Computers were created to streamline and simplify our lives. They are built to handle a lot of information efficiently and process it in less time. But if you find yourself falling asleep or painting dry while sitting at your desk, it’s time to speed up the computer.
You don’t need to be a computer geek to make your PC more productive. In fact, these three essential tips are designed around the operating system already installed on your computer. In other words, these technologies are not only readily available but if your computer can talk it will ask you to take advantage of these functions.
Before explaining these important processes, let’s get a better understanding of how your computer works. Your computer stores all the commands and actions you give. Imagine that a secretary follows a boss every day, around the office memorizing phone calls, business letters, or reports. Although this information will be recorded, it will be time-consuming to recover it, not to mention the fact that much of this data is time-sensitive and can be safely destroyed.
Your computer is like that secretary. It contains the work files that you won’t even remember because they are so old. The worst part is that your computer feels obliged to filter all this information and file it, so it takes a lot of time. By now, you should have an idea of why your computer runs slow and why it is necessary to increase its speed.
If your computer gets an F for speed, then these three “D”s. Consider it
Disk Cleanup
Allow your computer to remove old, outdated, and useless files. Disk Cleanup is a Windows utility that is easy to use and offers a significant advantage. Click “Start”, “Programs”, “Accessories”, “System Tools” and then “Disk Cleanup”. You will be asked which files you want to delete. Generally, temporary Internet files are safe to delete. Take a moment to go through the list of files and see if you can choose others that are not used or are no longer needed. This single process will speed up your computer significantly.
Defragment Your Hard Drive
This may sound like a daunting process, but computers are already designed to perform this task; All you need to do is tell your PC “Secretary” that it’s time to clean up Office. This utility program keeps your files in order. If you’ve ever deleted a file or program, there are gaps in the “filing cabinet” of your computer’s hard drive. It will be as if your secretary is trying to enter something under “W” but is going through empty drawers because that’s the only way to get to “W”. Defragmenting consolidates your files and makes them easier to assess.
Remove Old Programs
You’ve probably accumulated programs you haven’t touched in months. Click Control Panel and select “Add or Remove Programs”. Go through the list and remove any programs you no longer need. This is a very simple step but is often overlooked.
So now you know how to increase computer speed. A few minutes of your time can greatly increase the speed of your computer. Your computer was built to be fast but it is waiting for you to give you some simple instructions. Click they and see the improvement.
Other Tips to Increase Your Computer Speed
If you are familiar with computers, you must have first encountered the question that how to increase computer speed first. Often people find themselves dissatisfied with the speed of their computer, so they start searching for ways to increase the operating speed of their computer. There are various methods you can use to increase the speed of your computer, and two of them will be discussed below.
Keeping your computer system free from malware is the first of those things. Malware refers to computer programs that install themselves on your computer system without your knowledge and proceed to carry out your programming instructions. Some harmful forms of malware such as viruses and other malicious programs can cause major damage to your computer system. This will result in your computer’s speed dropping and your computer system potentially damaged beyond repair.
Computer systems that have accumulated a large number of malware programs often work much more slowly than they used to. This is because these programs are constantly running in the background, taking up valuable processor capacity and slowing down your computer.
To remove malware, you will need an anti-malware program. These programs are easily available on the Internet and can be purchased and downloaded from various websites. However, it is recommended that you do your research before choosing to use a particular program, and pay special attention to what other people who have used the program first have to say about it.
Another tip on how to increase computer speed is to make sure that your hard drive is not full of useless information and useless data. You do not even need to download third-party programs for this. The Windows operating system comes pre-loaded with a utility known as Disk Defragmenter. This program is designed to examine your hard drive and to look for and remove any useless data or useless information that may be cluttering your hard drive.
To keep your computer in good working condition, you should do regular disk defragmentation. This will ensure that your disk remains free of clutter, thus allowing your computer to operate faster and more smoothly.
Tips to Test Computer Speed
Testing your computer’s speed will allow you to determine why the computer is running slow. As for internet connection speed, the speed your ISP offers you at their service is just an average or a range of what you can expect for your level of service with the company. The speed at which your computer connects to the Internet will be affected by many factors, and it may not match the speed indicated by your ISP for your service.
A search on the Internet will reveal sites that offer a free test of your computer’s speed. Some tests are done directly from the site itself, while other sites require that you download and install their software before you can test your computer’s speed.
Different sites will require that you provide different types of information. You may need to provide the name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and the type of Internet connection you have (dial-up, DSL, or cable). Your test location can be requested or determined automatically from your IP address. If you are given several locations to choose from, select the one closest to you.
You will then start the test by selecting the ‘Start’ or ‘Start’ button. Once started the data will be uploaded to the server from the location you choose which will then download that information to your computer. The test will be completed in about a minute and a status bar will show its progress. Upon completion of the test, your computer’s upload and download connection speeds will be displayed.
Tips to keep in mind when testing your computer’s speed
To get the best possible results while testing make sure all other browser tabs are closed and no other internet-based applications are active. To get the most accurate results, the test should be completed multiple times, and testing should be done with several different test sites before the average connection speed is reached.
Common causes of slow computer speed
A common cause of slow computer speed is because many programs execute at start-up, even when they are not actually needed. Many of these can be deselected from the start-up menu and will result in the computer running faster. The computer will run slow in conditions of low disk space and a cluttered browser. It can be remedied by removing unwanted software and files from the computer, removing the build-up of files in the computer’s Internet cache, deleting damaged and corrupted files in the computer’s registry, and deleting cookies and temporary browser files. Running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter will create more contiguous free space.
Retesting the computer after fixing the slowness issue
Once the speed test is complete, if the results are slow, the measures listed above can be taken to increase the computer’s speed. The test can be done again to evaluate how the speed has been increased.