- May 23, 2013
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How to Speed up a computer?
----------------------------------
When it comes to computing, perhaps the most commonly asked question is "How to speed up my computer"?
Well, everyone has their own unique way of answering this question. Each person answers by representing their own software company or by representing the software that they are a fan of. For example, a Microsoft technician could say, "Use our free anti-virus program namely Microsoft Security Essentials to clean your computer". Well, yes, MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) does have low system resource usage, but tests from different sources says us that its detection rate is nothing to approve of.
Today, after going through most reviews and methods from different users and companies, I have found out the best ways one can use to keep his/her computer running at peak performance.
Eliminate Malware
--------------------
Every computer user knows about viruses. Well, most of them do. You probably have an AV (Anti-Virus) software and you think you are fully protected. But I doubt this and this statement needs verification. Now lets talk about the prevention of malware (a term for every type of dangerous files out there). You probably know that. But before beginning, know this- no av software is perfect!
You might be thinking that- what is the need of talking about malware and all this stuff in this article? Well, lets start from the basics- malware (or virus, if you prefer) is a file that injects a malicious (dangerous or harmful) code into a computer which commands the computer to do something bad and nasty like stealing your personal files, decreasing performance of the computer, showing useless adverts and even steal all the passwords stored in the infected computer. There are many types of malware, such as:
>>Trojan Horse: A program that pretends to be doing something legitimate or good (like installing a legitimate program), but in the background it does something else, something nasty like allowing a hacker to access the computer without informing the user and of course, without the user's content. Very similar to the Trojan Horse the Greeks gifted to the city of Troy. It pretended to be doing something good (a gift to Athena), but in the night, the Greeks inside the horse came out and murdered the Trojans.
>>Spyware: A program that does what its name says- spies on the user- the passwords he types, the credit card information he types, etc. and sends the information to a hacker. If very personal information is sent, it could be your nightmare and it could also ruin your reputation.
>>Riskware: Probably why the Eliminate Malware section is included in this article. Riskware injects different types of malicious codes into a computer, codes which greatly reduce a system's performance.
>> Ransomware: The worst type of virus one can get. It locks your computer and asks you to
pay the maker of the virus a ransom fee to unlock the computer. The fee should be paid within a specific time, otherwise all information stored in the infected computer will be deleted.
Now that you have a basic idea about malware, lets start talking about how to fix it.
Anti-Virus Software
The first defensive shield to protect your computer from viruses should be a nice anti-virus program. it scans every file you execute, run or modify, or every file that are run by the computer's system for any dangerous code in the file. This is called real-time scanning. If it is found to be dangerous, it is removed, disinfected or stored in a virus chest or quarantine. (A place where viruses are stored, a place from where the virus cannot access the files of the computer and therefore cannot harm it). Do not use more than one AV software because it may reduce performance by a lot. There are many anti-virus softwares out there, some fake, some good, some excellent, some average, some bad and some terrible. My recommendation:
Paid anti-virus:
Paid antivirus software provide more protection than the free versions, but you need a license for using it which should be bought annually.
My recommended paid antivirus: Bitdefender Internet Security
Search a computer store to buy it, or search for it on Google for more information.
Free AntiVirus:
Free antivirus software provide less protection than a paid one, but you don't need to buy a license every year.
My recommended free antivirus: Avast Free Antivirus (www.avast.com)
or
Avira Free Antivirus (www.avira.com)
After you install any one of these software in your computer, be sure to update it, so that it can catch the latest malware, and then run a full system scan to search for malware and deal with it.
Second Option Scanners (Anti-Malware)
If you think that your computer still has a hidden virus infection in it which the anti-virus software can't detect, use any of these free scanners to catch and remove these viruses.
These scanners can detect more deeply hidden malware than anti-virus software cannot detect, but it does not have a real time scanning feature. So, don't consider it as an replacement for anti-virus software.
My recommended anti-malware softwares:
Detection Rate:
Hitman Pro (free 30 day trial for removing malware, infinite scanning) 98.8%
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free (infinite removing and scanning) 97.0%
Emsisoft Emergency Kit (infinite removing and scanning) 96.52%
All these software have excellent detection rate. Don't think that Hitman Pro is very much better and superior than Emsisoft Emergency Kit- they both have a stunningly excellent detection rate.
To download, just search it in Google. Unlike AV software, having more than one anti-malware software will not harm your computer.
I think it is time to conclude the first step, which is Cleaning and Removing Malware from your computer.
Removing junk files and tune-up
------------------------------------
You have probably seen ads or TV commercials of PC cleaning software which will "clean your computer so that it runs smoothly and fast". Lies! All these software does is that it scans your computer for what they call "errors" and report that 4000 "errors" have been found. 4000 is a very alarming number isn't it? Then it demands you to buy their product for a very high price and "fix" some non-existant errors (Well, at least most of the errors are fake). Don't buy these software, or even try them. I will show you how to really find real errors and fix them.
