Speeding up your Computer

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Tips to help speed up that computer
n.b. The greatest increase in speed on a well used cluttered machine results from reformatting the hard disk
But it is a major operation.  For XP see  http://askbobrankin.com/reformat_hard_drive_under_xp.html

 I get a lot of information from a site by Bob, who sits in California just trying to help people.  To read his article on speeding a computer click here.  Although this refers to an XP machine much of it applies to all Windows PCs

If all else fails see my page on Buying a Computer !  Click HERE It may be quicker (and cheaper) in the end and you could now get one with Windows 7 and be ahead of the field

February 2010. One useful Microsoft program that can show what is going on in the background is Procexp.exe See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

December 09 Very Slow computer ! I was called in to help with an XP computer that was so slow you wondered if there was anyone in there at all ! I pressed Ctl + Shift + Esc (the Task Manager Performance tab. The graph showed the processor (the main chip) was being used nearly 100% of the time, leaving no capacity to run any programs.  I suspected a virus but several (very slow) checks showed nothing.  Clicking Applications showed none running. Clicking processes showed different ones were active at different times.  I used Msconfig, Startup to untick almost everything apart form the antivirus program, Ctfmon and the internet connection.  Still the processor was working frantically and the hard disk light flickered or stayed on permanently. I noticed that, each time I started the PC the yellow update icon appeared on the bottom line but no matter how many updates I downloaded it still showed up.  Looking at 'My Computer' I found that there was plenty of memory (a gigabyte) and loads of hard disk space.  But, for some reason it showed only Service Pack2.  So SP3 had never been downloaded.  Well, it takes all night on a dialup connection, so people on dialup never get around to it. Fortunately I had bought an SP3 disk from Microsoft and installed that. That was followed by a number of further smaller updates. Task Manager showed a considerable drop in activity so I used my pet speed test - Spider Solitaire ! Instead of cards lazily drifting up, they shot up with a sound like a machine gun!  SORTED!  But I recommended that they leave the PC alone to settle down for ten minutes after pressing the On button before using it. And watch that activity light.

If you want a safe and thorough Cleanup program I recommend Ccleaner from www.piriform.com.  These days it will (a) tell you all about your computer, its speed and how much of that vital memory you have.  (B)  it can also let you look at those Startup items, which often slow things down, especially at Startup. (C) It will let you see what programs you have on the PC, save a list so you can print it out and see if what mysterious programs you have on there.  And much more besides 

October 09. This page has been checked over and the links really work ! Most of the suggestions will require some action on your behalf but are likely to speed things up.

October 09 In a recent extensive test of Tune-up software the Magazine "The Register" compared the results of the applications on on a five year old - quite well specified - laptop. and upgrading the memory.  The applications, which are intended to clean the register, defrag the hard drive and advise on the reduction of startup programs had hardly any effect on startup times and performance.  The most dramatic results were as a result of upgrading the 512Mb memory to 1 gigabyte at a cost of £27 (which was less than most of the packages cost. Some of the packages, which load at startup time actually reduced the performance, although they might have been useful in other respects (such as security). So, once again, it seems that memory is the vital aspect.  Anyone still using 256Mb on an old machine MUST upgrade.  But my initial recommendation to go for 512Mb (for XP) is now revised up to a gigabyte. But check your machine with www.crucial.co.uk and see if it is possible

September 09. Tip : To see what is going on in the background on your PC go to Task Manager by press Ctl+Shift+Esc.  You will be amazed at the number of Processes that are all trying to get a slice of the Memory on your PC.  Next have a look at the Performance tab and check how much Physical Memory you have.  For XP you need at least 512Mb these days.  For Vista at least 1 Gb.  While on that screen make a note of CPU Usage.  This is the percentage of the processor's power that is being used. Mine is bobbing along at between 3 and 6%.  If yours is over 10% and the graph to the right is very high (I have seen them at 100%) then this, too is a reason for the slowness of your PC. Older PCs, with low memory and slow processors, are very poor at handling multiple programs and it will be time to look into ways to Increase Memory and reduce the number of things that it is attempting to cope with. See the Applications tab as to what is running. Incidentally, stopping an application (click on one and click End Task) is a useful way of getting your PC going if it appears to be locked up (crashed)

February 2009. There is a an exhaustive and quite technical list of suggestions about speeding your PC if you click HERE. Surprisingly he didn't mention my current favourite - see next para.

