Keep computer running smoothly!

Is your computer lagging and slowing down on you? If so here are a few things you can do to help keep your computer going smoothly and hopefully increase its speed.....
Tip 1: Remove unnecessary programs from your computer.
By removing a lot of software that is trial or demo software you will recover back needed space that your computer needs and even though that software isn't being used it is still using resources. Just be sure to only remove software you are sure your computer wont need and it might be wise to do a backup of your software just in case you accidentally remove something of importance.

Tip 2: Stop Programs from running on computer start-up.
By not having unwanted programs start when your computer does, you will decrease start-up time and also wont have many resources being used by your computer. This should keep things running smoothly. To change what starts up, go to Start, then go to "Run.."once you click it, a dialogue window will come up and in the text field type the following..... "msconfig" without quotation marks. Another window will come up called "System Configuration" once it comes up, navigate to the Startup tab. Go through and uncheck any programs that you do not want to start up. Once you do that and hit apply or ok you will have to restart your computer for the new settings to take affect.

Tip 3: Defragment your computer every month and be sure to schedule disk defrags.
By defragmenting your computer, you are moving files in order on your drive and it allows your computer to find things faster which should in turn boost your computer performance. To defragment your computer go to Start then look for "My Computer" click that and once the windows pops up, right-click on your primary drive, which will most likely be the "C:" drive. Then click on Properties on the context window that comes up. Another window will open up that will have several tabs. Go to the tab named "Tools" and look for the "Defragment now..." button. Click that and the defrag window will come up. Click on your primary drive and select Analyze and if it says it needs to be defragged then select defragment disk and it could take several minutes to hours depending on the fragmentation of your drive.

Tip 4: Remover junk and unwanted files of your computer.
Remove old files that you no longer need or use anymore such as pictures, videos and music files. These files are the most common ones to clutter up your drive and slow it down. Be sure to go through your computer at least yearly and clean it up. Be sure to remove temporary files and any other files that programs like to create when you use the internet as they accumulate and just slow down your computer. A good program that does this automatically for you is called CCleaner and can be found here. Be sure to run it every now and then.

Tip 5: Check your drive or drives for errors.
Run a disk check on your drives monthly to make sure that any errors can be taken care of and problems can be avoided in the future. To run a disk check, go to Start, My Computer, Right-click on your drive and go to properties then tools and select "check disk" Then check both boxes that you see and it will prompt you to restart your computer. Do that and allow the disk check to run. Should take about an hour or maybe more.

Tip 6: Clean Registry
Keeping your registry clean and less cluttered will increase performance and also removing bad or invalid registry entries will reclaim back some space. This should only be done by advanced users and backups of your registry should be made before attempting to clean it. Use the program mentioned above, CCleaner to automate this for you.

Tip 7: Use antivirus protection to remove any viruses
Be sure to get a free or spend some money on well known virus protecting software. Viruses can use a lot of resources and will slow down your computer greatly. By removing them and keeping them from your computer, you will keep your computer running smoothly.

Tip 8: Upgrade hardware and software.
If you have tried all these tips and then some and still no luck, it may be time for you to upgrade your hardware and software. Most likely hardware. Its better to spend a few bucks on some new and improved hardware rather than buy a whole new computer. Upgrade your RAM and possibly your hardrive or processor if you need to. Once you do that you should be running fast again and now you will be able to do more than your previous hardware. Also make sure to update your software. A lot of times software updates improve performance of the software and fix security issues which will keep things running smoothly.

Hope these tips helped you out. If I discover any more tips or anything I will be sure to post them here. Enjoy!