Cleaning Junk Files
Every time you go to a website or launch an application in your computer, it creates some logs and files which are used while you are in that particular website or running that app.
These logs and files become useless when the website or application is closed. But these logs and files still remain in your hard-drive, therefore wasting its space. I have found two great and free software you can use to clean these files:
CCleaner: www.piriform.com/ccleaner
EasyCleaner: Link removed by Saga Lout - direct links to downloads are potentially dangerous.
First launch CCleaner and press the analyze button to scan for unneded files. Then click Run Cleaner to clean these files.
Then launch EasyCleaner. First press Registry. Click find to search for some Registry Errors. After scanning finishes, click Delete all. Press Yes to confirm Easy Cleaner to clean the registry. Now click close. In the Easy Cleaner main window, click on Unnecessary. Press Find to search for junk files. After scanning completes, press Delete all to remove these files from your computer. Press Yes to confirm. Now click on Close. In the Easy Cleaner main window, click on Shortcuts. Click find to search for invalid shortcuts which can cause errors. After scanning finishes, click Delete all to delete the invalid shortcuts. Press Yes to confirm Easy Cleaner. Now, click Close.
Once the business is done with CCleaner and Easy Cleaner, lets move onto other tune-up options.
Download a software called Defraggler from: www.piriform.com/defraggler
This software will defragment your computer's hard disks.
As you use your computer, programs store data in your computer, but not in an organized way. It just stores it in fragments to wherever it can. So, the next time you run that program, it has to search for that fragment, so it takes a much longer time to load applications. Defraggler arranges these fragments in order so that, whenever you run that program again, it doesn't have to search everywhere for it. Defragmenting your hard-drive can greatly reduce loading times.
Run Defraggler. select the disk labeled with C:/ and then click analyze. The analysis report will show how much data fragmentation is present on the disk. Click Defrag to reorganize the files in your disk.
Enabling multiple cores processors to unleash its true power and disabling unneeded startup items:
If you have a dual cored or quad cored processor, you can greatly increase your system performance at the expense of power consumption by doing this trick.
By default, Windows operating systems disable all 2 or all 4 processors to run in a system to conserve power and prevent overheating. You can change these settings if you want, but be aware of the consequences!
Click on start, type msconfig and then hit enter.
A window will pop up. Click on Boot. Then click on the Advanced Options button. Now tick the check-box next to Number of Processors. Click on the little arrow under Number of Processors and then click on the highest number you get. Click Ok. Close the msconfig window and restart your PC.
By default, if you install an application, if it can do so, it will automatically launch at startup. This greatly slows down the speed of Windows startup. Open the msconfig windows again and click on Startup.
Uncheck the unneeded applications in this list. Do not uncheck any AV services or graphics card (Intel, Nvidia, ATI or AMD) services. Click Ok and then restart your PC.
Disabling unneeded Windows aero effects:
Windows 7 is included with many effects such as aero glass, transparency and animation while closing, maximizing or minimizing windows. These effects may look beautiful, but it eats up a lot of R.A.M. and greatly decreases computer performance. Disabling these effects should save a lot of R.A.M. and significantly increase your computer's performance.
Right-Click on any empty part of the desktop and click Personalize. Under Basic and High Contrast themes, click Windows Basic.
Increasing Virtual Memory Size:
Have you ever wondered what Windows does when it runs out of memory? It uses your Hard-Drive as R.A.M. There is always a limit to how much space of the hard drive is used by Windows as R.A.M. Increasing this size can result in improvements in performance.
Click Start, right-click on Computer and click Properties. On the left pane, click on Advanced System Settings. This should open up the System Properties window. Click on Settings under Performance. Now click on Advanced and then click change. This is the place where you can change the amount of virtual memory which is used by Windows. By default, you cannot change the settings. Uncheck the tick box next to Automatically manage paging file size for all drives. Click on the small circle next to custom size. Then change the value of Initial size and Maximum size to your desired value. I recommend:
Divide the amount of space available in the drive by 2. This gives you the Initial Size.
Add 70 to the Initial Size. This gives you the Maximum Size.
Click Ok, again click Ok in the Performance Options window, and one more time click Ok in the System Properties windows to close it. Restart your computer to apply the changes.
I guess then, this is it. I have described every reliable method I know that can increase the performance of your computer. Hopefully, after you boot back to your computer, it will be running much faster. Thank you for reading my article, and good-bye!
Extra Tags:
How to speed up my PC?, Speed up, How to speed up my laptop?, How to increase FPS, Computers, How to speed up my computer?, How to increase gaming performance, Slow windows 7, Why is my computer running slow? ,Windows 7, Why is my PC running slow?, Slow windows startup, Slow computer
----------------------------------
When it comes to computing, perhaps the most commonly asked question is "How to speed up my computer"?