February 2009  I am now more than ever convinced that lack of sufficient memory can seriously slow your PC.  This is because the many programs that now consider themselves essential to the running of the machine by getting into the startup (including those security essentials such as antivirus and firewalls) now leave an XP system with little spare out of 256Mb of RAM. At one time this was adequate... but no longer.  What is more, the cure is now very inexpensive.  I have just used the Crucial memory site to check a machine which with a Pentium 4 chip should have been running much faster. Memory company, Crucial, does a check of the PC on line and tells you what spare capacity it has and what you can do to install more memory. The suggestion was that there was space to add 1 Gb memory to the existing 256Mb. The cost including postage was just under £11. Those people with laptops are not as fortunate. An extra 256Mb will cost around £15. If you are adding memory to a laptop make sure whether you need DDR or DDR2.  They are NOT interchangeable.  Crucial will advise, even if you decide to go elsewhere for the purchase.

Adding memory to a PC these days is well within the capability of the average DIY person. With a little luck the job will be done in ten minutes.  The PC will, in all probability, recognise the extra memory when you restart it.  Go for it !

First of all, I would like to say that this page is NOT based on the numerous articles which suggest how you should increase the speed of your PC. Rather it is based on my own experience over the years and those things that appear to make the computer 'feel' faster. Obviously (or not) the speed of the computer processor has a great deal to do with how fast it runs and one which has a 3.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or Dual or Quad processor is going to get along much faster that one with a Pentium 2 200Mhz job.  But seventeen times as fast ?  Not in my experience. Some people think that having a lot of programs and files on their hard disk will cause slowness.  Not so (providing you have plenty of space left on the hard disk). But having a lot of programs working at the same time CAN be a cause. To check if you have enough hard disk space (minimum 1 Gb) click on My Computer on the desktop and right click on the C: drive. Then click Properties.  View the pie chart. Hopefully you have at least 10% free. If you do not, apart from slowing your PC, you will find that RESTORE backups are not being made because you have insufficient disk space.... very dangerous.

There was a time when I considered lack of memory to be less important than I do now.  But, these days there are so many programs that work in the background, such as XP, anti virus, firewall and others, that your machine probably needs more memory than it did when you first bought it.  Also, on many less expensive models the graphics 'share' the memory . So, the first thing to do is check how much physical memory your PC has.  This is contained on chips on strips on the PC motherboard. (It should NOT be confused with the amount of space you have on the hard disk.) To do this, right-click the Task Bar, the area to the right of the Start button, (or press Ctrl+Shift+Del) and choose Task Manager. Click on the Performance tab and see what it says at the bottom under 'Physical Memory (K)' It will say something like 523,000 (if you have 512Mb installed) or 250,000. Make a note of that and especially how much is available including the cache.  

Memory use on and XP machine

If you have less than 100mb available for use with various additional programs you may find that the 'activity light' on the front of the PC is flickering a lot.  This is because, instead of using real memory the computer is having to resort to a reserve type of memory called 'virtual'.  Really that means that the machine is having to swap things on and off the hard disk, which is a slow VERY process. So, if you are down to, say 60,000 free (including the 'cache') it is worth checking whether you can add some extra memory.  The best site to do this is www.crucial.com, the widely acknowledge experts in this field.  Click 'Scan My System'. In most cases Crucial will be able to check your machine and tell you what memory is suitable. Make a note of it and whether it says you have any free slots. They will sell it to you if you want. Or you can go to your local computer shop or search on line for memory.  Putting it in the machine is a fairly simple process. Once inserted in the appropriate slot the machine should recognise it as soon as you restart it. If you are nervous about what memory to get or how to install it I suggest you go to a good computer store and ask them.  " If I buy some memory from you will you install it for me? ".

Also note the graph above, which should show a big jump for when you went into the program, then it should settle down to something like 4 - 8 % if you machine is idling. If the graph stays high then your computer processor is having to work very hard all the time and this is a sign that something is happening (that, perhaps, shouldn't) and will make it difficult and slow to start the programs you want to use. It needs investigating and can be caused by a number of things such as the bug mentioned in the next paragraph.

Also memory problems can be caused by this : Programs that require a lot of memory won’t run under XP SP2  Have you ever received an error message that said “Not enough memory” or “out of memory” when you try to run certain program on an XP SP2 computer? It could be because of a .dll file in XP SP2 that causes virtual memory available to the program to be fragmented. There is a hot fix available, and you can find out how to get it by reading KB article 894472. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894472/en-us

A little known Microsoft Tool to analyse what processes are running on your PC is Process Explorer from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx  This does the same sort of thing that you get when you use Ctl + Alt+Del to see the Task Manager.  But it is much more detailed.

