Friday, November 12, 2010

Speed Up Computer Performance by 3 Times With Easy Windows Tweaks

By: Santosh

Before understanding how we can speed up computer performance, first let's understand what affects the computers performance then we can understand how to speed up the computer? The 2 key factors for your computer speed are processor (CPU) utilization and RAM utilization. CPU utilization is the % of processor that is being used by your Computer when it's running (Max 100%).

As the CPU and RAM utilization of your computer increases the performance of your computer will drop, computer programs nowadays load up a lot of unused programs and data into the RAM hence increasing the RAM and CPU utilization slowing down your computer. You can easily optimize windows for better performance.

Tweak 1# Optimize windows settings for performance

Windows has a feature where you can setup the computer for better appearance or performance, by default it is set for better appearance. If your computer has a lot of RAM (2 GB) then you can set it up for Appearance and the performance would still be fine. But if you are short on RAM, to speed up computer performance configure windows settings to be optimized for performance. Even if you use bulky programs or are used to running several applications in parallel you must set windows to be optimized for performance.

Tweak 2# Uninstall programs you do not use to speed up computer performance

A lot of software programs which you may never use come pre-loaded with the computer. There may be several programs you installed but don't use them anymore. These programs use disc space and load a lot of programs into the memory at start up. To speed up computer performance simply uninstall the programs you do not use.

Tweak 3# Remove un-necessary startup programs

The next step to speed up computer performance would be to remove un-necessary programs that get loaded at startup of windows, if your computer takes very long to start up then this may be because there are too many programs in the start up. Nowadays nearly every programs that is installed, installs itself to Windows startup. Remove the un-necessary start up programs to speed up computer performance.

Tweak 4# Don't clutter your desktop

A very common thing that I have seen with friends and colleagues is that they save every file on the desktop, a huge reason to slow up the computer; it's best to save only shortcuts on the desktop. This won't be a problem if you have a huge amount of RAM on your computer like 3 GB of RAM. If not, it is important to know that the desktop is the active area of the Computer and gets loaded onto the RAM when windows loads up. To speed up computer performance remove all the files from the desktop, instead add these files in a folder and add a shortcut to the folder on the desktop.

Tweak 5# Free up more space on the C drive to speed up computer performance

Windows uses the C Drive space to store data when it is out of space on the RAM, if the C drive is short on space then Windows needs to do a lot more swapping of data hence slowing down the computer. To speed up computer performance leave atleast 3 GB space free on your C drive.

It is a good practice to have a separate partition for the C Drive and put all your personal documents, multimedia and data on the partition drive like a D or E drive, and leaves the C drive totally for Windows. This is also helpful if the C drive crashes, then all your data would be intact on the D or E drive.

Tweak 6# Defrag your hard drive

Defragmentation is another tweak you can perform to speed up computer performance. Let's understand the basics of a hard disk to understand why it is important to defrag the hard drive. The hard drives are made up of blocks of data, and the hard drive maintains an index to the blocks of data. Whenever we access anything on the computer the hard drive looks-up the index and accesses the block of data and presents the data to us.

Now any data that we access will be spread across several blocks of data. If the data that we access is stored across a row of continuous blocks of data then the hard drive gets all the data together block after block. But, if the data is fragmented over non-continuous data blocks then the hard drive accesses a data block and then needs to go back to the index to get the location of the next data block, hence slowing the process of data access.

Defragmentation aligns the blocks of data in continuous order so that the access speed would be faster. So to speed up computer performance regularly defragment your hard drive.

Tweak 7# Clean up registry to speed up computer performance

The registry is the information database for Windows. Windows stores all information in regard to windows components, installed applications, services, start-up programs, and every feature that is present in Windows in the System Registry.

As the system is used over time and software applications and windows components are installed and uninstalled, the windows registry keeps growing larger and it becomes more time consuming to find information. This would slow down your computer, hence it is advisable to clean-up your registry every once in a while to speed up computer performance.

Tweak 8# Prevent and Remove Trojans, Spyware, Malware

Another cause of concern for your computers performance is Trojans, Spyware and Malware. What these unwanted programs do is find a way into your computer through the internet, network backdoors and security loopholes in windows and sit on your computer, transmitting data from your computer to people who designed these software's.

Trojans, Spyware and Malware mainly come in through network, internet, flash drives, warez sites and warez programs. Whenever your computer is connected to a network or internet then your computer is accessible to the rest of the world connected to the network or internet. Now there are tons of hackers who are trying to get something out of your computer.

To speed up computer performance always have your windows firewall on and use a good anti-virus and spyware program to keep your computer safe.

About the Author

For a step-by-step guide to speed up computer performance read Speed Up Computer Explained In Detail Santosh is a Computer Enthusiast, a Computer Engineer and a M.S in Software Engineering and loves to write about computers and software, For more computer tips and tricks you can log on to his site http://www.tips4computers.com

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