Slow Computer? Ten Ways to Speed Up Your PC

And Most of Them Are Free

Let’s face it: the longer you use a computer the slower it gets.  It’s not because your hardware is dying, at least not most of the time.  There are many reasons your computer slows down.  Before buying a new computer, try the following to increase performance.

Scan your computer for viruses.  You never know what you’ll find, and usually it’s fairly easy to remove one once you’ve located it.  If you don’t have a virus scanner installed, you should.  McAfee and Symantec's products are both good.  Make sure to schedule an automatic virus scan at least once a month.  There are also some free virus scanners online; while some of them may only scan your computer but not clean any viruses, you really don't need them to clean anything until you actually find a virus.  Or, once you find a virus with a free scanner, if it doesn't clean it out you can always look up the virus name on a search engine and look for a guide on removing it manually.  There are plenty of options.

Scan your computer for spyware and adware.  This will also solve any problems you’re having with random ads popping up out of nowhere.  Spyware is any software that sends information about what you’re doing on your computer to a third party.  Adware is software that tracks your actions and pops up ads that might pertain to you.  Both are extremely annoying and, if you have enough of them, can slow down your computer.  There are many free spyware and adware scanners available.  I use Spybot: Search & Destroy myself, and Spyware Blaster has also been recommended to me; Ad-Aware Pro costs money but works well.  Additionally, keep a firewall running to block spyware and adware from getting to your PC in the first place.  Again, both McAfee and Symantec have firewall software, if you don't like the one that't built into Windows XP (or you don't use Windows).