As a business consultant in a technology-related field, I invariably spend time dealing with my clients’ computers and am often slowed by their PC’s inefficiencies.  Whether I am showing them something on their PC and waiting for their slow system to load, or they are trying to get me something and it is taking forever, my productivity is unfortunately levered to the speed of their computers.  Thus, this post, which will be dealing with simple ways to speed up a PC, is not so much a service to our clients and readers – giving them the ability to move faster – but a service to us. 

Step 1 Update Your Computer
This is not rocket science, but it is something that most people fail to do and then wonder why they get viruses and are slow and inefficient.  For XP users, go to the Microsoft Windows Update page and follow the prompts – make sure that you set your computer to automatically receive updates for both windows and your MS Office software (assuming that you are using them).  For Vista users, it is much simpler.  Simply go to your control panel (Start Menu >>Control Panel), look for the section marked “Security,” and click the link marked “Check for updates.”   Windows should take care of the rest, but once again, make sure that your computer is set to automatically receive updates.

Step 2 Windows Health and Safety Scan
Microsoft, who rarely gives anything away, has a one-care health and safety scanner that scans your computer for malicious software and also for inefficiencies like temp files that need to be deleted, registry errors, and the need to defragment your hard drive.  It works on both Vista and XP and will automatically fix most issues that it finds, so just follow the prompts until the process is complete.  Also, keep in mind that it will have to install an activex control onto your computer, so there will likely be some back and forth between the system and the various popup blockers you likely have on your computer.  Just keep allowing it to proceed until you finally get to the point that you can start the scan.  The scan will take anywhere from 4-12 hours, so start it in the evening and finish going through the prompts the next day.  It will not take long for it to clean off temp files and registry items, but if your computer needs defragmenting, then it will take a few more hours.  Make sure to keep going through the prompts until it is finished.  Click here for the Windows One Care Live Safety Scanner.

Step 3 Install Windows Defender
This is simple and should already be on your computer.  Go to the Windows Defender homepage and download the tool if it is not already on your computer.  You can scan for maliware, and also disable unnecessary processes that are running on your computer.  I won’t go into an in-depth tutorial on this as it would take too long, but it is a fairly intuitive system, so don’t be afraid to get started on your own.

Step 4 Install and Use Virus Protection
This is once again something that you likely have anyway, but I would add a caveat… DON”T MESS WITH ANYTHING BESIDES AVG.  Most antivirus programs are actually worse than having a virus because of all the time you must spend on them trying to do what you want to do.  Why do you need to install a parent onto your computer and then ask permission every time you want to do anything?  Get AVG, or for home users, AVG FREE.  After you download AVG, keep it updated and use it…a bullet proof vest will not help you if it is hanging in the closet– neither will antivirus if it is not updated or rarely used.

Step 5 Delete Your Temp Files
Deleting your temp files is something that you need to do periodically (probably once a month) in order to keep your computer running smoothly.  Windows stores temporary files in several places that by nature are redundant files and are not needed after a task is complete.  There are only two places that we will concern ourselves with, though, in order to keep things simple: your browser and your local user file.  For your browser, follow these instructions: Firefox users go to Tools >> Clear private data and make sure to delete your Browsing History, Cache, Cookies, Offline Website Data, and Authenticated Sessions (whether or not you want to delete saved passwords every so often is up to you).  IE7 users go to Tools >> Internet Options >> Delete Browsing History, and then select “Delete All.”  This will also get rid of your passwords, so if you want to keep them, choose exactly what you want to delete.  For IE6 and older, simply take your computer and carefully throw it out the window.

As far as the temp files in your local user file, right click on your start menu icon and choose “Explore.”  Next find your individual user file and look for a file called “Local.”  Inside your local file you will find another file called “Temp.”  Select everything inside your temp file, and send it to your Recycle Bin.  Make sure that in this process you empty out your recycle bin in order to clean these files off completely.

That should be everything, and other than waiting for scans, all the steps listed should take no more than 20 minutes.  Give me some feedback below and let me know if it was helpful, or if, upon following these steps, your computer exploded in a fireball of death.

Tags: Productivity Tools, small business