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So your computer has slowed down too much and you don’t want to or can’t do a reformat? Then this tutorial will teach you how to speed up your pc without any cost and in a short time.

Step 1: Download Spybot Search & Destroy and Lavasoft: Ad-Aware. These are free anti spyware programs that should get rid of at least some spyware. (however, if you suspect it is a virus or spyware problem, please see HERE and follow the instructions before you continue.

Step 2: Delete any programs and files that you don’t use. This is generally the best way of speeding your pc up. Also delete any windows components you don’t use by going to start>settings>control panel>add or remove programs>add/remove windows components.

Step 3: go to start>all programs>accessories>system tools>disk cleanup and run clean ups on all your hard drives (make sure all boxes are ticked).

Step 4: Defragment your hard drives by going to start>all programs>accessories>system tools>disk defragmenter. Then select Defragment.

Step 5: Restart your computer.

NOTE: HijackThis may also be used in step 1 but this is for more advanced users, once again, see HERE .

I hope this tutorial will help some people. Please feel free to make any suggestions and corrections.

Do not hesitate to ask any questions.

Good Luck to everyone.

Regards,

Korrupt

CREDITS: Hyperlinks courtesy of Spike.

What happens after I defrag my comp.? will all my files be deleted?

Running a disk defrag won`t delete anything.

So no need to worry.

Regards Howard

what will happen? will it go faster?

If your hard drive is fragmented(bits of files scattered around the hard drive) it will slow your system down, because it takes longer to retrieve the files.

Doing a disk defrag will reorganise the files on your hard drive and make it quicker to retrieve those files. This in turn will speed up your computer.

Regards Howard

Howard is right.

None of the methods posted here will remove anything from your hard drive (unless you select them to -such as disk cleanup) however, these files are not generally important anyways.

Regards,

Korrupt

The CCleaner program can help you in deleting files you don't want as well.

Just wondering if anyone used this tutorial to speed up their pc? If so, how did you go and did you find this tutorial helpfull?

Regards,

Korrupt

Not me personaly but i usualy linked them to those who ask for help, just as a foundation on the speedup/maintainance...

Also i think you need to add removing startup apps that are uneccesary via the programs itself or msconfig.. i'm pretty sure you know how to explain this more in detail

Don't forget about the taskbar. Make sure you don't have a million things running that you don't need or don't use. This will free up ram as well as other system resources. Especially if you don't have alot of RAM in the first place. I see this problem all the time. Another common foe is to organize that desktop! Don't save "Word" files to it. Save them to a folder on the hard drive and create a shortcut to that folder on the desktop. Organize the program icons into game/work folders, don't just leave your icons all your the place on your desktop. This will speed up bootup time and the time it takes to surf around your OS as the computer will not have much to refresh.

Thanks for the tips.

got some more for you:

In addition to defragmenting, the following will speed up a slow system:

1. ADD RAM. Anything less than 512mb on an XP system will run VERY slow period.

2. stop unnecessary programs from running. Use MSCONFIG from your RUN command or better yet, use a free applet "startup editor" by Mike Lin - google it.

3. Use Crap cleaner to clean and fix your registry.

4. Don't use toolbars and extra crud unless you really need them.

5. Check for viri and trojans frequently.

6. Use FREERAM PRO XP to free up RAM when not in use. Page file swapping will really slow a system down.

7. Use 2 hard drives or 2 partitions (the former is better). Have emails, page files, and web pages stored on the second. This will make your defragmenter work less hard.

is deleting files in prefetch and setting the registry in prefetch 2 or 5 advisable?

i know 5 doesnt exist but its weird that somehow it helps boot faster.

I know it may be a bit late to answer your post, but for anyone else:

I previously believed that emptying the prefetch folder once in a while was a good thing, but according to some stuff I read recently, it actually can hurt performance and if there are more than 128 of them, Windows will remove some automatically so you don't need to clean the prefetch folder. I will post a link when I find it again.

Edit: Read this!

How often should I defrag my system. Once in a week / Month ?
How often should I run my Antivirus , Antispyware , CCleaner, SpyBoot programs.

Arenot they protect if enabled to be running in background so why I need to run them frequently ?

i'd do defrag every once in a while, or after i've moved a lot of big files around my hdds.. You should do it when you notice your PC searching the HDD a lot compared to when its nice and defragged.

AV and other scanners should be set for their own recommended settings, usually either daily or weekly for whole-pc scan, and the resident scanner should be left on always. These scanners usually run in the background, but most of the time its just the resident scanner - only scans modules loading into the RAM for trouble - and sometimes depending on the program, you might not have it scan the whole PC, only the OS HDD etc.

Thank you very very much i will try this when i can get on the computer as i have a son who is autistic @ is always on, so be patient for a reply.
thanks again MICKMC

One thing to add. You can also go to Run and type "msconfig" and click the services tab. Click Hide all Microsoft Services, then click disable all. Then go to the startup tab and click disable all. I have found that to greatly increase the speed of computers.

Well that seems to have cured the problem, thank you very much, it is appreciated
Regards MICKMAC

is defraging in XP bad?