How to Recover Performance on your PC
How many of you are there screaming at your system performance?
One of the main problems PC users face today is slow system performance. The computer manufacturers have been improving system speeds for years, but after a while the fast PC you had when you took it home starts to slow down, takes a long time to browse the 'Net or load some programs, and frustration starts.
One issue is main memory availabilty, for most users a minimum of 512MB of RAM will suffice for Windows XP (I recommend 1 GB) and 2/3GB for Vista or Windows 7.
But for most users the problem is the amount of unnecessary software installed in their systems, wherever it came with the new PC or was installed during normal operation.
Many users like to try new software, tools, games, etc. After a while they don’t use them but forget to clean their PCs of all that crap, making their systems sluggish and sometimes completely unusable.
Other issues are the amount of Internet files, history, images, cookies, etc, stored in their systems. While is faster to load a page if some of the pictures are stored in your local drive, every time you load your browser, it takes longer to access the database.
Also the Windows registry is always accumulating settings for software that is not longer needed, and your start-up program list is getting bigger with every new program installed.
Here are some steps you can take to improve your system's performance:
- Don’t install any software on your PC unless you absolutely need it.
- If you don’t need Microsoft Outlook for e-mail, use the free Mozilla Thunderbird email client. It can manage your contact database, calendar and several email accounts.
- Disable Windows automatic updates, otherwise the system starts downloading them when available and that is annoying; use the “notify when available” setting, and install them overnight. You can tell the system to shut down after installing them.
- Use Sysinternal’s Process Explorer to see what is really running in your PC. Make a note of any software (non-Microsoft) that you don’t know. Continued on the next page
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