Back in 2007 a Microsoft bug related to the important program SVCHOST.EXE which had been causing a dramatic slowdown of Windows XP machines.  Microsoft reckon that update patches will have fixed this, so make sure you have the latest updates. How do you know if you have this problem? If your system is experiencing a dramatic slowdown, try launching Windows Task Manager to see. To do this, right-click the Task Bar, the area to the right of the Start button, (or press Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and choose Task Manager. Make sure the Processes tab is active, and click Image Name to sort the list. You'll see one or more instances of svchost.exe way down the list. If the CPU column shows 100%, or the memory usage seems extraordinarily high (it should be a very small figure most of the time), you may be experiencing this bug.  To check how much of your machine's memory is currently being used by all processes click the Performance heading.  Most of the time it should show a massive jump but then followed by a steady, much lower percentage use.

System Restore can also temporarily slow the computer's performance if it chooses to make a restore checkpoint the system while a user is using the PC. It makes a restore point once a day, probably during startup, so that can be yet another reason that startup takes longer than you would otherwise expect.

Anti Virus checkups can take a long time on a big hard disk.  And if they insist on checking up every time you switch on it can take for ever.  with some programs, such as AVAST you can minimise the checkup and get on with something else (though a little slower maybe).  But I have heard that AVG will not allow you to do other things - which is a pain.  There is absolutely no need to have it scheduled to check up every time.  I understand that to take off the scheduling you should .....

  1. Right click on the AVG icon and select Launch AVG Control Panel.
  2. Left click on Scheduler and then Scheduled Tasks button at the bottom of the window.
  3. Now left click on Test Plan in Basic Mode and next on Edit Schedule.
  4. Now take the tick out of Periodically start scheduled Antivirus test. OK and close the windows.

In fact there is a new scourge which is affecting the speed of computers.  As computers have become faster so the programmers have sought to create more and more sophisticated programs to utilise that speed. Sometimes this is termed 'bloatware'. A contact recently asked about downloading a 'driver' for her graphics card. At 40Mb it was so large that her dialup computer cut her off every time before the download was complete. It was going to take over two hours ! Just to install a program to make the screen work!  Apart from this there are legitimate programs that seek to protect you.  Anti virus software is getting bigger and more sophisticated. So every time you go on line it is spending time looking at every move you make, so slowing the things you want to do.  Then Microsoft starts downloading its security updates. And you wonder why everything is going at a snail's pace! Recently I found that the typing I was doing was being delayed by several seconds. It was stopping me working.  In the end I found that deleting the Google Desktop program brought my computer back up to speed. Why ? Because the Google Desktop spends its time indexing everything you do (with the intention of making the occasional search quicker), thus not letting you get on with things.  It was probably developed by some guru who had a much faster machine.  For much more detail how to uninstall the Google Desktop Indexing program (as I have) have a look at http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/05/10/tattletale_convenience/

Similarly, it has been found that Internet Explorer V. 7.0, which is being installed by millions of people around the globe, automatically installs a "Phishing Detector".  Great idea.  No one wants to fall for that old trick and let some Russian gangster get hold of your bank details. Unfortunately, the cost of this is bringing your PC to a standstill because it goes to Microsoft every time you visit a website.  You can either turn it off or (preferably) get a Microsoft patch from the knowledge Base article KB928089 Here  Mozilla's alternative Browser, Firefox, which I prefer, just downloads a phishing site list from time to time, so is faster.

Sometimes your PC slows down for a while. This can be because it is downloading something (like an update for your anti virus program or maybe 18 Microsoft Security patches!). Give it a chance to speed up again next time you start it.  In fact, restarting the PC can occasionally make quite a difference.

The common wisdom is that speed depends to a large extent on the amount of memory (RAM) you have.  Whilst it is necessary to have sufficient memory for the Windows version which you use I can recall very basic machines which have run Windows 95 quite happily on 8Mb of RAM !  Increasing the RAM on a 400Mhz Win 98 system from 32Mb to 64Mb or more seemed to make very little difference. But if you have Windows XP, then you MUST have a minimum of 128Mb but preferably 512Mb (now my recommendation is 1 Gb). If you are a 'light' user (email, word processing) you may not notice the difference. But if you open several programs or do memory intensive things such as working with large graphics, video and the like that is a different matter.  In the case of Vista Premium, you will need a minimum of 1Gb memory and more is recommended. If you do not wish to add more memory than 512 Mb then stick to Vista Home Basic.  Or order a machine with XP installed, instead. Some companies will do this but Dell will charge extra.  

