I find myself helping others with their PC problems very often. Generally people don’t take care of their computers and over time they get bogged down with garbage (viruses, spyware, adware, cookies, temporary files, expired registry entries, etc.). Fortunately there are very simple methods and free tools available to address these issues, they just don’t know where to look or what to use. It’s even worse because sometimes programs that supposedly fix these issues actually cause even more problems. This is why they tend to come to me for help. So here’s my guide to quickly & easily fixing (speeding up) your slow PC.
Make sure you don’t have any viruses by installing & running AVG AntiVirus Free. Then I generally uninstall it once I’m done, since it tends to slow your computer’s boot time if you keep it running and annoys you with calls to action to upgrade to the paid version. Otherwise if you’re up to it you can always pay for the paid version, I’ve done so in the past.
Do the same thing with Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ so you get the advantage of both their libraries of potential viruses, spyware and adware software threats.
Install & run Piriform’s CCleaner Free. No need to uninstall this one, it won’t slow down your computer or harass you about upgrading to any degree of annoyance. Plus you’ll want to re-run this one often.
Create a free account on Soluto, install it & use it. Make sure to reboot after installation so it can tell you what is slowing your computer down the most and you can address it as you see fit. This product is super user-friendly and just plain awesome. No need to ever uninstall this one either.
- Windows System Configuration
Another quick way to boost your computer’s load time is to go to the start menu, type “run”, hit the enter key, type “msconfig” hit the enter key again. This will load a window in which you want to click on the “Startup” tab. In the “Startup” tab click “Disable All” and then hit the “Apply” button. This disables everything from auto-starting when your computer loads. Everything important will still startup again regardless.
- Windows Disk Cleanup
Next go to the start menu and search for “Disk Cleanup” and run this program built in to Windows 7 (if you have it) and follow the directions.
Finally read this guide from Windows on how to Optimize Windows for better performance and follow the instructions.
Once you’ve completed all of these steps your PC will be back in tip top shape! Congratulations it’s really that easy. Welcome back to your PC before it was loaded with garbage!
Any other great tips for fixing (speeding up) your slow PC? If so please share in the comments.
Awesome tips and softwares.
http://templendo.com/
Great article Andy!
So you’re suggesting installing an antivirus, running a full scan, making sure the PC’s clean, then uninstalling it again, all b/c it may slow your PC down…right?
Don’t know why I never thought of that, I figured I’d just use the anti-virus software that slowed down the PC the least.
Interesting.