How to Speed Up Windows XP and Vista
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008Q. Why do I need to speed up my version of Windows?
A. At times, you may notice that your operating system is running a bit slow. This usually occurs a few months after you get your computer, and most of us just accept it and deal with the increased processing times. However, this slowness is a sign that your computer could benefit from a registry cleaning and clearing off old programs that you are no longer using. Any time you notice a slowdown, it’s important to take care of it right away to avoid having any bigger problems occur.
Q. How do I speed up Windows XP?
A. Before you start cleaning your registry, there are a few steps you can take. First, open up your control panel and then select Add/Remove Programs. Go through the list and see which programs you are no longer using. Uninstall them and restart your computer. Next, you can “defrag” your hard drive, which is essentially a cleaning-up process for your computer. You can find this by clicking the start button, and then selecting Properties/Tools and then Defragment now. It may take a little while to go through the entire process, but it is well worth the wait.
If you are still noticing that your computer is a bit slow, you can then install a registry cleaner and have it go through your registry for any errors. It’s a good idea to make a back-up of your registry first, just in case a problem occurs during the clean up. Most software programs have this feature installed.
Q. How do I speed up Windows Vista?
A. This process is very similar to speeding up XP. First, you’ll need to clear out any old programs, but then, you can also try getting rid of some of the processes that you don’t need before you clean the registry. Click on Start, Run and then type in services.msc; go through the list and see which programs you don’t need to have running in the background. This should speed up the operating system quite a bit.
Once you have done all this, then you can move onto a registry cleaner and go through the process mentioned above. In addition, if you are finding that your computer hangs a bit during start-up, you can cut down on the amount of programs that automatically launch when you turn on your computer. This will work for either XP or Vista.
Go to: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
This folder will contain a bunch of shortcut icons. These are the programs that are automatically running when you start up your computer. Delete anything that you don’t use on a regular basis and then restart your computer. You should notice a big difference in the amount of time it takes to start your computer.
Always remember to make a back-up or set a restore point on your computer before attempting any reconfigurations. That way, if you make a mistake, it’s easy to rectify.