Note: This article was published in 2011. Software versions, prices, settings, apps and services mentioned may have changed or been discontinued since then — please check current information before relying on it.
Update: For current advice, read our updated guide: 10 Ways to Speed Up Your Windows Computer.
We are living in a fast paced world where each second is counted and we always look for the fastest way to get things done. As you know we barely have time to wait for our burger at the restaurant, our coffee to brew, our microwave popcorn to pop. So who has time to wait around for a slow computer?
There are 6 steps you can take to speed up your computer’s performance. Most of these steps will allow you to speed up your computer, free of charge since they are the applications already installed on your computer.
- One of the first steps you should take is to empty the Recycle Bin. It’s easy to do. Just point your cursor to the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, right-click and choose “Empty Recycle Bin.”
- Next, open up your browser and clear the history and cookies.
Those two steps are the fastest and simplest ones so that’s why I listed them first.
- Next, we will perform a Disk Cleanup. To do this, click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. The disk cleanup function will now begin calculating how much space you will be able to free up. Once it finishes, it will give you a list of files to delete. Click OK.
- Now it’s time to do a disk defragmentation. This can be a long process so you should probably set this up during the time when you have got other things to do. To begin go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Click Analyze. If you’re lucky, you’ll get the “You do not need to defragment this volume” call-out, but more likely, you’ll have to click on “Defragment.” If so, click on it, go do something else and come back in an hour or two.
- Once done, it’s time to run a spyware scan. Most people don’t realize how easy it is to get infected with spyware, so running periodic scans is highly recommended. You can use any anti-spyware program you choose. Just be aware that no one program gets rid of everything. To play it safe, you should run at least three different programs. You might be surprised by what they find. You may have spyware running on your computer and you are unaware of it. Once the scans are complete and all that spyware is taken care of, it’s time for the last step.
- The last step is to run an antivirus scan. Hopefully you have an antivirus program installed on your computer. If not, I highly recommend you get one as soon as possible. Once the anti-virus program is set, go ahead and run it. This could take anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple hours depending on how many files you have on your hard drive so once again, set it and then go do something else.
Once all the above steps are complete. Restart your computer and you’ll be surprised. It’s good to follow these 6 steps at least once per week. By doing this, you will keep your computer performing almost like it did, when you first bought it.
Rojish
Mar 06. 2011
Nice tips buddy 🙂
It will definitely help to improve the speed of my PC.
Webmaster Blog
Mar 06. 2011
Thanks for these nice tips but you can also deactivate some auto start program not used by you on daily basis .
admin
Mar 06. 2011
Thanks for the additional tip. 🙂
Swamykant
Mar 06. 2011
Thanks for sharing these tips.
admin
Mar 07. 2011
You’re welcome…. 🙂
Mukundan Srinivasan
Mar 06. 2011
Defragmentation and Disk cleanup has to be done twice a month to well maintain the system. Personally I dont use antivirus software as they slow the system too much. often running virus scan at background isn’t essential i feel.
admin
Mar 07. 2011
Oh I see .. I use antivirus program but run it once or twice a month at the most
Download Computer Software
Mar 08. 2011
Nice tips and good effort, Keep Going 🙂
Master
Mar 08. 2011
nice tips.. another important thing to do is get rod of useless applications in boot from msconfig.
prajith
Mar 09. 2011
cool tips and good attempt , thanks for sharing
admin
Mar 11. 2011
You’re welcome and thanks for stopping by 🙂
TechCrates
Mar 13. 2011
thanks for these great tips, will help a lot in optimizing my old computers speed..
admin
Mar 13. 2011
Good to know that 🙂
Greg czimple
Mar 15. 2011
It is very nice tips to improve our system performance. Few of step is very useful for increase.
Ileane
Mar 27. 2011
Thanks for reminding me about these things. I got my laptop in September but I never did a disk cleanup or defrag. I’d better get to it! Great post!
admin
Mar 27. 2011
Thanks for stopping by my blog… 🙂
Applied Computers
Apr 03. 2011
I like your blog…lots of good articles & info. thanks!
FreeSoftz
Jun 29. 2011
Great tips to easily speed up the computer ….
Thanks for Sharing
admin
Jun 29. 2011
you’re welcome ….. 🙂
Denver Real Estate
Oct 28. 2011
I defragment from time to time but it was never twice a month for my system. I also run antivirus software and noticed that it slows the system, glad to have found an alternative.