Improve Computer Performance

After buying a new PC computer, it is easy to fall in love with its speed and efficiency especially if your previous computer was slow. New machines have a fast start up — Windows loads quickly on boot up.  Another feature of well-tuned PC machine is the ability to handle/run multiple operations and actions at the same time.  Multitasking can be done without any lag or delay.  These are the hallmarks of a system that performs well.

SPONSOR:      

 

 

Unfortunately, all the good things come to an end and the computers over time start suffering from decreased performance.   There is a general system slow down and it takes longer period of time to load Windows and individual application.  Even when simple programs are running at the same time, the computer becomes excruciatingly slow.  In this post we will focus on a few major factors that may cause the loss of performance. Knowing the source of the problem will make it easier to find a fix and solution.

.

Registry Optimization

This being a site dedicated to registry issue we will start with a short analysis on how the registry can affect your computer’s performance.  Registry is a critical component of Windows PC computer.  It manages and stores information on all hardware devices and software applications. More applications and devices you have installed the bigger the registry gets.  Compounding the problem are the registry data remnants from the deleted applications and peripherals.  Typically, when you uninstall something, the corresponding registry entry is supposed to be removed as well. But this does not happen always and you are left with a growing number of registry files that are obsolete and useless.  Unfortunately the computer does not know that these registry values are outdated and precious memory and computing power is wasted by unnecessarily going through these files.

The clean up registry and fix any corrupted values you can use a registry cleaner utility.  You can find free programs over internet, but if you would like to have one with more power and features we recommend you to do a proper research and purchase one that suits your situation best.  Optimizing the registry will improve the performance of your machine.

.

Memory Resources

Loss of performance can also be caused by the existing applications you have installed on your system.  In the beginning of this article, we mentioned that multitasking on new computers is not a problem.  You can have multiple applications running and they will all perform without any lag or problems.  But what happens if you have many, many programs running simultaneously? It does not even have to be a large number of programs.  If you have several resource-hungry applications running at the same time, your computer speed will drop significantly.  What’s even worse is that you might not even be aware that you have these programs running.

Start Up programs load during the Windows boot up.  Since they load automatically and they work in the background, there is a chance that you do not see it all.  It can be an anti-virus software, Java updater or any other application (as described in our other article dedicated to Start Up programs). You can see the icon of the programs running in the lower-right corner of the Windows toolbar.  You can also monitor the active processes by pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE once (Start Task Manager, “Processes” tab).  This a great way to check how much resources each application eats up.  We highly recommend turning-off start-up programs that you are not using on a daily basis.

.

Defragmentation and Hard Drive Cleanup

We are going to finish by offering you a couple of other tricks to improve your computer’s performance.  Do a defragmentation (defrag) of your hard drive.  It is a simple command with which your computer goes through your entire hard drive connecting fragmented memory sectors.  This will speed up your computer and positively affect your performance.  Be aware that it might take a lot of time (over an hour) for computer to go through all the hard drive sectors.

Cleaning up your hard drive is another quick fix.  Windows system comes with a little utility that can help you with deleting old and temporary files that you don’t need any more (e.g. recycle bin files, temporary internet data,…).  By doing this you will free up more space and give your computer more breading room.