tips on how to make a computer faster

[the1337]

hello my older bro bought me a dell last year and my friends told me that its slow, they told me to defrag it and i did. are the any iother steps that i can do without buying new stuff? thanks,.

[Vince]

Upgrade the ram. How much RAM is currently installed? You should consider upgrading to atleast 1gb, but that can be dependent on your motherboard. I upped my laptop from 256 to 1.24GB and it SCREAMS now.
Also run a whole suit of anti-virus and spyware and make sure it's all cleaned up.

[the1337]

i have 200gb of memory it syas in the sticker

[mikepesikan]

You may need a better video card

[Special Ringpop]

Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Clean Up. Run that and check every box.

Also, check out Lavasoft Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy. These will find and eliminate spyawre that potentially jeopordizes your security, and slows your computer down.

Also, if you have a lot of programs on the bottom right hand corner of your screen, close them if they arent needed (same goes for the quick launch bar).

Also, RAM may be a factor, but that's kinda expensive.

[the1337]

ok i did that disk clean up. i have no programs open except firefox but when i try to minimize it takes 2-5 seconds before it minimizes. when im on a different computer their comptuers are fast and mine is slow

[the1337]

also how do you download faster because hwen my bro and sister are home and i download in their computer mine is slower than theirs

[moxom]

Originally Posted by the1337

i have 200gb of memory it syas in the sticker

You don't have 200 GB of RAM. That's your hard drive capacity before formatting.
On the desktop, right-click My Computer>Properties.
The General tab will tell you the processor type and speed and the amount of RAM you have installed.

[20strong]

if you have all of your stuff backed up on a external hd just put in the recovery disk and return it to factory. Make sure that you have all of your additional software before using recovery cause it takes the computer back to factory settings and deletes everything else. Then you can reload what you use now and you will get rid of any programs that you may not use anymore. There is alot of procceses that run in the backround I think. I am not a comp. tech or anything but I found that this worked well for me.

[the1337]

what??! i have to do that?! everytime my computer is slow?? cant the re be any other way and i went to a website for a speed test it says i only have a 2mbps connection but when im on my bros and sisters comptuers its more than 10mbps

[Vince]

the1337 knows dick about computers



(sorry I couldn't resist)

[new06Civic]

Originally Posted by the1337

hello my older bro bought me a dell last year and my friends told me that its slow, they told me to defrag it and i did. are the any iother steps that i can do without buying new stuff? thanks,.

If you are not a computer savy, you can use PCONPOINT to fix errors and registry.

There are some occasions, spyware and virus slow down your PC. You can use HijackThis to eliminate spyware and virus, and you need some computer skill to do this.

Another thing, you can clean up the temporary file after you stop surfing the net. You can use Ccleaner to clean temporary files.

[new06Civic]

Originally Posted by Vince

the1337 knows dick about computers



(sorry I couldn't resist)

Take it easy on the kid bud! Haven't you noticed his age? He is learning.

[the1337]

hey thanks! those are free progras right?" nice. i jsut downloded it but im having a problem with hijackit, which one should i remove and which one should i not remove. thanks.

[20strong]

Originally Posted by the1337

what??! i have to do that?! everytime my computer is slow?? cant the re be any other way and i went to a website for a speed test it says i only have a 2mbps connection but when im on my bros and sisters comptuers its more than 10mbps

Not everytime its slow. I do mine once a year.

[mikepesikan]

You could try un-installing all old software that you dont use, then De-frag again.

[JeShUa]

have someone in person help you (do it for you).. check your ram and upgrade that.. the internet doesn't really rely on your computer speed.. you can have like a 10 yr old computer that takes like a minute to get Firefox running.. but when it does.. that t1 connection kicks in and you're surfing quick ;].. so yeah.. are you on wireless internet and they're hardwire? Hmm... what instances is your computer 'slow', doing what operations.. I don't think that you really need to upgrade anything if you're just web searching... base model 5 years ago is more than adequate...

[the1337]

yeah i think my older sis installed a wireless adapter at the back so now my computer has an antennae. no ones hoem right now except me and my lil bro. i just want all my programs to start really fast and i want everything to download really fast because i download animes.

[SiRyan]

Originally Posted by new06Civic

Take it easy on the kid bud! Haven't you noticed his age? He is learning.

I think he is really a she. Her name is Tiffy.

[new06Civic]

Originally Posted by the1337

yeah i think my older sis installed a wireless adapter at the back so now my computer has an antennae. no ones hoem right now except me and my lil bro. i just want all my programs to start really fast and i want everything to download really fast because i download animes.

It can be your wireless router and adapter slowing your net surfing speed. I like Belkin Pre-N router and adapter combination more than other brands. If you are willing to spent money, I heard their latest N1 is superb. It is very fast.

My upstairs PC, one laptop and one HTPC are using wireless. My main HTPC in the theater room downstairs is wired. I am using cable for internet provider. For surfing the net, there is not much different between wired and wireless. For download, wired is faster than wireless.

If you have to ask me how to use HijackThis, I would not recommend using it to clean your system by yourself. If you do not know what you are doing, you can mess up your PC very quick. My guess, your PC is slow down due to spyware and virus. Spyware and virus can slows you down tremendously. Please let someone familiar with HijackThis help you out. It'll eliminate spyware and virus, and your surfing speed will be faster.