Slow Computer - Windows XP Speed UP Tutorial

The biggest complaint I hear from both students and clients is Windows is getting slower. Windows is not a self-tuning program and needs lots of help to keep running efficiently otherwise you will end up with a slow computer. I presently teach computer technology in a lab at a high school with 35 computers. I have a web site Computer Repair Training that provides articles and videos to help my students better understand computers. My students have full administrator rights yet I am able to keep these computers running at their optimum efficiency 99.99% of the time. Windows runs its best just after you install the operating system. It begins to die a slow death over time due to many factors. The leading cause is too many programs fighting for too few resources. We have a tendency to load too many new programs, games, and utilities only to find they are really not what we wanted and then try and remove most of them never thinking about what damage we might be doing to our computer. The first problem area I will cover is the registry. The registry is a very large and complex database that is used to handle all operating system settings, programs, games, hardware, and utility configurations and changes. As you load and remove programs this registry is prone to corruption. Many times when programs are removed file pointers no longer can find files needed during startup and Windows begins to slow down as it is trying to load files and programs that are no longer installed. Therefore it is important to keep your registry clean and efficient. You can do this by running good registry cleaning software. I would suggest going to download.com and searching for registry cleaning software. Look at the ratings and read all the reviews and see what the users are saying about them. I personally like the free software and often find that some of the free software is better than some software you would pay too much for. For instance, AVG is one of the best anti-virus software utilities and it is free for personal use. Also ZoneAlarm is a highly rated firewall utility and it has a free version. Adaware by Lavasoft (not Adware) is another great program that is free for personal use. The second item that causes problems is the hard drive. Every time you install and uninstall programs you are fragmenting your hard drive. The hard drive has tracks where it stores data and files. These files are stored end to end on these tracks. When you remove a program you create a hole in the track. These holes are later filled with other files. The problem is that the other files are never the same size so these new files spill over to other tracks as the hard drive fills all the new holes. Now when it goes to read the files it has to hunt and search all over to find your files. This takes more time and has a tendency to wear out the hard drive faster. You can go to my computer icon and right click on your windows drive, select tools, select defragment now, and then select analyze. Read the report and see if you need to defrag the hard drive. Badly fragmented drives will slow down the computer and can cause it to become unstable. Another area could be spyware and data mining programs that you pick up as you surf the web. Most of these programs only want to track your habits so that they can send you targeted ads. The Firefox browser is a good, fast, and safe browser and has some great add-ons, such as, adblock plus, download helper, and many others. Make sure you have Windows updates turned on, make sure you have a good anti-virus program installed and updated, make sure you have a good firewall program installed and updated, and make sure you have a good spyware and data mining removal program installed and updated. Even after all this is done and maintained Windows will still have a tendency to stop working over time. I suggest you partition your hard drive and image your operating system using one of the many imaging programs. This way you have a fresh image that you can use to re-image your hard drive when needed. This will restore your computer to full optimum efficiency in minutes. This is how I maintain the 35 computers in my high school lab and how I maintain all my personal computers. The following steps can help improve a slow computer and help to maintain your computer:

1. Install AVG a highly rated anti-virus program. Get the free version for personal use. Also make sure you schedule and turn on auto updates. You can find it at download.com.

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2. Install ZoneAlarm a highly rated firewall utility. Get the free basic version from download.com. Windows XP only has half a firewall. Meaning it only blocks unwanted inbound, but not outbound. So if your computer gets infected your personal information could leave and Windows would never alert you of the problem.

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3. Install Adaware (Lavasoft) to remove unwanted spyware and data mining programs. Get the free version from download.com.

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4. Turn on Windows updates. Go to Control Panel, Security Center, set Automatic Updates ON.

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5. For security you should consider turning off store passwords in your Internet browser. Go to Tools, Internet Options, Content, AutoComplete, Settings, uncheck User names and passwords on forms. If your computer is compromised the first thing that happens is your accounts, ids, and password are available.

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6. You might also consider getting a new hard drive, partitioning the drive, and creating images of your operating system on a backup partition using Ghost or some other imaging program.

Some other Hubs that you might find helpful.

GParted - Great Open Source Hard Drive Partition Utility GParted is a very good open source partitioning utility that is easy to use. GParted will also run from a Linux Live CD.

FDISK DOS Partition Utility Tutorial Fdisk is a DOS utility for partitioning hard drives. You need a partition for important data and for operating system images. Images will allow you to restore your system quickly.

Installing Windows XP From the i386 Folder or Flash Drive Installing Windows XP is something everyone will need to do from time to time. Windows will get slower because it is not a self tuning or self maintaining operating system so in time it will slow down and die.

Computer Repair Tools - Great Free Software Some of the best computer repair tools are free and open source software. These tools are sometimes better than some of their commercial counterparts.

A slow computer can be very frustrating. However if you do some regular maintenance you can help keep your computer running at its optimum.

You might also checkout the Free Computer Protection website for additional information that you might find useful.