How to Fix a Slow PC in Simple and Inexpensive Ways?

A lot of people are already tired of waiting for a slow and creaking computer. With the coming holiday season, they already plan to upgrade their PC. However, you can avoid a costly purchase if you follow these fixes that you can easily perform.

* Uninstall unused programs from your system. One thing you can do is to uninstall unused programs that accumulate since you bought a new PC. Most of them are never used. Sometimes they run in the background without you knowing it which cause your computer to get slow in the process. You should remove these unnecessary programs by going to the Control Panel. Click the Programs and Features tab and scroll down the list and uninstall the programs that you do not need.

* Delete temporary files. All your browsing history remains in your computer especially as you use Internet Explorer or when you install something. Temporary files accumulate in your PC which makes it slow. Make sure to get rid of these files as well as the browsing history and cookies so you will have a bigger space in your hard disk and a faster computer. Do this by clicking My Computer and select local drive or "C:". Click the Windows folder, open the folder named Temp, right click and choose the View option, and click on Details. Select all files older than the current date and delete. Go to your desktop, open the Recycle Bin folder and empty it.

* Install a solid state drive. If you observe that your PC takes longer to boot, this is usually caused by errors in your hard drive. A solution is to install a solid state drive which can quickly read the data and will speed up the start up process. No matter how tidy your computer is, your PC will still be slow once your hard drive becomes full. Avoid recording large videos and other media that can easily use up your storage space. If not, you can get bigger hard drive storages to accommodate bigger files.

* Avoid unnecessary start up processes. This causes longer PC start up because some programs launched during this process can still run and use up your computer's memory. To eliminate unnecessary programs running in the background, click Start and Run where you type 'msconfig' and press enter. You will see the Start Up tab that contains a list of all the applications that are currently running in your system. You can choose 'disable all' options or manually click the unnecessary programs to keep the important programs like the antivirus running. For Windows 7, you can remove all the unnecessary fonts Windows loads that could be as much as 200 fonts loaded during start up and can slow down the speed of your computer. To do this, go to the search box in the Start menu. Search for the Fonts folder, uncheck all unnecessary fonts and click the Hide button in the toolbar.

* Provide enough RAM in your computer. Your computer should have enough RAM or Random access memory especially if you are working on a number of applications at one time. This is to ensure that you have more than enough memory needed to run the necessary programs so you can work faster and easier. If you don't have enough RAM at the moment, you can upgrade it at a cheaper price if you know where to find one.

* Run a disk defragment. Another way to optimize the efficiency of your hard drive is to run a disk defragment. Go to My Computer, right click on the hard drive and select Properties from the options. In the Tools tab, look for the Defragment Now option and click it. You can also have Disk Cleanup, a build-in disk de-cluttering tool included in Windows that can remove such as "DLL, SYS and EXE". To do this click "Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup".

* Remove dust in your PC. It is time to clean up the dust in your computer. As time goes on, dust can accumulate in your computer and it can prevent airflow that is necessary to keep the appropriate temperature in your PC. Observe if it overheats because this can also slow down its performance. This can prevent you from using other programs especially with instant messengers. What you can do is to remove its exterior and use a vacuum on a low setting to clean the interior carefully. However, ensure that the PC has been turned off for at least thirty minutes and it is disconnected from the main power source.

By doing these simple steps, you will be able to resolve a slow computer so it can perform a lot better the next time you turn it on and use it. However, if you think that the problem goes on and on, maybe it is time to buy a new PC. Make sure to do these steps from time to time to avoid future problems and to make your computer last longer.