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21 Tips to Speed Up Your Computer

There are some fairly basic things you can do to speed up your computer and make it generally faster. Everybody should be doing these things routinely, not just when their computer or laptop is running slowly. They will help keep it in great condition. A few of the tips are a bit more advanced or might not be for you. If you aren’t sure how to perform any of the actions listed a quick Google will help, or ask me!

  1. Keep it clean – don’t let that dust build up, particularly on the fans.
  2. Remove start-up programs – If you don’t need it at startup, disable it
  3. Defrag regularly – A fragmented hard drive will slow you down.
  4. Disable services – if you don’t need a service, disable it.
  5. Don’t let you hard drive get too full – remove unused programs.
  6. Make sure your virtual memory is the right size.
  7. Check device manager for any errors.
  8. Boot order – don’t check the floppy drive first.
  9. Keep you O/S up-to-date – for security reasons as well as speed.
  10. Disable indexing service – slower searches, faster everything else.
  11. Disk Clean-up – this will clear down lots of stuff you don’t need.
  12. Remove your desktop picture – fairly minor but every little helps.
  13. Patience – wait for your computer to finish booting to load programs.
  14. Remove desktop shortcuts if they aren’t needed.
  15. Disable loading at start-up when you install new programs.
  16. Empty your recycle bin – a disk clean-up will do this too.
  17. ReadyBoost – using Vista or Windows 7? Learn about ReadyBoost
  18. Disable Aero if using Vista or later – this uses CPU and memory.
  19. Remove the sidebar if using Vista or Windows 7 – it eats memory.
  20. Quick start – put your computer to sleep rather than shutdown.
  21. Disable browser plugins - they really slow you down.

There may be some tips you don’t want to use as you like something the way it is. The main thing is that your computer does what you want it to do. If you like fast searching or love you background picture don’t use those tips!  If you have any questions or want to leave your own tips, leave a comment below.

Posted in Computers by Marc on July 23, 2010


18 Comments »

  1. Thanks for the useful tips.

    Comment by Marc — July 25, 2010 @ 11:57 am

  2. Wow, thanks for all of these great tips. I’ve heard of some of them, but others are really new to me, especially ReadyBoost. Keep up the great work.

    Comment by fishing organizations — July 25, 2010 @ 1:41 pm

  3. Hey Nice list.. thnx..
    it’s really useful, n some points like the disk cleanup and the shortcleaning..!!
    Thnx..

    Comment by HB — July 25, 2010 @ 5:23 pm

  4. Thanks for the useful tips. Good site!

    Comment by What causes obesity — July 25, 2010 @ 7:12 pm

  5. That’s great information… Thank you for that post… I got hard time that times came my computer moves slow… but with tips I think its no longer a problem… thanks…

    Comment by Maritime Law — July 26, 2010 @ 2:08 am

  6. I always find time surfing the net to keep my self updated with latest tips on how to speed up my PC. And this one is remarkably awesome, although some tips are quite new to me. But anyway,I’m so glad for sharing this tips. It’s very useful for me.Keep it up!

    Comment by Calgary Escorts — July 26, 2010 @ 6:04 am

  7. Thanks for these tips. Actually, it also depends on the user, if he does a regular cleaning or maintenance in his computer, then surely it will function more properly. It’s also advisable to reformat your computer once it’s starting to run slower than it should even though you keep on maintaining it.

    Comment by Atlanta wedding photographer — July 26, 2010 @ 8:32 am

  8. Really great tips. I tried this one and i was able to speed up my pc and i will do this regularly. But my friend told me that defragmenting your HDD regularly will cause your HDD to be damaged. Is it really true?

    Comment by Custom Cable Assemblies — July 26, 2010 @ 8:35 am

  9. Great tips. As long as you clear out your computer regularly then you shouldnt really have any problems.

    Comment by nitro rc cars — July 26, 2010 @ 11:33 am

  10. Yes! This is so amazing! Finally I got something to be used as a great tool to speed my computer. Well, as a matter of fact, recently, I’m having a trouble with my computer. I cannot finish my work due to slow connection. There, I found you, thanks to you, I can now move forward from a herculean like task. Checking your computer at times will do great.

    Comment by Payday Loans — July 27, 2010 @ 9:42 am

  11. Thanks for the helpful tips Marc. I’ve tried doing them and it works. Im not just really sure with 20th tip you said. I heard from a friend that some parts of your laptop gets destroyed if you will do that all the time. What do you think of that?

    Comment by Best Help Desk Software — July 27, 2010 @ 3:57 pm

  12. Great post. I find cleaning up junk files and repairing the registry seem to help the most. I dont disable Aero, etc because I like the look but thats just me :)

    Comment by Tech Guy — July 27, 2010 @ 7:52 pm

  13. Nice! I’ll try this. My PC used to have two operating system, maybe that makes it slow but I know the capability of my PC, so I’ll try first this 21 tips to speed up your computer from you. Thanks for sharing..

    Comment by Edmonton Real Estate — July 29, 2010 @ 6:31 am

  14. Excellent tips, thanks! My PC is now 2 times faster :D

    Comment by Steve — July 30, 2010 @ 7:30 pm

  15. “Patience – wait for your computer to finish booting to load programs.”

    The amount of times we have to tell people this is incredible..A Pc is only as good as it’s hardware!

    Comment by Nerd Herd — July 30, 2010 @ 7:48 pm

  16. Great list, pritty much covers what everyone should do with their computer on a regular basis.

    I may have to print this out and put on the wall!

    Comment by IT Support Bristol — August 3, 2010 @ 2:09 pm

  17. Main factors for slow PCs are malware and disk file system frag.
    Nice list above, certainly helpful to others.

    Comment by Douglas Isaac — August 6, 2010 @ 7:46 pm

  18. 22 – Remove Vista ;)

    Comment by computer repairs perth — August 18, 2010 @ 4:56 am

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