35+ Easy Ways to Quickly Speed Up your Slow PC

by Stefanos Ioannou, Sr

  From infected files: Suppose, your friend has received a bug, and unknowingly, it has spread through his computer. Now, if you want to borrow any data, such as movies or games from his computer, then there is every chance that you will receive such viruses too from the infected files in his computer.

  Accidentally: The programs, with the development of technology, are growing complex. Old codes are being replaced with new ones. These programs, seldom, due to their limitations, create a systemic anomaly, and hence, the glitch in the computer mainframe. The unwarranted fault results in the bug and disrupts the computer functions, and sometimes, harms it too.

  4.Unprescribed changes:

  The computer works on certain default configurations prescribed by the manufacturer. If these configurations are violated, then the computer loses its optimum capability to function. The files containing such information of the settings and configurations are the system software of your computer. So, you should be very careful while you are dealing with these. Or better even, do not change such settings, unless alarmingly necessary. I will give you an example:

  The in-built Defragger inside the win9x is smarter than its counterpart in the windows xp and 2000. So, if the latter is not used intelligently, it might slow the computer further down.

  5.Wear and tear:

  The computer is a machine, and also suffers from the daily wear and tear. When you first bought your computer, I know you would have noticed the speed it used to work in. That is why, you are looking for that speed now, isn’t it? Because you had seen it earlier in your computer itself. As the days pass, of course, your computer components will age, and their working speed is going to be affected.

  Even with its appropriate name, your lap is not the ideal place to keep a laptop. Ever kept your hands at the bottom sides of your laptop? The heat it generates, can burn your skin, if exposed to it continuously. The improper alignment of the body and consequently the excess heat generation due to the inappropriate placement of the laptop can also increase resistance in the hardware circuitry and cause the laptop to work slowly.

  # How does a computer get hacked?

  1.The computer of the hacker releases a bug to attack the victim computer.

  2.The bug enters the victim computer through the internet or by any other means.

  3.The bug, if is able to trick the firewall or the anti-virus, then it starts interfering with the computer’s internal functions.

  4.If the bug is a spy-ware, then it can let the hacker’s computer either gain control over the functioning of your computer, or get access to all your personal information inside the computer.

  # How does hacking slow my computer down?

  The access to all your vital information means to all its system software too. If any of this information is stolen or deleted, then your computer remains at a large risk of permanent breakdown. If not, it can affect the computer functioning in many other ways, along with the bad effect of slowing it down as well.

  Summary:

  The reasons behind computers working slowly:

  A.Abysmal storage process during storing of different files.

  B.Insufficient memory due to:

  1.Installation of large and complex application software,

  2.Outdated RAM, and

  3.Irregularly maintained temporary file registry.

  C.Malwares attacking from:

  1.Internet,

  2.Other infected files, and

  3.Due to accidental complexity of the software

  D.Unprescribed changes in the configuration of the computer.

  E.The daily wear and tear of the hardware (including over-heating).

  LET’S START WITH THE START-UP

  The problem of the slow computer begins at the starting of the day, with a slow start-up. The auto reboot may be agonizingly decelerated due to various reasons. While most of the people are learning to adjust with it, should you too? If yes, then my advice for you is to take your breakfast while your computer is booting up, and flip-over your newspapers while keeping a track of time till your computer is ready to start. Oh, and don’t forget to take that extra strong coffee with you as your internet connection will also take some time to load.

  What does the computer do during Start-up?

  When you first bought your brands new computer, you only saw the speed with the computer operated. But the computer, during Start-up, had just to do a bit more than that. Do you actually know what the computer does during its start-up process? Let me tell you.

  (1)BIOS (Basic Input Output System) updating- For the synchronization between the output and input devices with the computer.

  (2)Master boot record - For keeping records of the update data of the processes happening during the booting of the computer.

  (3)Boot sector - A separate sector of the HDD reserved for windows boot up.

  (4)Windows boot manager - The main Windows booting file is read by this program.

  (5)Reading from the Boot-configuration Data - Instructions feeding into the computer to know what actually needs to be done to boot up the Windows

  (6)Hibernation-file Search - If the computer did not get the chance to get shut down completely, then this type of search occurs, while the computer may have gone into hibernation (this happens a lot in the case of laptops).

  (7)Start winload.exe - The loading program for the Windows is started.

  (8)Start OS - The operating system (Windows) then starts up.

  (9)Session Manager Sub -system start.

  (10)The Windows log-in asking logo appears.

  (11)Auto-loading programs information is fed into the Operating System.

  What! Feeling sympathetic for your dear machine? Hold on. It is programmed to do all this. With frequent use, the smoothness to gather all this information fades from its circuitry only, and that’s why the slow boot.

  What to do?

