Safe4Surf

If you find your PC is slower at handling everyday tasks it may be because over time, computers get cluttered with unnecessary files that need cleaning out. A slow PC can also be because your software or hardware is outdated, but there are certain steps you can take to improve performance.

This guide shows you how to give your slow PC a speed boost and also to keep your computer free of clutter.

1. Ccleaner

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s  fast(normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

Click here to download

It differs from other defrag tools on the market, by enabling you to quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. Simply run it, select the file and defragment in seconds. No more struggling with the Windows defragmentation tool!

Click here to download

3. Edit StartUp Programs

This video shows how to do it.

 


 4. Tweak the Page file

When Windows uses up all the available RAM memory in your computer, it turns to the hard disk for help and uses a Page File as extra space to work with. If the Paging File is too low, Windows can run slowly.

Right-click the My Computer icon on the Desktop and click Properties. Click the Advanced tab and under Performance, click Settings then Advanced and you can Change the Virtual Memory settings.

The System managed size option lets Windows determine the best settings for you, but you can choose to set your own Custom Size if you wish. Type in the amount of disk space you want it to use.

There are varying opinions on what is the best setting, but many recommend putting it at 1.5 times your RAM – so for example if you have 512MB of RAM, you would set both the Initial and Maximum size boxes at 768MB. Click the Set button to accept your changes and see if performance has improved.

If you have plenty of RAM for your computer to use, then setting a large Page File is unnecessary and will just waste space on the hard disk. You should not disable the Page File completely though, as certain programs require it to run properly.

5 Uninstall Un-necessary Programs

1. Open up the start menu and click ‘Control Panel’
2. Double click on ‘Add or Remove programs’
3. Look at the list. Chances are there’s a lot of things you’d forgotten on there.
4. Select a program you don’t need any longer by clicking on it.
5. Click on the button at the top that says ‘Uninstall’. (Note, sometimes it says ‘Uninstall/Repair, click on that one if plain old ‘uninstall’ is unavailable).
6. Follow what the computer tells you. Depending on the program a different menu will come up, but common sense usually tells you what to do.