What to do when your computer is slow

If you constantly find yourself asking "why is my PC so slow?", then you're wasting time every day and something needs to be done about this problem. In this article we'll show you how to speed up your computer without spending any more. Read on to find out about this simple, free PC fix and how you can repair your computer today.

Prevention

With a windows computer, performance often degrades over time. For the first year, your computer may be fine but soon after this you will find that your PC is running slow.
Software management
As you install programs, they take up hard disk space, leave entries in the computer registry and cause fragmentation. The first stage to better PC performance is to manage your software better. Make sure that you are extremely selective when installing software. Only install software that you need and make sure that you don't allow it to add any unwanted extras such as browser tool bars, search assistants or anti-malware programs.
Structure
Try and install your software in a logical file structure, rather than allowing everything to be dumped in Program Files. This may be fine to start with but over time, you will soon forget which folder contains which software and your computer will be very slow.

Solving slow performance

Proper uninstaller
When you want to remove software, be sure to use the proper uninstaller, rather than simply deleting the program files. This will give you a better chance of removing all the registry entries which can contribute towards a slow computer. If you have to constantly install and remove software, then it may be worth investing in a good quality third party uninstaller that will do a better job of removing all registry items.
Fragmentation
As your computer is used, the disk becomes fragmented which means that the hard disk read / write head has to move further for each operation. This problem can be fixed by periodically running a defragment operation. This can be found under the system tools menu.
Deletion
Finally, you'll need to review your start up preferences. The simplest way to do this is to simply delete unwanted items from the startup menu. Msconfig
A better approach is to use the msconfig tool. Access this by typing msconfig into the run box from the start menu. This will allow you complete control over which operations are loaded on startup. You may find that there are lots of background clients that are running, using your memory that you never use. This is a particularly useful trick on modern net books which have limited memory.