Poor computer speed can be one of the most frustrating things someone must deal with. It's terrible when your computer decides to stop working when you are in the middle of an important project or just Web surfing. Diagnosing the problem can be frustrating because it's difficult to know where to begin.

The first thought is to add a bunch more memory to the computer and see what happens. While it is true adding memory can help your computer gain speed, it is not usually the answer when the computer just mysteriously starts to run slowly.

A bad file, as in registry file

It is possible, in many cases; a bad file could be the culprit. It's strange how even the smallest file can affect something as powerful and smart as a computer, but if this bad file is in the registry, it could spell trouble.

Corrupted files in the registry can slow down your computer noticeably because the registry is the most important part of the operating system. In fact, the registry is what the operating system is composed of. The registry keeps track of user preferences, pointers to drivers as well as to all the software and hardware on the computer. If any of those files are corrupted, it can cause a lot of problems, namely slowdowns and even crashes.

Registry files left behind

Interesting to note is the fact when a program or file is deleted from the computer, some of the entries in the registry that pointed to this program or file get left in the registry. This means the Operating System will have to investigate pointers leading to nowhere. It is easy to see where enough such operations would take extra time. Thus, you end up with a slower computer.

The first part of the fix is as easy as finding a good registry cleaner and running it. Most of these programs do everything for you and you don't have to worry about anything. If the registry cleaner is a good one, it will reorganize your registry into its proper order and it will delete the fake pointers that leave your computer searching for files in the abyss.

The love of speed

With your cleaned and reorganized registry your computer will now have its old speed back and you will seem like you are flying down the information highway. This is true if, of course you don't have some real problem with your computer or your hardware, such as a bad RAM chip and the like.

How do you know you don't have such a problem before you go out and get a registry cleaner? Well, make sure you get a free scan first. Any reputable registry cleaner will offer you a free scan. Take it.

If you see you have very little incidents of corruption in your registry, you can opt not to purchase it. If you have a lot of corruption, like a hundred or so incidents you can be sure, or at least very, very close to sure your computer slowdown is caused by registry corruption.

Right now you probably want to know if the computer scanner you show you a bunch of bogus corruption just to scare you into buying their program. Well, I've thought of this. So, I've scanned computers I knew were clean to see if I could find any crooks selling registry cleaner programs and I haven't found any yet. Make sure you buy a registry program from a company who gives a complete money back guarantee. That will take care of the matter.

Is this going to break me?

As far as cost is concerned, the top registry cleaners cost in the neighborhood of $30 to $50 for a year. I've seen them as high as $100 but really, you don't need top spend this much. A less pricey reg cleaner will be just fine.

Be wise, optimize...

Earlier I said, "The first part of the fix is as easy as finding a good registry cleaner and running it." So, is there another part to the fix? Well, sort of. Using a good registry cleaner will get your speed back but if part of that cleaner is an optimizer, you will find your computer will even gain more speed. There are a few cleaners that also optimize and this type of registry program is well worth having because they are not more expensive.

There are many other things that could slow down a computer, but getting a free registry scan is so easy, it is what I would recommend as a first step.