Computers are one of the most important electronic devices in our lives. Many people work nonstop on their computers, and are often annoyed at how slow they can become at times. Luckily, there are a couple easy and free things that you can do in order to increase the speed of your computer. They will only take a few moments but can save you dozens of hours of frustration while waiting for your computer to start or load a program!

The first thing you should do when your computer is slowing down is to check it for viruses. Viruses can play all kinds of havoc with your computer. Everything from Microsoft word to your internet browser can be affected by viruses. Make sure you scan your computer for viruses at least once a week as part of your computer security efforts. If you have scanned your computer and have not found any potential viruses, check with a malware and spyware program to be sure none of those nasty programs are hiding on your computer as well. They often wreak havoc on many different parts of your computer and when removed can dramatically increase the speed of your machine.

After checking for any and all potential computer security issues, you now need to look at what is installed on this computer. If you use your computer fairly frequently, there is likely to be some programs on it that you never use. These programs may be running on startup, and taking up valuable disk space. Every program that runs on startup will slow down the boot process and cause you to feel more frustrated. Try to remove these programs using add/remove programs and you should see a dramatic increase in speed.

For more powerful users of a windows computer, you may want to check out some administrative functions. Getting a faster computer requires you to disable a lot of the stupid processes that start when the computer does. There are various websites with complete guides on which processes and tools to disable in order to increase the speed of your machine. System tools in the accessories memory of a windows xp or earlier computer will allow you to defragment your computer. You should do this every week or two in order to reduce the amount of disk space you are using as well as increase your computers speed.

Registry errors and other files can be quite the pain in your computer. Faster computers usually have very few registry errors. In order to get rid of these errors, you should use a registry tool. Make sure to only use a proven registry tool in order to fix your computers problems, as many fake registry tools will actually install spyware and cause further problems with your computer.

You do not need to have a slow computer. By following a few of these useful tips, you should see a remarkable increase in speed. Many people are just not following every step, but now that you know you are ready to have the fastest computer on the block.