There’s nothing quite as frustrating as a slow personal computer. Doing anything, from watching videos on YouTube to simply finishing work in a word processor, could become an extremely arduous task. If loading a simple webpage takes your computer minutes, you’ve got a problem. To help, here are three tips you can use to speed up your computer.
1. Discover What Is Eating Up Your Memory
The first thing you should do to speed up your PC is figure out what programs on your computer are eating up all your memory. Computers use Random Access Memory, or RAM for short, to store temporary information used to run computer programs. There is only so much memory to go around for each computer.
In Windows, find out what is eating up your memory is actually quite simple. Just load the “Task Manager,” which you can do by right clicking the taskbar at the bottom of your screen. Next, view the Processes tab. You will get a list of all the processes currently running on your computer as well as how much memory they are currently using. Use this information to find unwanted programs to uninstall. Some programs may also run on start-up without your knowledge. You should be able to find an option in these programs to stop automatic start-up loading.
2. Consider Your Web Browser
On many computers, it’s the web browser that really slows things down. If you want to speed up the net as well as any other programs you may want to access while browsing the web, you may have to make a few changes. First, you should consider the browser you are using. While many people stick with Internet Explorer, there are faster options like Firefox. Within the scope of browsers descended from Firefox, there are also even faster Firefox “forks” like Palemoon and Cyberfox. Give them a try.
You can also alter how your browser operates. Collecting a huge stash of cookies in your cache can eventually eat up a lot of memory. Play with the settings in your browser to lighten its load. Advertisements and Adobe Flash are also known to slow things down to a snail’s pace. However, you can install browser “add-ons” to block both advertisements and Flash from ever loading in the first place.
3. Consider Addressing Your Hardware Limitations
While you can play around with settings in your operating system, web browser and more, you are eventually going to hit a brick wall in regards to speeding up things even more. At this point, you should consider addressing the computer hardware itself.
Thankfully, you don’t have to buy a completely new computer if your budget doesn’t call for it. You can purchase things like additional memory or a better video card to make programs, videos, games and more much faster. There are plenty of tutorials on the web that can show you exactly how to install such components.
Just because your computer is being sluggish doesn’t mean it is fated to be. Use the above tips to troubleshoot and address the problem at its root. In all likelihood, and with the right kind of hosted exchange service, you will be able to make your computer usable again.