by Larry Muncy

Created on: April 26, 2008

Read this article to find out how to make your computer run faster. First, remember your computer will run faster when you have a greater amount of memory available on your hard drive. With this in mind, free up space on your hard drive.

If you are using Vista, bring up your start menu and click on "control panel". Then click on "uninstall a program". You will be taken to a list of programs that are installed on your computer. See if there are any programs you never use. For instance, my computer was loaded with media players such as: Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, and Interactual Player. Personally, I hate Interactual Player and never used it. Also, when I do watch DVD's or listen to CDs, I prefer using Windows Media Player. I did not see any sense in leaving Interactual Player on my computer when I never used it, or even liked it. So, I uninstalled it from my computer. It freed up a lot of valuable space on my hard drive. You can use the same style of thinking to uninstall any program you find useless. If you have had your computer for a year and never played solitaire; delete it. However, I urge you to be cautious about deleting something that seems to be useless but is needed for other programs to work properly!

Allow me to add another example to this. How many search bars are on your hard drive that you do not use? I have had search bars by Google, Yahoo, and LimeWire. I do not use search bars on my browsers; therefore, I deleted them. If you use a search bar on your browser, you are probably using the one you like best. So, why keep the others on your hard drive? You can do the same with messengers you never use as well. However, be sure to keep the one that you do use!

Second, make sure you do not download optional downloads if you are not going to use them. I knew I would not use Silverlight (a new browser), and I never downloaded it. It is best to use your computer's automatic updating feature, but that does not mean you should remove yourself from the updating process altogether. See which updates are optional, and do not download them if you know you will never use them. Remember, if you find out later that you want it, you can always go back and update your computer then!

Third, do not forget movies and music use a lot of space on your hard drive. I have several movies, but I put them on an external hard drive when I know I probably will not watch them again for a while. When I purchase a movie, I also burn it onto a DVD so I will always have a backup if something happens to my external hard drive. Flash drives are extremely affordable, and they are a great place to store movies and music.

Fourth, consider removing certain programs from your startup program list. The less programs you have on the list, the faster your computer will startup. Also be sure you run your disk cleanup feature every two or three days (it only takes a moment), and defragment your computer once a week. If you try these things, you should find computer will run smoother and faster!

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