by Juancho Forlanda

Created on: June 29, 2009

To make your computer run faster you need to know the following:

1. Key resources of a computer

2. Typical ways resources are used by your computer

3. What can slow down your once fast and responsive computer

Once you know these, you can make a better decision about what you can do to make your computer run faster.

COMPUTER RESOURCES

To understand how to make your computer run faster, you need to understand the primary computer resources that impact the performance of your computer. These resources are what help your computer perform its job. They are as follows: processor (central processing unit or CPU, the brain and processing power of your computer), memory (your computer's RAM, or primary memory), hard disk drive (HDD, your computer's secondary memory), network interface (your computer's connection to the world-i.e. the Internet. The network interface could be your modem, your WI-FI card, or the built-in fast Ethernet network interface of your computer.

If at least one of these resources gets taxed, the computer's performance gets worse and thus the computer slows down!

Depending on what you are doing with your computer or what it is doing on its own, certain resources will get taxed first. Once a resource is taxed, your computer slows down. Here are some typical scenarios to illustrate this.

1. Having many applications open or windows open will tax your computer's memory. For example, if you have a lot of Internet browser windows open, your computer will start slowing down.

2. Running a program that performs heavy calculations will tax your computer's processor. For example, if you are running a CAD program and are doing some image rotation, you will see that your CPU usage will increase.

3. Performing a large file download or upload will task your network interface. For example, when you upload a YouTube video, your computer's network interface will be busy. It can impact your computer's responsiveness.

4. A simple file copy from your hard disk drive can impact the performance of your computer. For example, copying a huge multi-megabyte file to your flash drive will tax your hard disk drive, and thus slow down your computer.

5. Your computer gets infected with a malicious adware or worm. Most malicious adware will cause multiple Internet browsers to open and cause memory, processor, and hard disk drive to be completely

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