Over time and use with a windows machine, you may notice that it does not run as fast as when you first got it.
This is usually because of several different problems that can occur with regular use of a computer. The smart computer user knows about these things and how to repair them on their own rather than having to hire a technician to solve the problem (costing you time without your computer and usually around 50 dollars an hour).
Possible problems usually include one or many of the following things:
Viruses
They happen; even if you spend all the money you can on antivirus software, you likely don’t even know you have one.
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Spam
Loosely falls under the same definition as a virus but with some negligible variations; it can also include programs that hit your computer with nasty pop ups and redirect you to web pages you don’t want to visit.
Registry
This is a comprehensive list of all programs that have ever been installed on your computer; sometimes, when you uninstall a program, some information can still be left on this list; the longer you have your computer, the larger this list is likely to be.
To much junk
Unused programs and applications (different browser menus and other programs)
Startup programs
On the bottom right of your computer, besides the clock, is usually a bunch of icons. These represent programs running on your computer at a given time; the problem is that not all running programs display an icon in the taskbar. There are usually many more programs running at a time that you are unaware of.
So let’s get started then. Below are some tips almost any computer user can perform to help speed up your computer.
1. Restore Point
Before we get started, we are going to record a windows restore point. If you feel you’ve made a big mistake at any point, you can always go back into the windows restore program and revert to where you’re computer was before you tried to fix it. This should give you the confidence to play and adjust settings on your computer without the worry of messing it up. To do this you go to the start menu -> Program files – > Accessories -> System tools -> System restore.
A new program will open from there. All you have to do is ask your computer to set a restore point; later, you can revert to it if needed. A restore point is a virtual snapshot of your computer’s settings. It may take a few moments to process.
2. Safe Mode
Because you probably have viruses and unwanted programs slowing down your computer, to make the clean-up process easier and more efficient, we will put your computer into safe mode to run quicker. Safe mode is a basic start-up of windows without all the extra bells and whistles that slow down your computer. If any viruses or programs are running on your computer, they will very likely not be running in safe mode.
To get into safe mode, simply restart your computer. Then right as it is starting up, press F8 on your keyboard; a menu will come up listing some options for you; you need to select Safe mode with networking to have access to the internet still.
It is important to press F8 at a precise time as windows are starting up; some computers will prompt you on the bottom of the screen as it’s loading, but it’s OK if you keep pressing it until the menu loads; you can definitely press it more than once.
3a. Windows Updates
Windows frequently release security updates for problems they find with their operating system. It is usually set up to do it automatically, but most people ignore it for whatever reason. Even if this is not the case, go to [http://www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com] and run through their automatic updates program. It’s effortless. Just basically keep clicking yes and next until it is complete. Once the updates are finished, it will prompt you to restart your computer, do so before you continue onto the next step.
3b. Restart Again
The computer will likely restart you into normal windows mode, we will continue to work on your computer through safe mode as it will run the next steps quicker, and we can pretty much guarantee that the viruses won’t be running as well. So restart your computer again and enter into safe mode again.
4. Anti-virus
OK, the easy step to do now is to run a virus scan. Even if you don’t have an anti-virus program on your computer, you can still scan your computer for free. I recommend antivirus.com, put on by a company called TrendMicro; this company mainly profits from its corporate clients but offers a free online scan to public users. Go to antivurs.com and look for their free online services for home and office use. Then follow the instructions to run the housecall program on all your local hard drives. This program will provide a current scan of your computer, removing all known viruses. It updates every day with new definitions, so you always know you have an up to date program.
There are a couple of other virus programs I should mention. Some of the commercial versions of virus software (Norton and Mcafee) are usually expensive and require a subscription. In addition to the cost, they all use a lot of your computer’s resources to run. So if you are trying to remove a virus to speed up a computer by installing Norton, you likely won’t notice a difference in speed as it is probably making just as slow.
The solution is to get AVG free edition, a free virus program for all to use. They also have a subscription version with a few more features, but even the full version of AVG uses way fewer resources on your computer than Norton or Mcafee. So after you’ve finished fixing your computer, if you do want to install an antivirus program, you may choose to.
4b. Restart in normal mode
At this point, you will need to restart your computer and let it boot normally to get out of the safe mode
5. MSCONFIG
This program isn’t very well known to most computer users, but it is crucial to keeping your computer clean and organized. MSCONFIG is a windows program on all windows machines that controls all startup settings. To access it, go to your start menu and click on the run command, then type MSCONFIG and press enter.
This program will open in a new window, and there will usually be 4 tabs at the top of the window. The main one that you can edit with little difficulty or computer knowledge is the startup tab, click on it, and you will see a list of all programs that start when your computer starts up. In reality, there are really only 2 or 3 necessary programs. These are your systray and anything to do with windows explorer. At this point, what you can do is go through the list and uncheck any programs that look suspicious or that you know are malicious or unwanted. When you apply the settings, it will ask you to reboot. Once the reboot is complete, if all is well, you can uncheck more of the programs from the list and see if your computer will still run as you need it. Usually, I uncheck almost all of them then add the ones I absolutely need back in after. You can also work in reverse and gradually remove a few at a time and make sure your computer is still OK after each reset. You will need to perform this step several times until you have the computer running as quickly as possible with the programs you need.
Usually, some of the types of OK programs on your start-up include your software for your burner, MSN, your antivirus software, printer software, and windows themes.
Tip: If your not sure what a particular program does, then you can Google all the information list in the startup list on that program, and you can usually get an answer.
6. Registry
Similarly to MSCONFIG and the startup list. Your computer registry stores a list of all programs that have ever been installed on your machine. So if you’ve had your computer a while and added and removed a lot of programs, there can be a lot of entries in your registry. A handy program also available on the antivirus.com site is the Hijack This program. This program allows you to clean up and edit your registry.
Caution!!!!!
Be very careful with this step; only remove entries you are sure that are old and unused. This can mess up your computer if done incorrectly, so the hijack this program is a good tool to use. The risk of failure can be reduced by setting another restore point before you perform this task.
The windows program that is used to allow you to perform the same task is called REGEDIT. I would only suggest this program for advanced users, and I only use it when I know specifically what program I want to remove from the registry as I can search for it with the find and replace tool.
