We probably stumble upon cases where the computer we were using was working so slow, it could only irritate us to the scale where we just couldn’t work properly. Computers tend to get slow for different reasons. Some are due to the fatigue of the hardware units, they just get old or full of dust, and they just can’t perform anymore with either the resources the operating system requires from it, or just it fails to work properly. Some other reasons might be the amount of running processes/programs at the same time. The operating system might not be able to contain the amount of running processes at the same time, which causes the slowness.

The Microsoft windows operating systems, has some issues with their “Temp” directories. The operating system writes temp files on a temp directory to be able to work faster, and some applications do the same, like your internet browsers which are using internet temp folders, mostly it is due to an assumption that if you visit a website, you might visit it more than once, that assumption is a bit far-fetched. True there are some websites we will visit on a daily basis, but some we might just visit and never go back to. The operating system or the applications will not delete those temp files, and eventually the amount of temp files on those temp directories will affect the computer, and cause it to work slower than it used to.

So, what can we do to either prevent it from happening, or just perform preventive actions to ensure our computer won’t become slow again?

The procedures you might consider taking are:

1. Free disk space – I explained above that the Windows operating system and applications tend to keep temp files for their work. Those temp files slowly increase in size and might cause a lack of space on your system hard drive. In case the system disk becomes full (So there won’t be free space on it, or a very small size of free space) the computer (even on a Linux system) might stop wor
   king, and the system might not load on the next reboot.a.    Remove temporary internet files (Usually it will be on your profile directory – “C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files”) – You can remove all of the files from there (use SHIFT+DELETE – it won’t go through the recycle bin). b.    Empty the Recycle Bin from time to time – (Right Click it, and choose empty recycle bin).c.    Add-Remove Programs you are not using – (Through the “Control Panel”).d.    Remove unused restore-points – which you do not need anymore.

• Automatic processes for keeping temp files off your computer, you can use a local application on your Windows operating system – like “Disk Cleanup” or an external program. (right click the hard-disk of your choice – click the “Disk Cleanup”.

• Once a Week – run hard-disk “check disk”
•     Double click my-computer
•     Choose drive C\
•     Right click + properties
•     Select the “TOOLS” tab
•     Press the “check now” button

• Once a Month – De-fragmentation – it is recommended, since all of our work, removing files and copying files from place to place, causes blank spaces between data which causes the OS to work slower, unless we defrag and combine all of the data files, into a continued space, in one bunch.2.    Upgrade hardware components – In case your computer is a bit old, you might want to consider upgrading some hardware parts of it.a.    CPU – A better more updated CPU will increase performance greatly, there are Dual CPU’s or QUAD CPU’s and of course just faster CPU’s. The processing will become much faster and will boost your operating system performance greatly.b.    RAM – An increase in RAM will enable programs to load into RAM instead of using hard-disk as a place to store temp data for their resources. Larger amount of RAM enable larger blocks of data to be stored in the memory, which boosts processing procedures, and increase performance.c.    Faster Hard-Disk – Faster hard-disk will increase performance as well, most activities on a windows operating system, are writing/reading from the hard-disk. The applications are using the Hard-Disk as a resource for their activity.d.    Graphic Card – Replacing the graphic card with a more efficient and more advanced one, will increase your operating system, especially if it is a GUI one. The Windows operating systems by Microsoft are GUI operating systems, and replacing the Graphic Card, that will be more advanced, and with more RAM on it, will increase performance.3.    Replacing The Operating System – New operating systems are being published from time to time, as they get better, get upgraded, or just replace the old operating system that was in the market. Mostly they are better, more efficient, and will work faster with the resources you have, so you might consider replacing your old operating system, with a more efficient one.

Computers in time need maintenance. The operating system is working and in time, it collects irrelevant information, some programs that we are not using anymore might still be running in the background and we do not need them anymore, and they overload our computer resources for no reason. The capacity of the hard-disks as we store and install many programs grows and increase in size until there is almost no space left for the operating system to perform its operations (the operating system uses some storage resources from our hard-disks, sometimes to do its activities, and some time to be able to increase memory use).

Here are some procedures that you can do in order to maximize your computer’s
performance:

A. In case your computer has many programs which you are not using anymore, and they even might be running in the background (load when the computers start).

1. Go to: Start –> Control-Panel –> add remove programs
2. Go over the list of programs, and if you see a program that you are no longer using, do an uninstall, and remove it.

* If there are programs on the list with the name “Tool Bar”, which are usually being added to the browsers, it is recommended to remove them, the browser will run faster while you are browsing the internet.

B. The windows operating system needs some space on C:> (C hard disk – System drive), and as such you will need to leave at least 2GB of free space (recommended to leave more).

1. Open the File Explorer (press the START button + E).  You can go through the process mentioned in section A, which will remove programs you’re not using and free space from the c:\program files, and free some space on C drive.
2. You can go to “c:/windows/temp” then delete all of the files there (you can press the CTRL + A which will mark all of the files – then just delete the files), you might stumble upon some files which will not delete, that is ok, it means those temp files are being used by one of your running programs. Just mark some other files, and delete, repeating this process until there are only those files which you can’t delete.
3. You can De-fragmentation of your hard disks – This will move all of the files to a tight storage place, that will contain the same blocks, and increase performance. This performance might take a while, but you will feel the performance of the hard disk, and it will increase performance to your computer.

C. Check if you have enough memory to your computer – enough means at least 1GB RAM, with the new operating systems you will need at least 2GB, and today it is preferred to have 4GB of RAM. If you need just ask a computer store for a larger memory card that fits your computer and replaces your old lower memory cards.

D. There might be viruses or spy-ware on your computer, so select a good anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and scan your computer to let it clean the infected files.