Well, everyone has their own unique way of answering this question. Each person answers by representing their own software company or by representing the software that they are a fan of. For example, a Microsoft technician could say, "Use our free anti-virus program namely Microsoft Security Essentials to clean your computer". Well, yes, MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) does have low system resource usage, but tests from different sources says us that its detection rate is nothing to approve of.
Today, after going through most reviews and methods from different users and companies, I have found out the best ways one can use to keep his/her computer running at peak performance.
Eliminate Malware
--------------------
Every computer user knows about viruses. Well, most of them do. You probably have an AV (Anti-Virus) software and you think you are fully protected. But I doubt this and this statement needs verification. Now lets talk about the prevention of malware (a term for every type of dangerous files out there). You probably know that. But before beginning, know this- no av software is perfect!
You might be thinking that- what is the need of talking about malware and all this stuff in this article? Well, lets start from the basics- malware (or virus, if you prefer) is a file that injects a malicious (dangerous or harmful) code into a computer which commands the computer to do something bad and nasty like stealing your personal files, decreasing performance of the computer, showing useless adverts and even steal all the passwords stored in the infected computer. There are many types of malware, such as:
>>Trojan Horse: A program that pretends to be doing something legitimate or good (like installing a legitimate program), but in the background it does something else, something nasty like allowing a hacker to access the computer without informing the user and of course, without the user's content. Very similar to the Trojan Horse the Greeks gifted to the city of Troy. It pretended to be doing something good (a gift to Athena), but in the night, the Greeks inside the horse came out and murdered the Trojans.
>>Spyware: A program that does what its name says- spies on the user- the passwords he types, the credit card information he types, etc. and sends the information to a hacker. If very personal information is sent, it could be your nightmare and it could also ruin your reputation.
>>Riskware: Probably why the Eliminate Malware section is included in this article. Riskware injects different types of malicious codes into a computer, codes which greatly reduce a system's performance.
>> Ransomware: The worst type of virus one can get. It locks your computer and asks you to
pay the maker of the virus a ransom fee to unlock the computer. The fee should be paid within a specific time, otherwise all information stored in the infected computer will be deleted.
Now that you have a basic idea about malware, lets start talking about how to fix it.
Anti-Virus Software
The first defensive shield to protect your computer from viruses should be a nice anti-virus program. it scans every file you execute, run or modify, or every file that are run by the computer's system for any dangerous code in the file. This is called real-time scanning. If it is found to be dangerous, it is removed, disinfected or stored in a virus chest or quarantine. (A place where viruses are stored, a place from where the virus cannot access the files of the computer and therefore cannot harm it). Do not use more than one AV software because it may reduce performance by a lot. There are many anti-virus softwares out there, some fake, some good, some excellent, some average, some bad and some terrible. My recommendation:
Paid anti-virus:
Paid antivirus software provide more protection than the free versions, but you need a license for using it which should be bought annually.
My recommended paid antivirus: Bitdefender Internet Security
Search a computer store to buy it, or search for it on Google for more information.
Free AntiVirus:
Free antivirus software provide less protection than a paid one, but you don't need to buy a license every year.
My recommended free antivirus: Avast Free Antivirus (www.avast.com)
or
Avira Free Antivirus (www.avira.com)
After you install any one of these software in your computer, be sure to update it, so that it can catch the latest malware, and then run a full system scan to search for malware and deal with it.
Second Option Scanners (Anti-Malware)
If you think that your computer still has a hidden virus infection in it which the anti-virus software can't detect, use any of these free scanners to catch and remove these viruses.
These scanners can detect more deeply hidden malware than anti-virus software cannot detect, but it does not have a real time scanning feature. So, don't consider it as an replacement for anti-virus software.
My recommended anti-malware softwares:
Detection Rate:
Hitman Pro (free 30 day trial for removing malware, infinite scanning) 98.8%
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free (infinite removing and scanning) 97.0%
Emsisoft Emergency Kit (infinite removing and scanning) 96.52%
All these software have excellent detection rate. Don't think that Hitman Pro is very much better and superior than Emsisoft Emergency Kit- they both have a stunningly excellent detection rate.
To download, just search it in Google. Unlike AV software, having more than one anti-malware software will not harm your computer.
I think it is time to conclude the first step, which is Cleaning and Removing Malware from your computer.
Removing junk files and tune-up
------------------------------------
You have probably seen ads or TV commercials of PC cleaning software which will "clean your computer so that it runs smoothly and fast". Lies! All these software does is that it scans your computer for what they call "errors" and report that 4000 "errors" have been found. 4000 is a very alarming number isn't it? Then it demands you to buy their product for a very high price and "fix" some non-existant errors (Well, at least most of the errors are fake). Don't buy these software, or even try them. I will show you how to really find real errors and fix them.
