Slow Computer Solutions

There are many reasons that cause people to find themselves with a computer that is sluggish and slow. Programs don’t open the way they used to. The Internet has slowed to a dull crawl. Pop-ups fill your screen every time you open a new web page. You can literally hear your hard drive rattling and humming when you try to multi-task. These are just a few of the problems that the computer user has when his/her computer is showing signs of wear.

Here are some tips to help that slow computer regain some of the speed and performance ability back so you can enjoy your computer use without these frustrations:

* Use the defragmentation tool (defrag). A hard drive consists of hundreds of sectors which or broken up into clusters and then further into allocations. As a computer gets used the files that are accessed are sometimes not put back to the sector or allocation unit where they belong. The drive becomes “fragmented”. The defrag tool can be accessed by going to the start bar, to programs, accessories, system tools and defragmentation tool. It may take several hours to properly defrag a hard drive, but the resulting gain in speed will make this time well spent. Files will be more quickly accessed and all of the bad sectors on a disk will not contain any information on them. Hence, a user will not wait in vain for a file that is stuck on a bad part of the hard drive.

* Use registry fix programs. The computer registry can be described as the database that contains all of the settings and options for 32 bit versions of Microsoft Windows (including Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, XP, and 2000.) It also contains all of the settings for the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the P.C. Whenever a user makes changes in the Control Panel settings, file associations, system policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected in the computers registry. Many times a registry error occurs and this causes files and data to be inaccessible. If there are numerous minor errors (which is usually the case) a registry fix program will get the data back in accessible sequence and a slow computer will be speeded up with this fix.

* Adding more RAM (random access memory) to your system will almost always help speed up a slow computer and the act of multi-tasking will not bog down the computer as it would with a lower amount of RAM. RAM is hardware that needs to be physically added and tends to be somewhat costly. However if you plan on keeping your system for a while it is an excellent investment.

* For faster browsing speed clear your Internet cache (temporary internet files) and delete your cookies. This causes the computer to gain speed on the Internet and the pop-ups from sites that you have been to will also be less frequent.

* Remove unnecessary items from the start menu. To do this type “msconfig” in the “run” box and hit enter. Choose selective startup and uncheck all of the programs that you do not need to load every time you start your computer. This will make the computer start more quickly and efficiently. DO NOT uncheck items that you do not recognize. This could cause you computer to run improperly.

* Use a browser with an integrated pop-up blocker (Firefox for example) to decrease the amount of pop-ups and increase browsing speed.