By: Stephen Drummonsy
Submitted: 2010-06-09 08:46:52 | Word Count: 797
In part one we mentioned a few good techniques to speed up the running of your PC or Laptop.
I will now discuss some other techniques to give it an added turn of speed.
3. Run your Anti-virus software or install a new one
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If your PC is running very slowly you may just have a PC virus. Viruses, Trojans, worms and spyware all take up important system resources. Assuming you have some Anti-Virus software, open it up and let it perform a check. Follow the instructions if it detects something.
In a lot of cases Anti-virus software by itself is the reason for slow running of your PC. Let me tell you a little about Anti-Virus software for the reason that I used to work at a major AV company. If you only possess one PC, your subjection to viruses and other malware is very small. You are wasting your money by purchasing any commercial AV software for your own PC. McAfee (worst), Norton, Panda, Trend, Kaspersky (better) - they are all a waste of money. They use a ludicrous amount of the resources of your PC for what they accomplish. Which most of the time is very modest. Use free AV software such as AVG or Avast. They are much lighter and efficient anyway.
So, to get some more pace out of your PC, uninstall your paid for AV program and install a lighter version.
4. Install more Random Access Memory (RAM)
Random Access Memory or Ram is the short term memory your PC uses for operation programs and saving information temporarily to enable it to perform a task. As you’ll find RAM on a chip, it has no moving parts - and this makes it very fast. However, when Windows uses up all of the accessible RAM, it writes information onto the hard disk in a temporary file. Hard disks physically spin and as a result are much slower at recording the information.
So, increase the RAM and speed up your PC. It’s a straight forward process and RAM a relatively cheap. Go to your PC manufacturer’s website for more information on how to set up new RAM.
5. Dust and clean your PC
Heat is a major problem for desktops. In fact getting rid of the heat is a foremost headache for PC chip manufacturers - but that is a technical discussion beyond our remit here (or my intelligence!). The noisiest part of your PC is the fan. The fan dissipates the heat created by the CPU. Your computer will be slow and sluggish if it’s overheating. So once you have unplugged the PC and ideally earthed yourself, remove the cover of your PC and give the inside a good dusting. You can use a can of compressed air - if you have one - or a hair dryer - just don’t put it too near the mechanism and melt them.
Your PC should be placed in a cool position and its air vents should not be blocked.
6. Finally
There are numerous other things you can do to boost the speed of your Computer. Update your hardware drivers, replace and upgrade your graphics card or even run diagnostic software such as (processlibrary.com). If you are a real speed nut you can get involved in CPU over clocking and water cooling packages. But if you follow steps 1 to 5, that is where you’ll see the major improvements in the speed of your laptop.
Bear in mind, computers and laptops get old fast. Unfortunately software gets bigger, more awkward and uses more resources every year. So, it may very well be that the new version of Adobe Air will use a lot more system resources than the last version, thus slowing down your computer.
Personally I think most PCs and Laptops are obsolete after 2 years and that is when I upgrade mine. I don’t usually purchase expensive high grade Laptops or PCs for that reason. Unless you are in a trade with high system requirements like a video editing or graphic design, using your PC for gaming, are very rich, or someone else is paying - do not spend more than £400 on a laptop or £500 on a desktop. you’ll never get to use most of its resources anyway.
Author Resource:-
I have put together this article to enhance part 1 and to point out some of the main ways to improve the speed of your computer. I hope it has at least helped a few of you out. This is my own personal way of speeding up my laptop and it has worked for me. Good luck.