  There are a lot of things that happen in the computer during the booting, so there are systematic steps to revive it from its problem.

  1.Remove the auto-loading applications:

  # What are auto-loading programs?

  The computer, while it starts up, loads some important programs by default in its operating system interface. These programs keep on running as long as the computer remains switched on, behind the tasks we do. You can see the running programs (auto-loaded programs too) on the small space beside the computer clock, called the system tray. These programs, according to their individual size, have their small or larger share in the boot-up time. The larger programs not only take longer time to load, but, due to their huge memory consumption, slows the performance of the computer entirely.

  # Choosing of auto-loading programs:

  Before choosing the auto-loading programs to be de-activated, you MUST be sure of the method of undoing the changes, as the programs that auto-load generally, are important software. If you are unsure of the place of storing these programs after de-activation, then you might lose them forever.

  Step 1:

  **Creating a restore point:

  For Windows XP, select:

  Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools > System Restore > Create a restore point>Next>(choose a name for your restore point so that you can identify it later)>Create.

  For Vista, select:

  Start>Control Panel>System>(under “Tasks” menu)System Protection>Create.

  Step 2:

  Finding the auto-loading applications:

  For Windows XP:

  Start>Run>type “msconfig”>press >Startup tab…

  For Windows Vista:

  Start>type in searchbox “msconfig” > press > Startup tab…

  Under the Startup tab, all your auto-loading programs will be visible.

  Step 3:

  Disabling the auto-loading applications:

  Uncheck the check boxes beside each of the applications you want to stop auto-loading.

  Finally, Click OK. Reboot the machine. An error dialogue box may appear. J
ust check the box which says: “Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts” and click on the option OK. The applications will stop auto-loading.

  **Before unchecking the application boxes, just keep in mind whether the applications need to be always active or not. Always ask yourself this before de-activating each application. Important applications, like your Firewall and Anti-virus, need to be active always, even at the cost of speed of your computer.

  2.Remove unnecessary background services:

  There are unnecessary applications which are present while your computer is running, other than the auto-loading applications. Let’s remove them now.

  Step 1:

  For Windows XP:

  Start>Run>type “services.msc”>OK.

  For Windows Vista and Windows 7:

  Start>type “services.msc”>Search.

  Step 2:

  The Services registry window will appear before you.

  Step 3:

  The oncoming list is of the programs that are currently running on your computer. If you are unaware of the functions of any running program, then check the internet for its functioning, BEFORE de-activating it. Once you are confirmed that the program does not involve the inner system functioning, then only choose to de-activate it.

  You may not imagine how fast how computer may become after clearing the Services registry. About 15 to 20% of the speed can be recovered in this process.

  3.Disable the Start-up Services:

  In case, you have a computer with Windows Vista or 7 for Operating System, you may also use this process. The start-up services are some of the extraneous services on your computer performing additionally.

  Step 1:

  Start>type in searchbox “msconfig”>press >Services tab…

  Step 2:

  Check out the box quoting: “Hide all Microsoft services”.

  4.Cleaning up the Windows registry:

  Depending on what type of computer you are using, a home use computer or an office purpose one, the computer piles up a lot of junk information every day. This junk information may have been useful to you at one point of time, but as time passes, the need for that particular information becomes invalid. These form then a junk database and takes up space in your computer registry. To keep the memory clear for boot up, the computer must be rid of them. Plenty of software has come into the market to do these types of jobs. Among the more popular ones, there are PC World Labs company’s PC cleanup utilities, Piriform’s Ccleaner, ChemTable’s Reg Organizer, ToniArts’s EasyCleaner etc. The EasyCleaner may be cost efficient, but less powerful software in regards to registry cleaning.

  Step 1:

  The mentioned software need to be purchased or downloaded.

  Step 2:

  Install the software.

  Step 3:

  Follow the instructions on the software window. (Instructions may vary for each application.)

  5.BIOS updating changes:

  BIOS makes out the most important operation during the starting of the computer, and the most time consuming one as well. So, if you need to speed up the computer boot process, a few changes can be done to the BIOS updates. You need to check a few things before you go into this. I would even not mind, if you want to collect this information from the computer guy you last gave your computer to. The information that I am going to ask now, are vital information to your computer and you should at any point of time, have the knowledge to it. So, here it goes…

  How many Ethernet ports does your motherboard use?

  Which is the first priority device of your motherboard during booting?

  Does your external SATA controller need to be checked during booting?

  #What is an Ethernet port?

  The Ethernet port is an optical cable, which transfers information in the form of digital signals between, sometimes, the different internal parts of a computer, and more often, in transferring or sharing data between different computers, which are connected through a network (LAN- Local Area Network). Simply, the internet connection cable can be used to be connected to this.