One sign that you need extra memory is if you get messages saying that you are short of VIRTUAL memory. Virtual memory is not ACTUAL memory on a memory stick in the PC.  It is actually a space on the hard disk which is being used temporarily because the main memory is in full use. At least it usually stops the machine from crashing but swapping stuff on and off the hard disk is a slow, tedious business and you will notice the difference. There are two things you can do. Either add extra memory to your PC or you might get away with changing the Virtual Memory settings. Click Start, Help and type in Virtual and follow the instructions.  I favour "Let the system decide" but the recommendation is that this 'paged' memory should be not less that 1.5 times than your actual memory (RAM). So if you have 512Mb RAM then it should be at least 750Mb of hard disk space. If you have less than 1Gb of hard disk space these days your machine WILL run slower.

Windows XP and Vista have a feature called Direct Memory Access (DMA) which enables them to transfer data straight into Ram (memory) without having to use the processor.  This is likely to be set ON in your computer but you ought to check. To do this go Start, Run and type devmgmt.msc and press Enter. At the screen which appears click on IDE/ATAPI controller, then on Primary IDE Channel, then on the Advanced tab.  You should make sure that the transfer mode is set to "DMA if available"

How about Defragging? (putting things on the hard disk in a better order) Many times when you go to defragment a hard disk it says "Why bother ?" and when you do it anyway the disk looks as if it is in ragged pieces.  So surely defragging can help get things back together and therefore faster.  Hmmmm.  Maybe.  I have never felt an appreciable difference. So, perhaps "Why bother" is correct. Maybe once every 6 months would not come amiss. If your PC has suddenly and dramatically slowed this could be due to something much more sinister e.g. a virus or spyware. (but see above re. IE 7) So, make sure you have thoroughly checked for these nasties.  See my pages on these subjects.

How about Register cleaners ? The Register is a vital part of the Windows system and it tells the computer where everything is and which programs work and which don't.  As you use your computer this register (which is just a great big text file), gets bigger and bigger.  Many programs which have been uninstalled may still be mentioned in there not just once but dozens of times.  It is hardly surprising that people make money out of selling Register Cleaners and they do really work, clearing away dozens of unwanted items.  But beware, in my experience they also clear away files that are required. They do not usually stop the PC working but can stop a specific program from working, which then has to be reinstalled (or you may be wise to do a Restore to the time before you started ignoring the golden rule (it ain't broke). But does a cleaner Register make you machine run faster - as you might reasonably expect.  Well, my experience is about the same as Defragging (above).  In the words of one comdedian... '" not a lot".

Fed up with having to put in a password (or hit Esc) when XP starts?  To prevent this go Start, Run and type Control userpasswords2 and click OK. Just untick "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer".  If you have a password you will need to enter it now.

Internet connections.  There is nothing much more frustrating than having a nice new machine and finding that it does not get to the things you want on the net fast enough for you.  First of all, you MUST have a broadband connection and one that runs at least 2 megabytes per second.  If you connect to the net there is NO POINT in being on a dialup connection. Apart from the frustration of trying to get anywhere on this amazing information resource it is actually dangerous to be on dialup.  Why ?  Because the security updates which are essential to your on line experience will take so long to download the chances are that your machine is unprotected. And as for looking at videos and downloading these wonderful Powerpoint slideshows that people send, you can forget it!

So, is there anything else that slows up your access, even if you have said goodbye to Dialup ?  Personally I have found that Browsers vary in their speed.  That is things like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Google's Chrome (for this you have to have Vista or XP with SP2).  My own experience is that Chrome accesses site instantaneously, while others tend to drag their heels a little.  I understand that this is due to the computer language in which it is written.  

Analysis

If you wish to find out how well (or what) your PC is doing you can get a number of free tools to analyse it:

1. If you go to www.sisoft.com you can download a program called Sandra and run that.**  I now consider Sandra far too detailed for most people

2. A more useful analyser is called Belarc from www.belarc.com. Like the basic Sandra, this one is free. A friend ran Belarc on his machine and discovered a load of old antivirus stuff all fighting each other.  He reported a noticeable increase in speed when he cleaned out all but one anti virus program Belarc will also list which Microsoft updates you have downloaded and which are missing.

