Top 10 Tips to Help Your Computer Run Better

It frustrates even the most patient person. When a computer is slow, unresponsive and keeps coming up with errors the user is bound to feel their blood boil. Avoid the frustration and cut down on errors with these ten simple tips to a smoother running computer.

Tip 1 – Clean It Up From the Inside

You’ll be surprised at how much junk accumulates on your system.  Behind the scenes and completely without your knowledge, there are worms, malware, registry errors and countless other annoyances that slow down a computer.  Invest in a decent PC registry cleaner to get your computer up and running well again.  Much easier and quicker than a full format and reinstall, PC registry cleaners will have a dramatic effect on your system speed right away.

Tip 2 – Clean It Up From the Outside

After unplugging your PC from the power outlet, open up the case and give the whole thing a good blast using some office grade compressed air. You can buy these in spray cans that are simple to use and have an amazing effect. When dust and dirt block the cooling systems your computer will grow sluggish. Clean it up and see some results fast.

Tip 3 – Upgrade the Memory

Simple to install and not a huge investment, more memory is a fast fix to a common problem.  Get your system specs and head down to the computer store to find out what you need or browse online for some info and plenty of retail selection for memory of all sizes.

Tip 4 – Upgrade the CPU

More difficult and more costly, an upgrade to your CPU is bound to have the most dramatic effect on the way your computer runs.  If you’re streaming video or playing games constantly a quad-core is what you need for the best performance.

Tip 5 – Upgrade Your Video Card

Maybe your dual-core CPU is just fine given what you use the system for, but with a lousy video card your software and utilities may be crawling or not working to their full capacity. A newer video card will give you much more than crisper graphics, it will allow the computer to function better.

Tip 6 – Update the Drivers

Find out whether any of the drivers on your system are out of date and get some free updates.  Most things from your printer to that video card will have driver updates available at low or no cost to you. 

Tip 7 – Virus Scan

Making sure you have the most up to date info from your favorite virus scanning software, give your computer a once over to make sure nothing is lurking in the shadows.  Have everything quarantined and be sure to schedule the virus scan regularly from then on.

Tip 8 – Check Your Wireless Connections

Maybe you’re still using a wireless G router and wondering why the internet connection is so slow.  Upgrade to a wireless N system or consider going back to wired in for desktops.  This will give you much faster and more reliable connections.

Tip 9 – Clean Out and Store

Get yourself an external hard drive and clean out the disk space on your hard drive.  You’ll notice this improvement more if you have large software programs on the C drive.

Tip 10 – Shut Down Apps

When things start to get bogged down, hit CTRL, ALT, Delete to open the Task Manager.  Take a look at what’s running and shut down those applications that are unnecessarily eating up RAM and power.  If start up is a problem, find out which applications are set to run and start up and remove any that aren’t entirely necessary.

With these tips in mind, your computer should be running smoothly in no time.