Your computer can be running slowly for several reasons (unrelated to its age). You may have accumulated too many temporary and other ‘junk’ files (including those produced by Internet browsers), your hard drive has errors or is fragmented, your PC is harboring viruses or spyware or there are applications running in the background consuming system resources of which you are not aware.

To deal with temporary files, such as those created by web browsers and other applications, you should periodically run the Disk Cleanup Utility which allows you to remove these files while retaining those that you wish to keep. You should also regularly removed unwanted programs and files from your hard disk leaving as much space on it as possible. A full, or nearly full, hard drive can impact system performance significantly. Using the Disk Check utility to check for disk errors and the Disk Defragmenter to optimize disk access should also boost your PC speed.

If you’re still wondering “How do I speed up my computer?”, you should periodically run a virus check to ensure that your system has not been infected by malware which is stealing system resources or otherwise impacting computer resources. Related to this are programs that have been installed and set to start automatically. These programs might not be malicious but sometimes are no longer required but still run and take processing cycles from other tasks. Check the programs that are set in your Startup Folder to ensure that all are required. Do the above to contribute to an increase in your PC speed before you consider buying a new one.

You should periodically test your disk for errors: whenever your computer shuts down abnormally it can result in data errors on your hard drive. These errors slow your computer speed as it looks for data that is not there or is incomplete. Windows provides the Check Disk utility to fix these problems and you should run it at least once a week.

It is also a good idea to run the related Disk Cleanup utility to remove temporary and unwanted files at the same time. These files are created when you browse webpages or by programs like Word, for example, that create interim files while you are working. When a large number of these files are present they can take up disk space and impact your computer’s speed.

As you create and delete files on your hard disk, Windows breaks them up into parts to increase access and retrieval times. However, over time, this can mean that files are widely dispersed across the disk resulting in fragmented files. This caused slower performance since the system spends more time searching for each of the file’s parts. The Windows Disk Defragmenter utility solves this problem by re-combining the parts of a file into adjacent blocks making retrieval time much faster.

If you are still experiencing slow PC speed after performing these disk utility tasks it may be the sign of a more serious problem such as a virus or spyware infecting your computer. If you think this might be the case check the internet for a utility that will help you to identify and remove these malicious programs.

The registry is like a catalog in the library for programs on your computer; it contains profiles for each user, the applications installed and their documents as well as the hardware that exists on the system. Over time, as applications and programs are installed and removed, the registry becomes disorganized with outdated entries and files scattered throughout the file system. This can affect the speed of your computer causing a significant deterioration in performance. A good indication that this is the cause of PC speed problems is that when you start up your PC it takes much longer to do so than it used to. To speed up my computer I regularly perform a computer registry scan so that it is efficient and well organized.

There are several software programs that will identify and remove unused registry entries which will significantly boost your PC speed. In addition to fixing invalid registry entries these programs can also perform repairs on Internet Explorer, missing or corrupted DLLs, ActiveX controls and startup manager entries. There are many free registry scan programs available on the Internet that help you identify these problems; by purchasing the program you can also fix them.

Once you’ve done that, install good protection against viruses and other problems, which can help you address the speed up my computer question. Make sure you keep it updated and use it properly. There are free options and some that you have to pay for, but price doesn’t always equal value. Buying the cheapest or the most expensive isn’t the right strategy, so be sure that you look at what you’re getting for the price and buy what’s best for you. It’s worth the time and any money that you’ll spend.

Also, clean your computer physically. Computers can easily collect dust, pet hair, food crumbs, and all kinds of other things that can gum them up and slow them down. If you really want a good, final answer to the question of ‘how do I speed up my computer,’ you should take your computer apart carefully and clean it thoroughly. If you’re unsure about how to take it apart or you’re worried about damaging it, take it to a professional so that you can get it back safely, clean, and faster.