3. The on line service at www.pcpitstop.com will check your machine out and give you a report. It also recommends that you download programs such as Registry Mechanic and an Optimizer (and these may cost money). But later tests have shown the Registry Cleaners and Defragging make little difference and CAN occasionally upset your machine. If your DO use a cleaner always back up your register. Sometimes I have found a Microsoft program has to be reinstalled after a cleanup. If this happens to you and haven't got the original disk you had better do a Restore immediately.

4. More Cleanup Programs.  There are as many of these things around as there are butterflies in summer.  Which just shows that many people have the same problem you have.  Some are useful.  Some are a rip off.  So which to use.  Fred Langa, who knows a thing or two about such things, recommend JV16 as a general program to clean up many aspects of a cluttered PC.  There is a trial version but then it will cost about £15.  Could be well worth it. See http://www.macecraft.com/jv16powertools2006/  It promised to be a Software Manager, Startup Manager,  Registry Manager, Registry Cleaner, Registry Find and Replace , Registry Monitor, Registry Compactor, File Finder, File Cleaner, File Organizer, Duplicate File Finder, Disk Wiper, Start Menu Fixer, History Cleaner, Cookie Manager and Privacy Protector.

5. If you prefer Freeware then have a look at Ecleaner at http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm, which works along the same lines.

A popular and useful page to start on is http://www.askbobrankin.com/make_windows_xp_run_faster.html. You will find that most of what he says also applies to other Windows programs .

So what things do really make that PC zing along ?  here are some suggestions.  

First, if you think there is nothing wrong with your PC, run the on line IOLO System Checkup.  http://www.iolo.com/sm/freeapp/systemcheckup.aspx?brand=Default You will wonder how your PC is functioning at all ! See mine below.  But, at least it does tell you what might be wrong before trying to sell you the product.

