by Anthony Ogg

Created on: July 12, 2009

Is your computer getting slower and slower with time? This is usually normal, but don't worry there are several simple steps to get it back at its optimum speed. As a computer gets older, and more and more programs are installed, the memory gets full and your computer slows down. With some simple preventive maintenance techniques, you can have your computer running at its maximum speed!

The first thing to check when you notice your computer slowing down is for malware. Mal-ware is maliculs software such as viruses, spy-ware and ad-ware. It is downloaded to your computer when you download a file that is infected with it or simply by accessing a website that is infected. Although some viruses are difficult to remove, most of them are removed with a good anti-virus software. It is not recommended to connect to the Internet at all without a good anti-virus program installed. A few examples of good anti-virus programs are Norton, Mcafee, and Avg. Avg is the best and they have a free version that can be downloaded from the Internet.

Another culprit that can slow down a computer over time is a fragmented hard drive. Imagine a deck of cards that is spread out in a pile. It would not take you as long to organize them into suites if they were all near by. Now imagine that same pile of cards but some of them is in your bathroom and some are in the living room and the rest are in your car. It would take you a lot longer to gather them all up and sort them into suites. This is an example of a fragmented hard drive. When you delete certain files and install other files, fragments of certain files are spread all over your hard drive, therefore it takes it longer to load this file. A Disk De-fragmenter is standard on all windows operating systems and can be accessed by clicking start, programs, accessories, system tools, disk de-fragmentor. If you have never de-fragmented before, it can take a very long time to do so start de-fragmenting before bed and let it de-fragment while you are sleeping.

Old files can sometimes get in your computers way and slow it down as well. A simple way to get rid of old files is with windows disk cleanup. It can be accessed by clicking start, programs, accessories, system tools, disk cleanup. This will scan your computer for old obsolete files that are no longer used and get rid of them.

Lastly keep your temporary internet files removed to keep your web brouser up to speed. With internet explor simply open internet explorer and click tools, internet options then click remove temporary internet files. For firefox, click tools and select clear private data. This will keep your web brouser up to speed.

With these simple steps you should notice a significant difference in the speed of your computer as it can now run much smoother. It is not necessary to do these steps every time you turn on your computer but once in a while these steps will keep your system running at its best!

Learn more about this author, Anthony Ogg.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.