Not So Daily Computer Tip #4

December 21st, 2009 | by snowman |

Today’s topic: Slow computer?

Hah, I’ll have a lot of fans of this post. Is your computer SLOW? Did it run hella fast when you bought it, but now you’ve had it for a year or two and now it runs so slow you can turn it on, go have breakfast and come back and it’s ALMOST done loading? If so, I can help.

Again, I say if it was hella fast when you bought it, there is hope. If it’s just slow because you have 10 year old hardware, go get a new computer.

There are 2 main reasons why your computer is slow.

(1) You have too much shit on it.
(2) You have too much shit on it.

Okay, okay. Mayyybe a hardware problem could be causing your slowness. Technically. But my answer to that is to replace whatever is failing. I’m not going to get into every single possible reason, because that would take forever, and that would be a million tips in one. Uhm, that and it’s late. What I want to do is to give you the easiest things you can fix yourself. There are three tools you need for this, and they’re already on your computer:

(1) Add/Remove Programs
(2) A Delete key on your keyboard
(3) A tool called: msconfig.exe

Ok, the first two are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll brief ‘em.

(1) Add/Remove Programs, located here: Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, then let the list loads. First part of my tip: Go in there and remove any programs that you know you don’t use anymore. Yep, just click Remove. If you don’t know what it is, don’t remove it… because I’m sure the minute you do, something will get screwed up and you’ll really have to call a tech (I take personal checks, BTW LOL).

(2) Delete key… this may not be an issue if you just don’t have that much stuff. Or if you just have a lotta files like music and such that takes up a lot of space. However, in general, it’s a good idea to keep at least 15-20% free space on your hard drive, no matter how large it is. The main reason why is once you start trying to store stuff in that last 15-20%, you may get some… “erratic” issues. I’ll just leave it at that. Oh, that and after you dip below 15% free space, Windows XP will no longer let you Defragment (that’s another daily tip probably coming soon). So delete things you don’t use any more.

(3) msconfig.exe–Ok, don’t freak out. To get there in Windows XP, just click on Start > Run. Type in msconfig.exe and click OK. To get there in Vista or Windows 7, just click Start, type in msconfig.exe and press Enter.

This opens the System Configuration Utility. Click on the “Startup” tab at the top. You’ll see a long list of checkboxes. I will give you a list of things you can uncheck, things that usually help to slow your computer down when it starts up.

jusched <– This is Java. Not necessary to start your computer.
Reader_sl <– This is Adobe Reader. Not necessary to start your computer.
quicktime All Programs > Startup and right-click and delete the stuff that’s in there.

That’s all for today, I know, it’s kind of a lot to throw, but hey, it really helps with performance issues. If you still have issues after doing this, it’s probably something else causing the issue.

Until next time, be safe!

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