How to Improve Your PC's Performance - Learn More About It

When you have a lot of work being done with your computer, chances are its speed can decrease over time, especially if you have had your PC for quite a long time. Even if you constantly make the necessary updates, performance won't still be at its best like when you've just bought the unit. In this article, you will find helpful tips to bring its performance up to par once more.

You might have been experiencing system slow down, like it is taking a long time to load or respond to a command. There are a few things that you can do before heading over to a technician and completely reformatting your system.

Unless you are an expert in computers, don't do anything that you are unsure of, the best is to get assistance.

Speed Up Computer Performance

Make Sure Your Desktop is "Clean"

First off, look at your desktop. Do you have a desktop that is dotted with all those files? Just how many files do you have on your desktop? Every time you boot your system, the operating memory is utilized for all the files on your desktop. Shortcuts do not take too much space. However, if there are more than a dozen files on it, they will be using up too much of the memory making the system slower than it is supposed to be.

* The best move is to transfer your files to My Documents.

* You can also create separate folders so it is easier to find files, especially if you have many.

* Create shortcuts to the files you frequently use on your Desktop.

Delete "Junks"

Aside from an overcrowded Desktop, your computer might have accumulated too much junk over the years. When you download new programs, software, or music and other stuff, you might be encountering a lot of ads that offer installing some "helpful" toolbars add-ons; however, you do not have a need for most of them.

1. Perform automatic update for the different applications, but make sure you take extra care since there are viruses and malware that are often disguised as "good downloads".

2. Delete programs that run on system startup. If you have important files that you cannot delete, do the first step.

3. Delete Windows services that you do not have a need of.

4. Remove toolbars that you don't use regularly.

Scan System for Viruses or Adware

If you are online most of the time, your computer can be vulnerable to virus infections and unauthorized downloads of adware and spyware.

1. Close all open applications and browsers and disconnect computer from the internet. You can remove the Ethernet cable connection from the modem or the router.

2. Uninstall these adware and spyware. There are a lot of applications that are known to be adware and spyware that have uninstall functions that you can simply access to remove them. You can initially go to the Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel. Highlight the program you wish to delete and then click Remove. If you are using Vista, it is in the Programs and Features folder. Reboot once successfully deleted.

3. Run a full scan of your system but make sure your antivirus software is up-to-date. When prompted, enable the antivirus program to perform the needed action: clean, quarantine, or delete.

Uninstall Programs that You Don't Need/Use

You might not have a need for a few certain programs on your desktop and the only way to speed up the system is to delete them.

1. Click on Start.

2. Go to Control Panel and click on Add or Remove Programs.

3. Choose the program(s) that you want to delete.

4. Click the Remove button.

5. Choose Yes to confirm and complete the process.

6. Reboot the system.

Make Adjustments on Visual Effects

Did you know that there is a Visual Effects tab in the Control Panel? You can access that to adjust preferences for visual effects and the system performance of your operating system.

For Vista users, once the visual effects are reduced, the speed of operation increases. Here are four options to choose from:

* Default Setting - Windows choose the most appropriate for your computer.

* Adjust for best appearance - This setting would use a huge amount of memory because all effects will be in full use.

* Adjust for best performance - You will not use most of the effects and it would require the least amount of memory.

* Custom setting - You can choose whatever settings you want.

When you have chosen, observe its effects and change accordingly.

Follow these tips and you don't have to worry about your computer's performance.