Tips On Speeding Up Your PC

There is nothing more irritating than a PC that is running slow but rather than dashing out to splash out on a brand new machine, there are a few simple things you can try first. The following tips will help speed up your computer and get it working at a reasonable speed again.

1. Slow Startup

If when you turn on your PC it is taking ages to boot, it’s not the computer but rather all the programs that are switching on, which are making your machine slow. To remedy this little problem you can disable programs during startup. There is a number of tools out there that will easily disable the programs for you, CCleaner by Piriform is one of them. However Windows also has a built-in utility commonly known as ‘msconfig’.

To access this utility press Ctrl, Alt and Delete all at the same time and select the Task Manager. Once the Task Manager window pane has opened, select the Startup tab. From here you can disable programs during startup by right clicking on one and selecting Disable.

2. Uninstall Unused Programs

Over time you will collect applications that most of the time you don’t actually need or use. These will contribute to clogging up your PC and slowing it down so now is the time to have a spring clean and clear them out. If it’s an unused app on your Start Screen that you want to get rid off, then just right-click on the app tile and then click Uninstall.

To remove a desktop application, search for the Control Panel from the Start Screen. Select Control Panel and from View by select Large Icons. Click Programs and Features. You will then be shown a list of all your applications, you can then click on them and choose to uninstall.

3. Automatic Updates

So are you one of those people who, when presented with a notification of an update, click ‘remind me later’? The only problem with that is, you are left with a list of applications that need updates so to cut this out why not just set up automatic updates.

From My Computer, head to Properties and then Automatic Updates. Select Download and Install Automatically and away you go – no more annoying notifications.

4. Speed Up Browsing

If you’re PC is particularly slow when you are browsing the internet, then the free software program CCleaner by Piriform will help with this. It removes temporary files from all browsers as well as Windows and the registry. You can download the latest version of CCleaner on FileHippo, just click on the link.

Of course another way to speed up browsing, is to change browser!

5. Add more RAM

This is perhaps a little more involved than the above tips but if you have less than 2GB of Ram then you should definitely consider purchasing yourself some. There are plenty of good deals out there so it shouldn’t cost you the Earth – and let’s face it, it’s cheaper than a new machine!

If you have any handy tips on speeding up a PC, share them with us in the comments below.

[Image via ronedmondson]