Laptop computers are exceedingly more like people. Just like us, we get tired, and over time, without rest, and a little preventative maintenance, we tend to get a little tired and less efficient. So it's no surprise that the longer you use your computer, the slower it can tend to get. You may be thinking that the computer or the harware is just poor, but the reality is that over time, with so many processes going on at any time, gradually, the computer will get bogged down and fragmented. Don't you slow down when you got too much going on? And when you don't get time to clear your mind, doesn't it get worse?

One strategy for improving things is back to basics: back up your computer files, reformat your hard disk, then reinstall the OS from scratch and the key applications you use. This can take a few days, and you should have a professional do it. But in all actuality, this is something that should be done once a year.

Here are 5 other things you can do to improve your laptop computer speed.

Step number 1: Free up disk space

By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. Your computer should have a disk clean up tool. The disk cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. Basically the tool identifies files you can delete to free up space without affecting your computer.

The tool will remove temporary Internet files, remove downloaded program files no longer necessary, empty the Recycle Bin, remove Windows temporary files, remove optional Windows components that you don't use, remove installed programs that you no longer use.

The temporary internet files can really help speed things up when you remove them. Until the are deleted, they are cached everytime you open your browser.

Step number 2: Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer. When it has to rebuild everytime. This is very inefficient for the computer.

Your computer comes with a disk defragmenter that will take care of this. There are some key times when you should defragment. This includes regularly every month, when you add a large number of files, when your free disk space gets to less than 15%, and when you install new programs.

Step number 3: Detect and repair disk errors

Your computer comes with an error checker utility. Often, as you use your computer, you will have a few sectors go bad. These bad sectors will slow your computer as your hard drive tries to write to them, but is incapable due to the errors. This slows down things. YOu shoud run this utility once a week, as it will scan to find errors and misplaced files.

Step number 4: Protect your computer against spyware

Spyware collects personal information from you without you knowing it, and without your permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you may want to place an anti virus, anti spyware software program on your computer to ward off any attacks which will compromise your files, and slow your computer.

Step number 5: Turn your computer of and restart

In the same way that you need to sleep at night and get a fresh start, you should turn your computer off at least once a day if you use if often. Restarting will clear out the cache and give the computer a fresh start. It is also a good idea to turn off your computer instead of leaving it on all the time in order to extend the life of your laptop computer.