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Have you ever turned on your computer one morning to find it's loading slower than it's taking you to pour the honey into your tea?

When your comptuer gets slow, it gets a bit frustrating. The good news is it is not uncommon for computers to get a little sluggish from time to time and most of the time it can easily be corrected. Slowness can occur for a number of reasons; it may be that some nasty "bugs" and files have infiltrated your computer or it could be your computer simply needs some maintenance.

Your computer, like your car, or any other appliance, needs some tuning up from time to time.

If you are running a Windows Operating system, here are some potential problems which may occur and the solutions you can use to get your computer running faster.

PROBLEM: Malware
Malware is one of the most common problems that trigger sluggish behavior in your system. Viruses, Trojans, worms, and spyware/adware are all considered Malware. You can get nipped by these bugs in various ways, from downloading infected attachments, surfing the web, or sometimes even from opening infected email.

SOLUTION: Clean out the Malware and install preventative measures.
If you don't have one already, install some good anti-virus software. There are many proprietary applications you can purchase or you can download a free scanner. Make sure the DAT files (updates) are current because new Malware is created daily and you want to make sure your scanner is up to date with the latest files. Run the program. Additionally you'll want to install a reliable spyware scanner. Many of the proprietary software applications contain a spyware element, but I prefer to run additional free software as a secondary level of protection. My two favorites are Adaware by Lavasoft (www.lavasoft.com) and Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.o rg). They can also be downloaded at www.download.com. It's a good idea to run these programs on a regular basis, at the very minimal, weekly to keep your computer free of bugs.

PROBLEM: Too much clutter has accumulated on your computer.

SOLUTION: Clean out the clutter and tidy your computer.
You can periodically run Windows based tools to do this. You can apply a disk cleanup, defragment your hard drive, and empty out your cookies, recycle bin and temporary internet files. To access these tools go to "My Computer", right click your hard drive, select "properties" and then under the "general" tab select "disk cleanup" and check off all temporary files and recycling

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