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Like most people in the Internet "Age", I am a stickler for performance and speed. I can't stand having my personal computer (or any computer that I use, for that matter) crawl when I know it can run faster.
I am going to cover three important areas to increasing your overall computer and Operating System (OS) performance.
Malware Removal
"Malware" or Malicious Software covers a broad range of things including computer viruses, worms, trojans, Spyware, adware, and any other unwanted software.
Three types of malware that I have seen to be the main offenders are Viruses, Spyware, and Adware.
Viruses are usually propagated by Email and Messenger programs such as Yahoo Instant Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, and MSN Messenger through the use of attachments and program downloads. Viruses are a definite cause of slowness in regards to system performance, as most of the recent viruses utilize your PC to send itself out to others, and/or attack other PC's, Routers, etc, on the Internet.
Spyware is mainly propagated by web site code (such as plug-ins) and downloaded programs. Spyware is the biggest offender of PC performance in my opinion. Removing this alone has increased my customer's PC performance 30% or more! But you shouldn't remove Spyware just for performance reasons. It should be removed for security reasons as well. Spyware can track your every move, report your credit card or social security information to criminals, and download more Spyware like itself to do even more damage.
Adware is propagated by downloaded programs and is less threatening than the previously mentioned malware. But it will still cause your PC to be slow. Adware displays pop-ups and unwanted advertisements on your PC when you are surfing the Internet and sometimes when you aren't surfing the Internet.
Unneeded Program Removal
Some system performance drop can be resolved by removing unneeded programs, services, and disabling taskbar icons. This is based more on preference than anything else. If you know that you don't need a program, service, or taskbar icon running all of the time, uninstall it (program) or disable it (service/taskbar icon).
Increase RAM
If your PC has been getting slower over the months, years, and so on, it may be that you have more software running in the background. Such as programs and services that you cannot disable or do not want to disable. In that case, adding more RAM to your system will help solve this issue.
Monitor these three areas, and when it comes to PC performance you can make a difference. Keep track of all programs installed on your PC, all services running, and any plug-ins or software that you download from the Internet.