How Can I Make My Computer Run Faster? Secrets of the Pros

It seems like these days everyone expects their computers to be
lighting fast. It should boot up almost instantly. The programs should
come up in the blink of an eye. Web browsers should deliver results
and load every page, irrespective of ISP speed, as soon as we press
the enter button. No computer can be this fast but you can learn how
to speed up your computer like a pro would, using these three tools:�
Chkdsk
� Defrag
� Spyware scanAssuming your computer is already up and
running, the first thing I like to do is go into My Computer, or
Computer, right-click local disk, Properties, Tools, Check Now, and
check Automatically fix file system errors. If you also check Scan for
and attempt recovery of bad sectors the entire hard drive surface will
be checked for errors. This is very time-consuming; however, if you
suspect a bad drive you may wish to do so. Reboot the computer and you
will see a blue screen indicating that a disk check, which is what
chkdsk is short for, has been initiated. Basically, what this does is
ensure the file system data is in the correct 'physical' structure and
it looks for and can repair directory errors, cross-linked files, lost
clusters, and more. Correcting errors such as these can speed up the
time it takes your computer to access data.As files are created,
modified, or deleted the hard drive tends to become fragmented. This
is due to the fact that each block of data must a be a minimum size.
If the piece of data is bigger than the minimum size multiple blocks
are used. Naturally, there is leftover space since data cannot fit
exactly into each block. Moreover, as files are deleted, the blocks
are able to be overwritten with new data. Eventually the drive is
quite jumbled up, or fragmented. Just like when things are scattered
around an office and are difficult to locate, a computer takes a
longer time accessing its files when the disk becomes fragmented. You
can use Windows' built in defrag tool by going to My Computer,
right-click Local Disk, Properties, Tools, Defragment Now. This can be
a very time-consuming process; however, there is a free-for-home-use
tool called Disk Defrag by Auslogics which I highly recommend. It is
much faster and perhaps simpler to use.Finally, a good spyware scan
will determine if you have picked up any nasty parasites while surfing
the net or from any bogus emails. I always recommend MalwareBytes for
the initial scan. Download it, install, and update the definitions.
Run a full scan of the hard drive and remove anything found.
Superantispyware is the second choice of mine for a freeware malware
scan. Spyware and malware can eat up quite a bit of memory and even
slow or redirect your internet browsing. Getting rid of this type of
parasite will definitely speed up your PC.These are three of a
computer technician's basic 'tricks' for speeding up a computer. By
employing them from time-to-time you can save quite a bit of money on
PC house calls. If you don't experience much improvement in speed it
may be time to add more memory to your computer.