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Your computer used to be pretty fast but now it seems so slow. Slow to boot up. Slow to open programs. There may even be times when it seems to freeze for a moment. Sound familiar? Then you will be happy to know that there are ways of making your computer run faster. And the steps outlined below wont cost a cent!

1.Cleanup your hard drive.

More free disk space on your computer means better performance, and cleaning up your hard disk will give you more free disk space.

Go to the Start Menu, All Programs, Accessories, and finally, System Tools. You will find the Disk Cleanup tool. Select the drive you want to cleanup. Next select the items to delete. If nothing else, Temporary Internet Files, Office Setup Files, Recycle Bin and Temporary Files should be checked. Yes, you can even empty the Recycle Bin with this tool. Now click OK. This will delete the files selected and free some disk space.

2.Remove programs you never use.

Click the Start Menu, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and look through the list to see if there is anything you recognize that is no longer needed. If you are not sure, Google it to see if you can find out what it is. If you are still not sure, it might be best to leave it alone. However, anything you can remove safely will free disk space and help speed up your computer.

3. Defragment your hard drive.

Trying to find something in a file cabinet that is mixed up takes a lot longer than it does when the files are in proper order. It's similar with the file system on your computer. Files become fragmented and out of order as you create and delete files, add or remove programs and such. This happens through normal use. You can't prevent it, but you can keep it from getting so bad it slows your computer down. Back in the System Tools folder you'll find Disk Defragmenter. Use it to defragement your hard drives regularly.

4. Repair disk Errors.

Disk errors and bad sectors can slow your computer, so checking and repairing them will help speed it up. Click Start, My Computer and then right click on your hard drive. Choose Properties, then click the Tools tab. In the error checking box click Check Now and then the Start button. You should repair all errors found.

5. Reduce the number of programs running on startup.

There are many programs which start invisibly when Windows does. Some are essential, but some may not be needed. Removing the unnecessary ones will speed the computers boot up time. For this task use SpyBot Search And Destroy or Microsoft's Tweak UI. Both are free and have options for removing startup programs. Anything you can safely remove will help.

6. Remove Spyware and Adware.

SpyBot Search And Destroy and Spyware Blaster do an excellent job of removing Spyware and Adware. Spyware and Adware are programs and cookies that are placed on your computer without your knowledge, and that track your habits on the Internet. Some collect personal data. As these accumulate, and there are thousands of different ones, they slow your computer down. Scanning will allow you to remove any threats on your computer.

7. Remove Viruses.

Last, but definitely not least, everyone using the Internet should have a good antivirus program running at all times. Some viruses can cause a computer to slow to a crawl if not stop it completely. I recommend Norton Antivirus. I have used it for years at work and home and it's always nabbed viruses before my computer becomes infected. Do Live Updates and System Scans regularly.

90% of the time following the steps above will be all that is needed to get your computer running up to speed, and even a novice computer user can perform these simple maintenance tasks. Happy computing!

Learn more about this author, David A. Goodwin.
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