Cleaning Junk Files
Every time you go to a website or launch an application in your computer, it creates some logs and files which are used while you are in that particular website or running that app.
These logs and files become useless when the website or application is closed. But these logs and files still remain in your hard-drive, therefore wasting its space. I have found two great and free software you can use to clean these files:
CCleaner: www.piriform.com/ccleaner
EasyCleaner: Link removed by Saga Lout - direct links to downloads are potentially dangerous.
First launch CCleaner and press the analyze button to scan for unneded files. Then click Run Cleaner to clean these files.
Then launch EasyCleaner. First press Registry. Click find to search for some Registry Errors. After scanning finishes, click Delete all. Press Yes to confirm Easy Cleaner to clean the registry. Now click close. In the Easy Cleaner main window, click on Unnecessary. Press Find to search for junk files. After scanning completes, press Delete all to remove these files from your computer. Press Yes to confirm. Now click on Close. In the Easy Cleaner main window, click on Shortcuts. Click find to search for invalid shortcuts which can cause errors. After scanning finishes, click Delete all to delete the invalid shortcuts. Press Yes to confirm Easy Cleaner. Now, click Close.
Once the business is done with CCleaner and Easy Cleaner, lets move onto other tune-up options.
Download a software called Defraggler from: www.piriform.com/defraggler
This software will defragment your computer's hard disks.
As you use your computer, programs store data in your computer, but not in an organized way. It just stores it in fragments to wherever it can. So, the next time you run that program, it has to search for that fragment, so it takes a much longer time to load applications. Defraggler arranges these fragments in order so that, whenever you run that program again, it doesn't have to search everywhere for it. Defragmenting your hard-drive can greatly reduce loading times.
Run Defraggler. select the disk labeled with C:/ and then click analyze. The analysis report will show how much data fragmentation is present on the disk. Click Defrag to reorganize the files in your disk.
Enabling multiple cores processors to unleash its true power and disabling unneeded startup items:
If you have a dual cored or quad cored processor, you can greatly increase your system performance at the expense of power consumption by doing this trick.
By default, Windows operating systems disable all 2 or all 4 processors to run in a system to conserve power and prevent overheating. You can change these settings if you want, but be aware of the consequences!
Click on start, type msconfig and then hit enter.
A window will pop up. Click on Boot. Then click on the Advanced Options button. Now tick the check-box next to Number of Processors. Click on the little arrow under Number of Processors and then click on the highest number you get. Click Ok. Close the msconfig window and restart your PC.
By default, if you install an application, if it can do so, it will automatically launch at startup. This greatly slows down the speed of Windows startup. Open the msconfig windows again and click on Startup.
Uncheck the unneeded applications in this list. Do not uncheck any AV services or graphics card (Intel, Nvidia, ATI or AMD) services. Click Ok and then restart your PC.
Disabling unneeded Windows aero effects:
Windows 7 is included with many effects such as aero glass, transparency and animation while closing, maximizing or minimizing windows. These effects may look beautiful, but it eats up a lot of R.A.M. and greatly decreases computer performance. Disabling these effects should save a lot of R.A.M. and significantly increase your computer's performance.
Right-Click on any empty part of the desktop and click Personalize. Under Basic and High Contrast themes, click Windows Basic.
Increasing Virtual Memory Size:
Have you ever wondered what Windows does when it runs out of memory? It uses your Hard-Drive as R.A.M. There is always a limit to how much space of the hard drive is used by Windows as R.A.M. Increasing this size can result in improvements in performance.
Click Start, right-click on Computer and click Properties. On the left pane, click on Advanced System Settings. This should open up the System Properties window. Click on Settings under Performance. Now click on Advanced and then click change. This is the place where you can change the amount of virtual memory which is used by Windows. By default, you cannot change the settings. Uncheck the tick box next to Automatically manage paging file size for all drives. Click on the small circle next to custom size. Then change the value of Initial size and Maximum size to your desired value. I recommend:
Divide the amount of space available in the drive by 2. This gives you the Initial Size.
Add 70 to the Initial Size. This gives you the Maximum Size.
Click Ok, again click Ok in the Performance Options window, and one more time click Ok in the System Properties windows to close it. Restart your computer to apply the changes.
I guess then, this is it. I have described every reliable method I know that can increase the performance of your computer. Hopefully, after you boot back to your computer, it will be running much faster. Thank you for reading my article, and good-bye!
Extra Tags:
How to speed up my PC?, Speed up, How to speed up my laptop?, How to increase FPS, Computers, How to speed up my computer?, How to increase gaming performance, Slow windows 7, Why is my computer running slow? ,Windows 7, Why is my PC running slow?, Slow windows startup, Slow computer
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