How To Speed Up My Computer? Easy!

How To Speed Up My Computer? Easy!

by Peter S. Smith

    Having a slow PC can be a big inconvenience today. When your computer speed is half of what it used to be, and your computer performance is below average, it feels like the world has come to an end - not to mention the fact that your operating system seems to run in slow motion, and the peak performance you need isn't attained. The question on your mind is, "How can I speed up my computer?" Continue reading this article, as it provides you with various tips and tricks that will boost your PC speed.

   

    Let's start with the beginning. When you shut down your computer, an error message might appear on your screen. This should not be overlooked, as it provides you with information about the program or programs that don't run properly. Since Windows Vista and Windows XP are the operating systems used by most users, we'll focus on them in this article.

   

    Now, you might think that computer optimization is difficult. It's not! Really, calling technical support is not needed as you can fix your slow computer by yourself at home in no time! Even if your computer runs dramatically slow, you can tweak its computer performance! So, here's what you need to know:

   

    If a computer using a Windows operating system runs slow, don't blame Microsoft. It's true that no Windows is perfect, and XP and Vista are not an exception. However, it's easy to fix the problems. First of all, Windows has a great flaw - its registry system. Basically, when your computer is overcrowded with programs - including trials that automatically install virus spyware, junk files, and unused startup programs - registry errors start to show up. Basically, all those programs cram up RAM memory, and this leads to slow processes, which leads to a slow system performance. Don't worry, running a registry cleaner program will help you free up some RAM, and you'll get improved performance and a faster computer.

   

    Now, another thing you should be aware of, is that an Internet connection enabled means that your computer might have some adware and spyware programs on it - these usually come with free trials. The greater the number of programs you installed on your Windows OS, the slower things will move, as Windows speed is directly proportional with the number of running programs.

   

    To make a long story short, here's what you need to do if you want to have a faster PC:     1. In extreme cases, use Windows Restore and restore to a time when your computer didn't run slow. You can do this in XP by clicking start, accessories, system tools, system restore. It's similar in Vista.     2. Download a registry cleaner program that will get rid of the uninstalled programs that occupy registry space for nothing and also trial programs that expired and slow down our PC     3. Defragment your drives using Window's defrag tool     4. Use an antivirus software and scan your PC for viruses.     5. Restart your PC and enjoy the new high performance computer that's on your desktop!

   

    More Information:     Visit the following link for more information and tips on how to speed up your computer.

Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article203071.html

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How To Choose A New Hard Drive For Your Computer

How to Choose a New Hard Drive for Your Computer

by Peter Stewart

If you are running out of space on your computer or find that programs load a little slow, or that big files take a long time to open, it may be time for a new hard drive.

Making a more careful decision about the hard drive can mean a much longer working life for the hard drive. Better reliability, allowing the hard drive to run for many years without mechanical failures or the worst of all, losing your precious data to errors on the drive.

Obviously the main thing that people think about when getting a new drive is size. Although a 400GB drive sounds great, there are very few people who actually use this much space. Only if you save DVD movies to your hard drive, or if you do serious amounts of video editing will you need this much space. The smallest size drives available today are about 40GB and will suffice for all your needs. However, if you want the latest technologies, bigger sizes are inevitable.

Over the years the speed at which hard drives work has increased. One of the main technologies to improve is the connection between the hard drive and the rest of the computer. It passes the information back and forth from the hard drive, the faster it is the faster information can be passed, and so speeding up the programs you use and the files you use.

There are 2 main varieties for this connection:

The old IDE kind, which comes in 4 flavors: ATA33, ATA66, ATA100 and ATA133, each number corresponding to the transfer rate in MB/s, the bigger the faster. This type is pretty standard. If your computer is older, you may only be able to use this kind, and depending how old will determine which speed.

SATA is a newer kind. It uses a different cable and allows much faster information transfer. The slower kind is 150MB/s and the faster is 300MB/s, so they are much faster than IDE.

A newer technology called Native Command Queuing (NCQ) speeds up how fast things are found and done on the hard drive. Just briefly, it orders the read and write commands given to it in such as way as to get the tasks done quicker and with less delay.

Drives are most often separated by their size and this is a big factor in the pricing of a drive. The smallest drives today are around 40GB, you can get a little smaller, but no point really. The largest of 400GB will be enough for a really long time.

The other thing that affects pricing is the rotation speed, which is the speed at which the big disk spins inside the disk drive. The faster it spins the faster information gets found. Look for rotation speeds of 7200RPM as standard and 10000 for the fast end.

With all of this it may be hard to decide, but here are my suggestions.

For a main drive, which has your Windows and programs on it, go for something faster, but bear in mind that even for me my ATA66 drive is fast enough for my uses. But a faster one will speed up how fast your programs go. It might be a good idea just to go for one big, fast drive.

Brand name drives are often worth getting, as manufacturers like Seagate, Maxtor and Western Digital are well-known for long lasting quality products, which will not make any difference in the short term usually, but will pay off with long life and reliability.

If you want or need two drives the second one can sacrifice speed for size, as that's what's most often needed for a second drive, which usually stores all your information.

You should now have enough to make a smart choice in your next hard drive purchase. A good one can be kept for a very long time and minimize any hassles in the future.

Peter Stewart is a computer enthusiast, his interest in computers and focus on practical down to earth advice inspired his two websites.

http://www.computer-buying-guide.com - Practical buying tips

http://www.computer-reviews.net - Fair and honest reviews and opinions

Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article33717.html

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How to Increase Internet Bandwidth Speed

Getting slow internet speed is unliked by almost everyone. If you are noticing that your connection and download speed is slower than expected. There may be various reasons for slowing down you connection speed.

• May be you are not receiving the bandwidth same as provided by your ISP.
• May be your connection is loose or connection range is not good.
• May be virus or malicious software affecting and slowing you computer.

You should contact your ISP for live support and make sure that you are receiving the bandwidth provided by ISP without interruption.   

Here is simple step you can check out so you can increase your speed upto 20%.

1. Go to Start and click All Programs 

2. Select Accessories then click on RUN.

3. Type gpedit.msc (this will work for XP Professional, if home XP then you have to access mmc and  go to local computer policy)

4. Click the plus next to the Administrative Templates under computer configuration.

5. Click the plus next to Network.

6. Click on-QoS Packet Scheduler.

7. Over in the window DOUBLE CLICK Limit Reservable Bandwidth.

8. It should say NOT CONFIGURED. Change this by selecting the box                   ENABLED. 

  9. Then change the 20 to 0. Now select OK and reboot your computer.

Now you can have 20% faster bandwidth than your available bandwidth.

Other Tips

• Make sure that your internet cable should not exceed 60 meter to internet device or connection point so get good connection.Shorter the cable better the connection. If you have WIFI it should be in range.
• Turn Off Your Windows Update and Other Automatic Update programs. They may consume bandwidth because they automatically download the update file.
• Delete unnecessary and temporary Files .
• Desable toolbar and unnecessary add ons. 
• Use turbo browser i.e. enable opera turbo other other fast browsers.
• P2P software like Bit Torrent makes browsing slow because they take the available bandwidth while downloading huge files. Download should be scheduled or paused while browsing. 
• Use Internet Download Manager (IDM) if you want be amazed by getting download speed beyond your bandwidth speed provided by ISP

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