1. Defragment Your Hard Drive : over time, the files on your hard drive become fragmented. When you open a file that is fragmented, the computer has to search the hard drive to piece the file back together, thus slowing down the overall performance of your system. The Disk Defragmenter utility, described previously in the Hard Drive Maintenance section of this tutorial, consolidates the fragmented files and folders so that they occupy a contiguous space on the disk. With all files rearranged contiguously and without fragmentation, reading from and writing to the hard drive is faster.
Remember, before running the Disk Defragmenter utility, you should first run the Error Checking utility to identify and repair bad sectors. Bad sectors can make it difficult, or impossible, to write data to the hard drive, thus slowing down system performance.
To review, in Windows Vista:
2. Remove Unnecessary Startup Items : to make your computer boot up more quickly and efficiently, remove programs that you do not need to load up every time you start your computer. Portions of these programs also run in the background to make for easier access – thus utilizing some of your system RAM and slowing down your PCs performance. Of course, some of these programs are very valuable (e.g., virus protection), but others are useless and do little more than consume system resources.
To remove unneeded programs from Startup in Windows Vista, go to Start and in the Search box type ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes) to open the System Configuration utility. Select the Startup tab, and deselect those programs that you don’t want to load up upon every system start. Do NOT deselect any program that you don’t recognize.
3. Clean the Registry : the Windows Registry is a large database of information that contains the Windows settings and options, as well as all of the settings for hardware, software, user preferences, and so forth. Whenever you install software, or make changes in Control Panel, for example, those modifications are reflected in the Registry. Inevitably, minor registry errors can (and do) occur, and over time these errors are cumulative, resulting in system slowdown. One common source of registry errors, for example, is the uninstallation of programs or applications. Even though you may have uninstalled some programs, they often leave residue in the registry – references to files and programs that are no longer available.
It is not recommended that you manually edit the registry, as its contents can be somewhat cryptic, and an editing error can make your system inaccessible. Instead, use a third party registry cleaner.
Before editing the registry, be sure to set a system restore point so that if anything goes wrong, you can return to a previous configuration. To set a restore point in Windows Vista, go to Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore Center. In the Tasks panel on the left, select ‘Create a Restore Point or Change Settings’. In the System Properties window, select the System Protection tab, and then click on the ‘Create’ button to create a restore point.
5. Protect Your Computer Against Spyware / Adware : Have you ever been troubled by any of the following problems?
If any of this sounds familiar, your computer has probably been infected with malware, or malicious software. This is a general term that refers to any type of software designed to cause harm to your computer – including viruses, spyware, and adware.
Viruses are computer programs that spread from one file to another, or from one computer to another. The degree of damage done by a virus can vary, and the most common method of spreading a virus is through an email attachment. You should never open an email attachment or download any applications from an unknown source. The best way to prevent viruses is to install a good antivirus program as soon as possible after getting your computer. Be sure to keep your virus definition files up to date.