Tips to Increase your computer speed

Recently my computer was running a little sluggish because I had forgotten to do the little housekeeping tasks to keep it running at optimum speed. A couple of friends asked me to help them with their computers, also, so I thought I would share the tips with anyone interested.

Remove the Junk
There are probably programs you have downloaded, or added, that you no longer use, or use rarely. Many of these programs take up much valuable space for the use they give, so dump 'em. Click on Start, Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs. After the list is populated, scroll down through each one. You will be able to identify the last time you used the program, how often you use it, and how big the capacity is. When you identify ones you think you no longer need, just click Remove to delete it. There will be a prompt to alert you to shared components between programs. Select No on these because you may inadvertently remove components needed to run something else.

Do Clean Up
Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, then select Disk Clean Up. Choose the drive you want to clean up (usually C) and click to complete. The pop up window will show you which files are on C, and how much space they are taking up. Delete downloaded program files, temporary internet files, and Recycle Bin Files. Click the files you want to delete and then click OK.

Organize

If you store photos on your hard drive, consolidate them using a photo organizing program. You can get a free one to download from Google. Better yet, transfer all your photos to a CD. To do this, display the photo images on your computer. Click the image you want to transfer to the CD, then click Copy this File. A box will come up prompting you to select the place you want to copy the image to. Click CD-RW Drive and Click Copy. A balloon will pop up at the bottom of the screen reminding you the "You have files waiting to be written to the CD". After you have chosen all the images you want to transfer, click on this balloon and you will be taken to the CD writing program on your computer. Click "Write these files to CD" and follow the prompts. After you CD is completed, you can delete the photo images from your computer hard drive, saving space and speeding up your operations.

I have done this many times with my computer, and the results are always good. Try it.