  # What is a SATA or a Serial-ATA controller?

  The data cables which are responsible for data transfer from the computer’s bus interface to the mass storage devices inside the computer are the S-ATA controller cables. To put it in the lay man’s words, SATA cables connect t he processing part of the computer to the Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and any other storage devices, like the CD Drives or DVD drives etc. They are made of two pairs of conducting cables, arranged serially. High speed data transfer and the storage of data in the computer are possible due to these cables. You cannot see the SATA cables from outside the cabinet.

  # How do you confirm the information about your BIOS settings and how do they help you:

  Any information regarding the BIOS setting can be obtained at the time of BIOS update only. So, to check them out, you have to:

  1.Restart your computer.

  2.Wait for the BIOS page to come up.

  3.Get inside the BIOS setup by pressing ‘Del’.

  Once, you are in, you have to surf the different pages. The information regarding your different input, output devices and various hardware parts are provided there. You can keep the answers to those three questions that I asked handy with you. Well, now that you have the answers, let me tell you how they are going to help you.

  1.If you are always using one Ethernet port and have the option for two on your computer, there is no need to waste precious boot-up time on checking both two. Cancel the option for two Ethernet ports in the BIOS page, and select one.

  2.The motherboard can also be set to prioritize any optical drive (CD or DVD drive) first, so that it can check whether are any bootable CD or DVD or not and then go to the important Hard Disk Drive, for booting. This can be changed and should be too, as it is useless in cases that you rarely would need to boot CD or DVDs. Just change the 1st priority option to your hard disk drive when you are booting.

  3.The external SATA controller cable is also a bootable device, and probably would need to be checked if you use it a lot. Only, if you don’t, you can remove the SATA controller from the BIOS update priority list of the computer. This will save your booting time.

  If you do everything properly, this BIOS setup change can save you close to 5 seconds booting time during start up.

  6.Boot Timeout Changing:

  The boot timeout is just an application which specifies for how much time an automatic menu (eg: Startup Repairing Menu) will prevail on your screen. But, the effect it has on the boot time is unexpectedly amazing. The default time set on the boot timeout menu is generally 30 seconds. It significantly increases the boot performance when you change the default time to 10 seconds.

  Step 1:

  Start>type on the search box “msconfig”>Boot tab…

  Step 2:

  Change the timeout to 10 seconds from 30 seconds (default). Press OK.

  7.Use Lesser Fonts:

  The different fonts may look pretty on your computer desktop, or in any document that you type, but may be unknown to you; they are more of a liability than an asset.

  The font limit of a computer must not cross 500, as the loading of hundreds of fonts, each loading separately, takes a lot of time during start up. If the removal of so many fonts is troubling you, then you can use the free version of Sue Fisher’s “The Font Thing” utility kit. It is helpful in managing the memory and giving you the perfectly arranged font system.

  8.Core number specification:

  If you have 2 processing cores in your computer but use only 1 to boot it, you can change it to 2, to make the booting faster. Just:

  Step 1:

  Go to the Boot Advanced Options window.

  Step 2:

  Select 2 under the Number of processors tab.

  Step 3: Click on OK.

  9.Loading of the Bootvis program:

  There is a program made by Microsoft, if installed, can
increase the boot efficiency of the computer. Though, Microsoft does not disclaim it to do so, but it does. Check it out.

  You have to just:

  1.Download the Bootvis program.

  2.After installing, look under Trace tab…>Next Boot.

  (This will enable the Bootvis program to make a representation of the processes that are followed during the boot-up to the particular computer and the amount of time taken by each of the processes to take place, at the next boot.)

  3.Run the program once more after the boot up, and look under Trace tab…>Optimize System.

  (This will rearrange the boot-up files in an order on the hard disk which the computer follows during boot-up while it loads.)

  Summary:

  The computer does 11 different things during start-up:

  1.BIOS (Basic Input Output System) updating

  2.Master boot record

  3.Boot sector setup.

  4.Windows booting file is read by the program Windows boot manager.

  5.Reading from the Boot-configuration Data.

  6.Hibernation-file Search.

  7.Start winload.exe

  8.Start OS.

  9.Session Manager Sub-system start.

  10.The Windows log-in asking logo appears.

  11.Auto-loading programs information is read by the operating system.

  What to do to make the booting fast?

  1.Remove the auto-loading application.

  2.Removal of unnecessary background services.

  3.Disabling the Start-up services.

  4.Cleaning up the Windows registry.

  5.BIOS updating changes.

  6.Boot timeout changing.

  7.Use of lesser number of fonts.

  8.Core number specification for boot up.

  9.Arranging the boot sequence by loading the Bootvis program.

  HOW TO MAKE YOUR COMPUTER FASTER

  Now that we are done with the Start-up process, the other problems can now be viewed.

  Solutions:

  1.Remove External Threat: