Keeping Your Computer Fast

We often hear our friends and other people say their personal computers are no longer fast enough as they use to be. Oftentimes, they reason out to themselves that the many applications and data stored in them may be causing the slowdown. While there is some truth to their reasoning except in cases when their units catch virus, spyware and malware, there definitely are ways to keep their computers in tip-top conditions. Compared to cars that require change oil and engine tune-up to run smoothly, personal computers must also undergo preventive maintenance procedures to keep them fast and error-free in its operations.

Computer slowdown when not caused by virus, malware without the best malware protection spyware could be due to some registry problems, disk fragmentation and unnecessary programs running at start-up. This article will not discuss the issue of protecting your computer against viruses and its removal. What you will find below are the various tools you can use to keep you computer fast against the effects of the other causes of its slowdown. Windows operating systems come with built-in tools for such conditions but what I have here are tools made by third parties which are found to be as effective if not better than what Microsoft provided with their products.

Registry Fix – Over time, a computer slows down and there will be a need to remove and/or fix temporary internet files, cookies, other types of temporary files, fix the registry, and fix some applications. For this need, CCleaner is the recommended freeware to do system optimization, privacy and registry cleaning the fast way.  It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster by freeing up valuable hard disk space.

Disk Defragmentation – The more you use the computer, the more  chance for files to become scattered across different folders and for the system slows down as a result. This situation requires a file defragmentation procedure and the same maker of CCleaner has a a tool called Defraggler to do the job. It differs from other defragmentation tools in that it enables you to quickly and simply defragment the files you want to in seconds, without having to process the whole drive.

Disabling Programs at Start Up – One of the most effective way of keeping your computer fast is by disabling the unnecessary programs that run during the start up. For the purpose, Startup Control Panel is a nifty applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts. It’s simple to use, very small and compatible with all modern versions of Windows through Windows XP.

I know that some of you may be using tools that are different from the above to keep your computers fast. Can you share with us what you are using?

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