Iolo diagnosis of my PC

  1. If you use Windows XP, right click My Computer on your desktop.  Click Properties at the bottom of the menu that appears, click the Advanced tab, then Performance/Settings.  Lastly, click Adjust for best performance
  2. If you haven't got a dual processor and a lot of memory, don't run too many programs at once. It's sometimes easy to forget how many programs you have open. If you find that your PC is becoming sluggish, check the Windows taskbar to see which programs are running. To speed things up, simply right-click those programs you are not using and click Close and if you don't need them, take them off the Startup.
  3. Restart More Quickly. Hold down the Shift key when restarting your PC. This will launch Windows much more quickly or just pressing Esc will cut out the memory check, which is not needed.
  4. Lower the Screen Resolution. This is simple to do. Right-click on the desktop and select Properties. Click Settings and move the pointer in Screen Area (Screen Resolution) to the left to lower the screen resolution. Everything will look a bit bigger. Ed) It's easy to change the resolution back afterwards.
  5. Turn Off Active Desktop (Win 98). In theory, having a favourite Web site sit directly on your desktop is cool. In reality it is a huge drain on your PC's resources, so turn it off and feel the difference. You can always make that Web site your home page anyway!
  6. Don't Stretch That Wallpaper (or, just make it plain blue. Ed). Stretching wallpaper to fit the desktop can actually slow down your PC, especially when you move icons around. And if your PC has limited memory, it's better to choose fairly simple wallpaper - for example, black and white photos rather than colour.
  7. Don't Have Too Many Fonts. (Editor : Windows loads every font you have in the Fonts folder when it starts up. The more you have, the longer it takes. But this is a difficult one because many programs install a load of fonts when they are installed. So take a look in your C:\windows\fonts folder and try to reduce the number (but see below). Be careful not to remove fonts that have a red letter icon A as these are System fonts. And you will probably find that the popular Arial and Times New Roman series is well protected from deletion. Fonts are introduced by Windows itself and, later, added to by many graphics type programs.  It is not uncommon to find 300 or more fonts all taking time to load and eating into memory resources.  Most of us are content to use Times New Roman and Arial fonts and most of the others are redundant.  There is no problem just deleting fonts.  You can left click them to view them and right click and click Delete if you don't want them.  If you are not sure, you could create a folder called FontsOld in the same area and 'drag' the spare ones to it. I certainly recommend looking at the Fonts Folder and clicking on View, Details.  If you then click on Size at the top of the list they will be put in Size order and you will soon see which are the worst culprits. Some are as large as 300k. One thing I noticed, though, was that having moved dozens of fonts to a folder I called Fonts not required, the next time I used e-mail it asked me to put my Works/Picture It! disk in.  I couldn't send my email until I had.  It took ages to update from the disk, so when it had finished I looked at my Fonts folder and most of the dratted fonts had been put back again ! Sometimes you can't win against Microsoft.
  8. Use Disk Cleanup. Windows has a built-in tool called Disk Cleanup, which is a bit like your own personal Windows housekeeper. To find it, go to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then Disk Cleanup. It will then ask you which drive you wish to clean up - usually the C drive. Once open, it will analyse your hard disk and tell you how much space can be saved on the disk by safely deleting old files.  See also http://www.barrett.net/cleanup.htm
  9. Clean Up Your Desktop. It's tempting to use your desktop as a general dumping ground for downloads, often-used files and programs. However, having too much on there not only makes it hard to find but can slow things down. Instead spend a few minutes each week tidying up and deleting files that you are not using. Put those files you need into a special folder on your hard drive and leave only a minimum. You will also be able to see that nice wallpaper you installed more clearly ! Be careful not to delete programs or folders that you require.  Shortcuts have a small arrow in the corner.  Deleting these does not affect the program they lead to.  Windows XP has a neat function which will move little used shortcut icons to a special folder called Unused Desktop Icons.  Right click on an open desktop space, Properties, Desktop, Clean Desktop Now.
  10. Check for viruses and Adware. I have come across viruses which have slowed down whole computers or just individual programs, like Word. And programs like Errorsafe, Winantivirus and Winfixer do a lot more harm than good.  Get rid of them. See Here.
  11. Have a look at your Startup. Start, Run, Msconfig, Startup.  This controls what appears on the bottom right of your screen.  Each of these programs takes memory and time to load.  Your computer will work without ANY of those items but be careful.  You do need anti virus and firewall software and maybe a couple of other items (such as a Broadband Connection) but you don't need to load the Office Suite and things like Textbridge. After all you can call those up when you need them.
  12. Guru Fred Langa writes : "Some security tools, especially suites that have several tools on guard and running in the background all the time--- can be real oinkers. But a lot has to do with what else is on your system, because the interactions between and among software can be complex and hard to predict. To troubleshoot this, try temporarily disabling any/all other security tools you have active. Antivirus tools, in particular, can and often do fight with each other if more than one is installed and active on a PC because they can compete for control of the files that are being scanned for malware. Running more than one firewall can also cause problems; each one wants to "own" the internet connection, with poor results. And anytime you have two or more tools simultaneously running whole-disk scans, system performance will usually tank. So: Simplify your setup so that only your basic security package is running (i.e. anti virus and firewall), and see if that helps"

                                                                                               ***************

That Win 95 machine with 8Mb RAM that I mentioned at the beginning had just been reformatted and had the Windows program added.  So, in my view the thing that slows down a machine mostly over time is the clutter of stuff that it accumulates.

Windows has never been very good at keeping itself clean and one of its dirtier habits is leaving stuff in the Register. On the net see Registry Cleaners The Register is just one great long text file which tells the computer exactly what to do.  If you really feel you must use a registry cleaner then use the one from Ccleaner (free), which enables you to make a backup of the register.

Hard disk space
Windows requires room to move. You may think you are alright if you still have 300 Mb of free space but, these days, I would say that is getting tight.   With XP, it makes huge (daily) backups of things in case you want to Restore to a previous date. So it needs megabytes of free space to do this, though the percentage of space allowed for this can be reduced. When you add programs they often create temporary files which should be (but are not always) deleted when the installation is complete. Also, those Temporary Internet Files can accumulate at an alarming rate and don't seem to help a lot, so get rid of them regularly.  One of the worst areas is often the sub folders of C:\windows\temporary Internet files.  These can accumulate and are not always deleted by the normal deletion method.  Right click the folder and you may find that there are still megabytes of hidden files in there. In this case, to see them,  you will have to change your PC to Show Hidden Files (My Computer, Tools, Folder Options, View, Show Hidden Files). Then when you go to delete these Temporary Internet Files manually there are stark warnings about them being System files and not to delete them.  Rubbish ! Zap the lot.

