This is for computer geeks only! How do I make my PC faster without buying anything?

Question

I am pretty good with computers, but I have a desktop Windows XP computer and can't seem to figure out how to make it go faster. I could click on internet explorer and it takes like a whole 2-3 minutes just for it to come up. How can I make it faster? I use disk cleanup, scan disk, remove unusable programs, nothing works. (Any answers are great!)

Answer 1

2-3 minutes is a long time for IE to start up. If you have a relatively new computer, ie, 2-3 years old at most, this is totally unacceptable.



The easiest solution is to reformat the computer and reinstall the operating system. It is likely you have some kind of malware or spy-ware that is taking up system resources, and this should get rid of majority of the stuff. To try and diagonose and remove them is far too involved and usually the easiest solution is to reinstall windows (takes about an hour) and start over. But this will mean you will lose *everything* on your computer, so backup any key filed or data before you do so.



If formating is not an option, you can try a few tweeks that might help things speed up.



First off, change your homepage to something that is simpler, ie, www.google.com loads up quicker than www.yahoo.com as its smaller.



You can disable the indexing service in windows. This service creates a database of all the files on your system whenever your computer is idle. It can take up allot of resources. To disable it, go to the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs. Click the Add/Remove Window Components. Simply unclick the Indexing services and click next.



If you are still experincing problems you can do the tweeks suggested at the attached link.



Disclaimer

Most of these process are a bit invloved, if you dont feel confident with doing any of these, then dont. And if you do start, ensure you *backup* all your important irreplaceable stuff (your work, pictures, movies, music etc) before you even begin - just incase you foul things up.

Answer 2

Re-install the OS if you have if you have the disc, or if it is a retail computer with a restore partition use that to restore it to factory settings. back up anything you want to keep b4 you do this



If you don't want to to go this route the first thing you need to do is go to Start: Run: type: Msconfig: Click the Start Up Tab: Uncheck every single box in the list hit apply and re-start (none of these programs are required to run windows normally)



Download these 2 programs:



http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html



and



http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2008/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?tag=lst-1&cdlPid=10844457



after you install them restart the computer in safe mode (usually F8 as you boot to get to safe mode) and run a scan with both programs.



After that go to start/programs/accesories/system tools/disk defragmenter and defrag the harddrive (don't use the computer while this is being done or it will just keep restarting)



Depending on the motherboard your using there should be setting to Overclock your processor and ram to LITERALLY "speed up" your computer by making the hardware run faster than they where orginally set to by the factory, but overclocking is a bit of an art and takes some learning to know how to get it right and aftermarket cooling is required for a good OC



also use about:blank as your homepage and you won't have to wait for any site to load to get IE to open it will just be blank and you dont get the page cannot be displayed screen



make sure you have all your microsoft updates and sp's aswell

Answer 3

Myriad problems could plague a computer. Other than what you've done so far, you could scan for spyware or viruses (I recommend AVG as it scans for both) , you could defragment your hard drive (try looking for a custom one on majorgeeks.com) or you could purge various processes from your start up list.



In general, though, once you've installed an operating system it only gets worse as time goes on. Undertaking those measures may make things better, but in my experience the only way to keep you computer consistently fast is to reformat it once a year. As time goes on, more and more of your hard drive becomes impossible to defragment. Various non-fatal errors can accrue: unerased files, memory leaks, registry errors, etc. If you are in a position to reformat you computer, I strongly suggest doing it. Just save all your important files onto a flash drive/CD/DVD/other computer and then reformat with your Windows CD. But if that is not possible, try the things in the first paragraph.

Answer 4

Make sure you aren't infected with a virus by running a scan.



Then close your virus scanner. The most major drain on system resources is usually the virus scanner running in the background. I keep mine closed and run a scan weekly (Keep in mind that if you aren't careful this can leave you wide open to viral infection, i.e., if you do risky downloading).



Take unnecessary programs out of your system start up. In XP, you do this by clicking "start", then "run", then typing "msconfig." Go to the Services and Startup tabs, and remove anything that you don't want running. (A good start is to check "Hide All Microsoft Services" and then uncheck everything else.)



Run Glary Utilities. http://www.glaryutilities.com/ It's free, fast, and effective. It cleans the crap off of your computer for you.

Answer 5

1) go to my computer right click -> propertes -> advance tab (i think) under advance settings chage, windwos choose best to Fastest. that should help out some.

2) run AV/Spyware softwave (avg, avast are free)

3)Run Defarg

4) run something like CCleaner and remove the statup prgrams (some and needed so be carful) and in IE Remove uneeded extentsions(you can get there by going to internet propertys)

5) reinstall. (even those clean up programs leave somethings behind). It's recomended to be done anual. It's a pain yes but it helps.

Answer 6

It would help to know a little more infomation,like

How much system memory do you have 512MB, 1GB or more?

How big is the hard drive? And how much space is left on it?

What procesor do you have intel or amd?





Ways to make the computer fast without buy anything

1. Run disk cleanup

2. Run disk defrag

3. Uninstall programs you no longer use

4. Check for virus's.

5. Check for spyware



If you need more help let me know, otherwise go here

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/index.php

Answer 7

Check that you aren't infected; that can make you run slowly.



Don't run processes that you don't need, like the automatic update checkers for adobe, office, real player, hp products, etc.



But once you've done that, there's nothing to make you faster except more memory. You didn't post how much you have, but you want 1Gb for xp now.

Answer 8

Don't run so many programs at once and wait for a computer or laptop to load. Don't click so many times and double-click to see if it pops out. Hope it helps!

Answer 9

My computer is cleaned out and I have the same problem with IE.I just use it when I need to, I got firefox as my main browser,and there is a world of difference.I had lots of problems with version 3,so I use version 2,but maybe you won't.www.mozilla.com