Increasing The Speed On Your Cheap Desktop Computer
Okay, so you went out and bought a cheap desktop computer and you find it just isn't up to speed...literally. You wonder if there is anything you can do to speed it up. There is and it works for cheap laptop computers also.
First a brief lesson in computers. Consider the following:
Processor is your motor..How fast you can go from 0 to 60mph.
Hard Drive..This is your file cabinet. The bigger your file cabinet is, the more stuff you can keep until you need it.
Memory or RAM is your workbench. The bigger your workbench the more things you can do at one time.
Now, lets speed this old cheap desktop computer a little bit. Unless you built it yourself, your system came with a lot of temporary applications (Temporary, because they are teasers and hope you will buy the full version.). They also come with a good many applications you probably will never need. The key here is to do something about them.
Click Start, then click Run and type in MSCONFIG. Click Okay. A window will open with several tabs across the top. Click the Tool tab. You will see a lot of information with little check boxes on the left. Programmers are egotistical. They think any application they write should be loaded any time you boot your system. Out of all of those checkedm the only ones you really need are SYSTRAY and Windows Explorer. If they are not there, don't worry about it. Some versions of Windows do not display them. The other thing you need is a virus checker. You did install one didn't you? Your system probabl came with one but it will be a temporary version. Be sure you have a virus checker and keep it up to date. Take the checks out of all of the boxes at the left by clicking on them. Click Apply and OK. Just in case you are concerned you might have messed up something, these changes are reversible by simply repeating the first few steps and adding the check marks back into the boxes.
The panel will tell you your system must be rebooted in order for the changes to take effect. Do that. When the reboot is completed, an information panel will open telling you some configuration changes were made. Well, Duhhh, you just made them. Put a check mark on the tiny square on the left and tell the system Not To Reboot At This Time. Congratulations! You have just increased the speed of your cheap desktop computer!
If you feel a real need for speed, the single most important thing you can do, and the cheapest by the way is to increase your memory ie. make your workbench bigger. A real clue that you need more memory is to listen to your system as you are doing thing. Do you hear a lot of clicking? That is the hard drive at work. If you don't have enough memory, your system will still try to do what you told it but in order to make room, it has to clear some space on the workbench..in memory. To do this, it moves things in and out of memory to the hard drive. This takes up computer cycles which equate to time. Sooooo, the thing to do here is to increase the amount of memory. I would recommend you have at least 2gb if you do anything more than homework and surfing the internet. It is not expensive. However, it must be added in matched pairs. In other words, if you want to add 2gb, then you buy 2 1gb modules. Installation is simple, but if you are leery about cracking the case, a Best Buy, Circuit City, or a Mom and Pop repair shop will do it for about $27.
Increasing your memory can increase the speed by as much as 40%. Believe me, it is worth it, especially if you do anything with photos or video, or audio. You can take that cheap desktop computer of yours and make it into a workhorse.
Gi ahead and get to it. If you have any questions, post them in The Geek's Computer Blog and I will answer them at my first opportunity.