.

I can say that the tips given in both these article are very effective after trying it on my own computer. Perhaps the most useful tip is to remove programs from your startup, allowing the computer to load faster. This can be done by opening up the program that you do not want to run at startup, e.g. MSN Live Messenger, and going to "Options" or "Preferences" and switching off the "load at startup" function. Other tips include defragmenting your hard drive (although, according to Bernstein, "we've found the performance improvements from defragging to be barely noticeable"), removing programs no longer used, stopping useless startup loads, cleaning out your registry, cutting down on add-ons, using an alternative to Internet Explorer, eliminating computer-clogging spyware and cleaning the prefetch folder. Both writers explain how to use the tips in a very simple and clear way.

One important function of Windows XP and Vista, which I did not see suggested in either article is to use CHKDSK, short for Check Disk. This is a Windows program which can be run by going to My Computer, right clicking on the drive that needs to be checked, going to "Tools" and clicking the button under "Error Checking". CHKDSK will run in DOS mode next time you reboot your computer. This can be a time-consuming process, where you are not able to use your computer, so set aside some time, possibly overnight to do this. CHKDSK will move files to a usable cluster and will record those bad sectors and remember not to use them again. Sorry if my previous sentence was just computer speak.

There are several program suggestions of freeware programs in Scapicchio's article. The first is a program for cleaning the registry called Jouni Vuorio's RegCleaner. However, the link is broken and the homepage seems to be of another language. As an alternative, I can suggest the useful freeware program TweakNow RegCleaner Standard from Tweak Now, which has worked well for me, removing and repairing dozens of registry problems.

The second program suggestion is PepiMK Software's Spybot, a program used to eliminate spyware. Spybot is a good choice, but, according to Download.com, "bugs and false positives make it difficult to recommend". I can also suggest Lavasoft's Ad-Aware program, a program which I have a lot of experience with. Both products can be used for free and can be trusted because they have been around the market for a long time. For more information on spyware and adware removers, click here to see my computer safety page.

One program which is not mentioned in either article is TuneUp Utilities, which received 5 stars from the Download.com editor. I'm going to break from my tradition and suggest using this free 30-day trial program. TuneUp Utilities is packed full of useful programs which clean up your disk and optimise your computer for maximum performance. I have recently tried out the 2008 version, and it was able to remove 1,000's of MB of useless junk from my PC. In summary, from the Download.com review, TuneUp Utilities "provides users with a powerful, well-designed utility that accesses the entire Windows maintenance tool set and more in a fast, organized, and easy-to-use series of connected modules". There is also a freeware program on Download.com called Glary Utilities, which I have not tried yet. According to the Download.com review, it "cleans unwanted junk files and removes invalid and broken shortcuts, freeing up valuable disk space".

Posted by Proabffmm on Wednesday, December 31, 2008.