Ok, first and foremost: you should understand that in this day and age of on-going technological advances, standard computational power keeps growing each day… meaning that computers keep evolving at an alarming rate. If your computer is more than 10 years old, it’s so slow because it’s outdated and you should definitely think about getting a new one. However, if your PC is just a couple of years old and it’s extremely sluggish and unresponsive, that is likely a software issue, rather than a hardware problem. In this case, you can fix your slow computer by trying these strategies:

* Run a anti-virus check; it’s very easy to catch a computer virus nowadays, especially if you’re a regular internet user. There are many virus that have the specialty of making computers get slower… so if you want to figure out why is your computer so slow, your first action should be doing a virus scan just to make sure.
* When was the last time you rebooted your computer? Some people just seem to leave their computer on at all time; while this won’t necessarily damage the computer parts, it will tend to make it slower… kind of like when you spend too long without sleeping. Fortunately, your computer doesn’t really need to sleep, so sometimes rebooting your PC will be all it takes to make it seem breezier.
* Remove useless programs; it’s very common for people to install random programs on a whim, and then never again use them. Well, sometimes that will only make your computer get cluttered faster, and it’s something you could easily avoid! Try un-installing those programs you never use, and you might just notice a huge difference in your computer performance.
* Format your hard drive and install operating system; this is a sureshot way to make your computer get faster, but besides calling for some technical skill, it’s a major hassle. Even if you pay someone to do it for you, you’ll still have to backup all your documents otherwise everything in your computer will just get wiped out!
* Try using a registry cleaner: if you’re a novice user, this is probably the simplest and most widely efficient solution. A registry cleaner is a piece of software that scans you computer and looks for useless files and unnecessary clutter. By cleaning up the registry (which is the computer internal database) you can manage to fix your slow running computer in record time, at the click of a button, and better… without interfering with your files and documents.

It’s time to take action! Check out the “My PC is running Slow” blog to get all the practical advice you need.

If you want to try using a registry cleaner, make sure to check this article on the subject “Improve XP performance”.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dylan_Boseman

More often than not when a computer starts to slow down the majority of people tend to think the computer may have a fault or be getting worn out. While in some cases this may very well be true, but in many cases it is simply a case of clearing up all the bits and pieces that your computer collects as you surf the Internet. Things such as Cache, Cookies, and History are collected all the time and while they may be small snippets of information after a while they become quite large files and will slow a computer down quite considerably. Cleaning these up is done fairly simply and will increase the speed of your computer once again…

In this day and age media seems to be a computers biggest memory drain, but with modern manufacturers aware of this they tend to create them with much bigger memories in order to cater for all the Games, Photographs, and Music that the PC will be submitted to.

Older computers sometimes suffer if they are used in the same way as they simply cannot cope with running all of these things on the main drive and trying to work efficiently at the same time.

So if your computer is slow and has a lot of media loaded onto it you might want to initially consider using an external hard drive to transfer and load current and future media programs and files that may be used on your computer. This is an inexpensive and effective upgrade for most PCs rather than having to purchase an entirely new computer.

Below is a sequence you can follow that will speed up computers that are using Windows XP and Windows XP Professional. This can be adapted to most PCs it is just a question of finding the same settings inside Internet Options.

1. Open Internet Explorer (Your Web Browser)
2. At very top of page Click on Tools.
3. Scroll down and Click on Internet Options.
4. Small box appears.
5. At top of small box there are tabs.
6. Select General Tab if not already selected.
7. Top section is Home Page.
8. Middle section is Temporary Internet Files.
9. Bottom section is History.
10. In Middle section Click on Delete Files.
11. This will ‘Clear’ the Cache files stored on your PC.
12. Small box appears saying Delete all files in Temporary Internet Files.
13. Click on OK.
14. This process may take a little while but let it run its course.
15. Once done, in Middle section Click on Delete Cookies…
16. Small box appears saying Delete all files in Temporary Internet Files Folder.
17. Click on OK and let run its course.
18. In Bottom section Click on Clear History.
19. Small box appears saying: Are you sure you want Windows to Delete your History of Visited Web-Sites.
20. Click on Yes and let run its course.
21. In Bottom section change setting for Days to keep pages in History to 1.
22. Now Click OK at bottom of Internet Options window and continue with your Enlightened Internet Experience.

Carry out this process once a month except clearing History as you have now set this to happen daily when you log-off. This will keep your computer optimised and faster.

You can create additional clarity and optimization to your computer by defragmenting the C drive once in a while. You can also set this to be done automatically if you wish.

To locate the defragmenting tool:

• Open your Start Menu and Click on All Programs this will open additional menu
• Click on Accessories this will open yet another menu Scroll down
• Click on System Tools which will drop down another menu
• About half way down you will see listed Disk Defragmenter
• Click on that and the defragmenter will open
• Now you can defragment your C drive

If you have never defragmented before and had the computer for some time this process can take quite a while possibly even a couple or even three hours so allow for this before activating the defragmenting process. Once a PC is initially fragmented it can be done on a regular basis and should only take ten or twenty minutes tops.

If you are unsure about any of the above procedures or have carried them out and are still experiencing abnormally slow loading speeds with your computer it may be an idea to contact your computer provider as there may possibly be a fault with the computer or possible virus.

All too often people entrust the security of their computer to luck or worse still look for the cheapest option to protect their details, information, and files from would-be thieves and viruses. Antiviral software should be one of the major purchases made when using or buying a computer and research should be applied in order to locate the best all round protection that is actually going to do what it is meant to do.

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