MyPCHealth

Speed or Performance Issues.

Is your computer suffering from any of the following? :

• Slow loading the operating system
• Slow loading internet explorer
• Slow opening programs
• Start menu takes ages to appear
• Icons take a while to appear
• Computer is unusable as its soo slow
• Generally slow computer performance
• Computer freezing for seconds at a time
• Slow hard disk transfer

If you are then its probably time you did some spring cleaning to make your computer running more efficiently and smoothly. There are quite a lot of things that can be done to speed up your comptuer so it may take some time, but be persistant as its worth it in the long run.

Spyware and Virus removal.

Firstly lets make sure its clean of spyware and viruses. If you have protection already make sure it has the latest definitions and run a full scan. This may take quite a long time but spyware and viruses can slow down your computer. If you do not have any spyware protection please download Malwarebytes and run a full scan to make sure your computer is clean. If you need anymore help you can see my generic section for removing spyware and viruses. Once you are comfortable this has been done you can move on to the next section.

Registry Cleaning

Now, firstly i need to warn you that making changes to the registry can cause the computer to stop working. However the program i will talk about removes problems in the regstry that can cause slowness and allows you to make backups to you can revert the changes. This is third party software and we accept no resonsibility for any issues caused by you using it. That being said its the safest one i have found and use it all the time. So to clean the registry please download and install CCleaner.

Once you have installed CCleaner you need to run the software. Once it has opened please do the following,

• Click the button that looks like some building blocks named “registry”
• Click the “scan for issues” button. The software will analyse your computer for bad or invalid registry entries.
• Once it has finished click “Fix selected issues”. It will prompt you to back up the changes it is removing. It is advisable to do so. It will then remove these invalid entries.
• Once it has completed restart the computer.

Temporary File Removal

Removing temporary files can potentially improve disk accessing performance. You can do this using the the windows version called disk cleanup (instructions here) or the same program as above - CCleaner

If you choose to use CCleaner follow these instructions. When the program loads it will start up in the cleaner section. You need to do the following :

• On the left choose what items you wish it to scan for. If its ticked it means it will scan and remove those files.
• Once you have chose Click Analyze - This will scan all the files that you have specified on the right. it will display the results of what it will remove and how much space you will gain.
• Click Run Cleaner to remove those files.

Remove Unused programs.

Some programs automatically start processes and threads in the background. If you no longer use these programs they are wasting resources so it is worth uninstalling any programs you do not use.. This can be done from either the control panel > programs and features or again CCleaner has a feature that allows you to do this. Open ccleaner and click the tools button. Here is a list of programs installed. Remove any that you no longer need or use.

Remove Programs from Startup.

Lots of programs have autoupdating features that check for product updates when the computer starts and then informs you. You dont have to have these loading as they take up resources. If you do remove them you will have to initiate any updates manually. I.E goto their website and download. Such programs that use this kind of auto update are : Java, Flash, Adobe reader, Quicktime, HP tools and many more. You can stop them loading using CCleaner :

• In CCleaner click the tools button
• Then click the startup button. This will display a list of items that start when the computer starts.
• If you highlight the ones you dont want to run at startup then click disable this will stop them loading. Once you are done you can reboot the computer. If you are satisfied its ok being disabled if you want you can then go back into ccleaner and delete the item. This is entirely up to you.

Defragment Hard Disk.

To get an overview, please read this page of what disk fragmentation is. To remove / reduce the amount of fragmented files on the computer you need to run defragmentation software. There are various ones out there. You can use the built in windows version by doing the following :

• Click the windows button
• Left click computer
• Rght click the c:
• Left click Properties
• A new window will appear click tools
• Then click defragment. This will open the program.
• Click analyze and this will tell you whether or not the disk needs to be defragmented. If it does click defrag ment disk. It will take a very long time to complete normally many hours +

If you wish a slightly quicker third party defragmenter. The makers of CCleaner also do a peice of software called Defraggler - Downloadable here.

Once you have finished restart.

Hopefully by now all your computer speed issues have improved.

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