How To Fix a Maintain and Optimize a windows computer thats running slow.
I'll be covering:
1 - Uninstall
Uninstalling Junk Like toolbars is a good place to start. These slow down your Web Browsers.
Removing some of the pre-installed Software that came on your computer and you never use is worth-while.
The less junk on your computer the faster it will Start and Run. Also making De-Fragging and Anti-Virus Scans faster.
2 - Cleanup
Downloading and Running Ccleaner will remove all un-necessary temporary and old setup files along with Internet History Potentially Saving Several Gigabytes of Hard Disk Space. Again doing this before a de-frag or virus scan will ensure there are less files to organise and scan, reducing the time it takes to complete them.
Ccleaner - Download
3 - Anti Virus
I recommend removing what ever Anti-Virus you are currently running unless you are part way through a paid subscription because in my experience non of them are worth the money Vs the Free Alternatives.
Microsoft Security Essentials is currently considered the best by many tech sites and is totally free. I also think its much less of a drain on system resources than any other anti-virus.
Microsoft Security Essentials - Download
4 - Defrag
De-Fragging your system will speed up file and program access, making your system run faster.
Completing the above steps first means less files to De-Frag and the operation will be completed quicker.
Auslogics Disk Defrag - Download
5 - Optimization
Click Start > Run and then Type 'msconfig'
This will bring up a window allowing you to make a few changes to how your computer starts up.
Its the 'Services' and 'Start up' Tabs we're interested in.
Start with 'Services' and Check the 'Hide all Microsoft Services' Box.
This should leave you with only additional software thats been installed on your computer.
Here you'll want to un-check things like:
'Windows Cardspace'
'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service'
and anything else you know you dont use.
(I'll update this list later)
In the 'Startup' Tab You'll want to un-check:
'GoogleUpdate'
'QTTask'
'jusched'
'AdobeARM' (and probably most other Adobe Software)
'Reader_sl'
Optimizations here will improve your computers start up time meaning you spend less time waiting on your computer once the Desktop has loaded.
Here are some useful links for Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint Viewers:
Microsoft Word Viewer
Microsoft Excel Viewer
Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer (2007)
