How to speed up a computer running Windows XP / Windows Vista.

A couple of interesting articles over the last few days have inspired me to write a post about how i maintain a clean and speedy computer with the use of a few utilities. This article / blog post is going to provide yo with the knowledge to maintain a quick computer without that develops on your hard drive over time, but be warned it is vital that you understand what i am saying in this post, because failure to do the right things may lead to problems either immediately or in the future. If you are finding yourself with problems, please post a comment and i will try to help you out the best i can.

Where are your problems coming from?

The first thing i would like to mention is to forget the programs and “speed up your computer now” ads you find plastered over the internet. I will guarantee, that if you are clicking those ads, your computer it about ready to give up on you. These things will slow your computer down from the minute you click them and annoy you with pop-ups through your future computer use, unless you read on and learn.

How i speed up my computer and keep it safe.

There are only a handful of programs/ utilities that i use in order to keep my computer up to the play.

#1 – An Antivirus Program – AVG Antivirus (free)
#2 – Spybot – Search and destroy (free)
#3 – Windows MSCONFIG (free with windows xp / vista)

These 3 programs should be used on a regular basis to keep your computer from becoming infected with viruses, spyware, and unwanted ‘start-up’ programs. If you are only starting to look for solutions to fix your slow computer i have great news for you, you can begin to use these 3 utilities and find your computer a lot happier within about 2 hours!

Stage 1: AVG Antivirus

For people wanting a free anti virus program this would be the markets leading contender.

Step 1: If you don’t already have a copy of AVG Antivirus you can Download AVG Anti Virus Free Edition.
Step 2: Install AVG Antivirus.
Step 3: Update virus definitions, AVG should ask you to do this automatically. Before you do this make sure you have an active internet connection so that AVG has no problems communicating with its server.

Step4: If your computer is currently a little sluggish, you have completed downloading the latest virus definitions, you should do a full system scan now, which could take anywhere from 1/2 an hour to complete to 3 – 4 hours to completes. In rare cases it can take longer, but this all depends on how fast your computer is (age wise) and how much data you have on your system.

After the scan has completed, AVG will let you know what it has found and in most cases it will automatically delete the viruses from your computer.

Well Done, you are one step closer to speeding up your computer.

Stage 2: Spybot – Search and Destroy

This program is responsible for clearing out any spyware on your computer. For most people this will clear out most of the problems on their computer, with todays internet activity.

Spyware may not seem obvious, and can quite often appear to be useful to you, while in actual fact its slowing your computer down and probably causing issues with your other legitimate programs.

Step 1: If you don’t own a copy of Spybot – Search and Destroy, you can Download Spybot here.
Step 2: Install Spybot – Search and Destroy.
Step 3: Spybot will require you to run through a series of steps and you must then update spybot by clicking on ‘Searh for updates’ button.
Step 4: After you have updates Spybot and you have time to do a scan of your system, you can click the check from problems button, which will scan your system for spyware.
Step 5: Spybot will alarm you with the problems it has found and prompt you with a solution.

At this stage you should definitely have sped up your computer a great deal.

Welldone, you have completed Stage 2!.

Stage 3: MSCONFIG

This stage can be a little tricky, and if not done correctly you can make a mess of your computer. If you are a beginner computer user and are not entirely confident in your computer skills, i would stop here. Your computer is probably rid of most of the problems at this stage, and this stage will take you through some last minute tweaking.

For those that are still with me. Here is what you can do to stop unwanted programs from starting automatically when Windows XP / Vista starts up, if there are any left after your previous virus and spyware scans.

Step 1: Bring up a run command box. Start menu > Run.
Step 2: Type “msconfig” into the run box and hit the enter key on your keyword.
Step 3: Click on the startup tab as shown in the figure below.

MSCONFIG - How to speed up your computer!

Step 4: De-select all the programs that you do not want starting up when your computer starts.

If you are not sure about the program, it may be better to ignore that entry and carry on with the nest one.

Step 5: After you have De-selected the programs you would like to delete from the startup file you should click the ‘OK’ button and Restart windows to complete the changes to your start up file. After you have restarted your computer you will get a notice telling you that there has been a change to configuration etc, you will need to click ‘OK’ on this box as well.

Well done you have completed Stage 3!

Here is a more graphical indication of ‘How to use MSCONFIG in Windows XP and Vista’ when trying to speed up your computer that may help you a little better with this section of the tutorial.

The steps in this tutorial is exactly what i do on a regular basis whether my computer is running slowly or not. Just because your computer is not running sluggish or slow doesn’t mean that your computer is not infected with a nasty bug.

Tip of the day: Run through these steps at least once every 2 weeks for a more secure and speedy computer!

Read a related article about how to speed up your computer.

I hope this has been helpful to you. Please leave comments and feedback regarding this tutorial, and I will be sure to respond!