Slow computers can be caused by a variety of factors, some of which are normal and some of which are malicious. If your computer is starting to slow down and you want to speed it up, there are a few things you can do to increase its performance without spending a lot of time or money. The best part is that you don't have to be a computer expert to speed up your slow computer, but knowing some basics about computers will be helpful.

Remove Viruses

Run a virus scan of your computer and remove any infections that might be slowing down your computer. Viruses of all types can grind your computer to a halt if they aren't dealt with, and the best way to get rid of viruses is by using an anti-virus program on your computer. If you don't have an anti-virus program on your computer, you can use an online virus scanner like Trend Micro's HouseCall or the ESET Online Scanner. Both of these programs are free for personal use and run in a small web applet, so there's nothing to install on your computer. After you finish scanning your computer with an anti-virus program, use the Removal feature to either delete or quarantine any infections that are found. If your computer has a lot of viruses, removing them will dramatically improve its speed.

Defragment your hard drive

When files are stored on your computer, they are not arranged in an orderly fashion, so over time, the computer takes longer to locate files scattered randomly across the drive. Defragmenting the drive will clean up the files and make it so the computer can run faster. You can access the defragmentation tool in Windows by clicking on the Start button, going to All Programs, going to the Accessories section, clicking on System Tools and then on the Defragment application.

Remove unused programs on your computer.

When programs are on your computer, they not only take up disk space, but they also can sap the speed of your computer. Look at the list of installed programs (in Windows, open the Control Panel and access the Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features sections) and uninstall any that you don't use on a regular basis. If you don't need a piece of software on your computer, it will increase the speed of your machine if you uninstall it.

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Speed Up Your PC

Increase the Speed of Your Computer