If space is getting short you may decide to add another hard disk (internally or externally):
Want to fit another ? See http://www.askbobrankin.com/add_a_second_hard_drive.html

If, when you right click My Computer, Properties, it says your hard disk has the FAT system this should be changed to the FAT32 system - see Windows Help . As well as giving you much more space it is also a much more efficient (faster) system.  Hard disks with Windows XP can be converted to an even more efficient file system called NTFS.  Again, look in Help.

When the machine runs out of memory (not hard disk space) it will do one of two things. Either it will freeze up or start to use an area of the hard disk called the Swap File.  If it is doing this a lot you will see the hard disk light flicker a great deal.  Having your PC move stuff in an out of the Swap file is a slow business.  It is worth having a look at it.  Go to Control Panel, System, Performance, Advanced and look at the Virtual Memory settings. It will probably say  'Let the computer decide the best settings' In ME and XP this will change 'dynamically' and you may get better performance by selecting 'Let me specify My Own Virtual Settings'.  Set the minimum to the size of your RAM and the Maximum should relate to the size of your hard disk.  So, if you have a lot of space you can set it to 4Gb or more.  In XP this area allows many changes which can improve performance, mainly by simplifying all the fancy things that it is set up to do by default. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance and Adjust for best performance.

Wot's in Startup, Doc ? Many people are very confused about the programs displayed in Startup (via Msconfig) and there is a better place where they can be seen much more clearly and full screen. Go Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System information, doble click Software Environment and click Startup Programs. Wait a second then, to see it full screen click the small square, top right.  You can't print this in a sensible format so you are back to writing things down. Now you are in a position to search for the ones you think are suspicious. One of the best sites for this is http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/search.php.

When you start up your machine you may find that it may load a number of programs automatically.  Naturally, all the program developers are keen for their program to be easily accessible and many try to get them installed at Startup.  Some will be running in the background but many show up as icons on the taskbar.  Those on the right on the bottom line take memory (resources), whereas those on the left do not. It is important to reduce the number which are loaded at startup.  In Windows 98 onwards this is done by running the program Msconfig, Startup and unticking unimportant things (see above).  Do leave on your anti virus software and firewall, Register checker and Systray but most of the rest can be unticked, including things like Real Player and any Office Suite programs.  If you want to use these they can be called up when required - not sitting there taking 'resources' and slowing up other processes

So, what is important ?  For any users I really do recommend that you look at the following site : http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/search.php  Make a note of the entries on the left of the Startup screen in Msconfig and search for each word in turn.  If it does not give you a clear indication of whether the program is unimportant, after visiting the Google link, leave it ticked

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So there are a few suggestions as to how to make the PC run a little faster.  In the end, though, you may have to bite the bullet, backup your important data, ensure you have original disks for your programs and drivers for the Sound, Graphics, Modem, Printers and all other peripherals and reformat the hard disk and re-install the whole thing. It is a mammoth task these days but in my view it results in a greater increase in speed (on a well used machine) than all the other ideas put together.

Another idea might be just to sell it to someone else and get a nice new one ! This is not as unkind as it sounds.  What to you may be an old, sluggish computer may be someone else's dream come true !  Think about it.  You can get a new one with faster chip, more memory, bigger hard drive and Windows XP for under £400 these days.  And your old one may be worth what... £125 ?  It may be time to bite the bullet

Speeding your Internet Connection You MUST at least have a modern 56k modem ( see here) but getting Broadband is the best way to speed your internet connection.  Prices for this have come down a lot. One solution which is said to improve internet browsing speeds is a program such as Onspeed.  This can be downloaded from www.computeractive.co.uk/downloads but it does cost money.This may not work with AOL but should help people on other ISP's by compressing graphics which you are viewing 'on the fly'.  I can't really recommend it from experience but some folk swear by it. But it does cost money.

n.b. If your machine seems sluggish occasionally make sure that it is not caused by your scheduled anti virus check going on in the background. Some, such as AVG are set to check the whole hard disk every time you start up.  Totally unnecessary.  Just rebooting the machine may bring it back up to speed.

Lastly, I get a lot of information from a site by Bob Rankin, who sits in California just trying to help people.  To read his article on speeding a computer click here.  Although this refers to an XP machine much of it applies to all Windows PCs

In fact I have just spent an age trying all of the above ideas to speed up a 200Mhz PC with Windows 98 loaded.  In the end the only thing that did the trick was reformatting it. 

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