When it comes to owning a computer, the odds of something acting up down the line is highly possible. Perhaps a video will not play properly, or maybe the screen frequently freezes. Yet another issue is a computer that does not boot up as fast as the owner would like. Thankfully, there are things that can be done about it.
- Hibernate instead of shutting down: When it comes time to stop using your computer, you can opt to put it under hibernation rather than shut it down completely. This works for both laptops and PCs, although sometimes it may be referred to as the “sleep” function. What does it do? Basically, the computer goes into a sleeping state; it uses little or no energy and can be turned on again simply by pressing a key on the keyboard. This is quite useful for when time is of the essence, or you simply do not feel like going through the old way.
. - Clean out your font library: Get rid of any fonts that you are not using. It may not seem like having a large collection of fancy fonts will cause too much trouble, but the computer needs to load every one of them on start up; and that takes time. Go through them and ponder over the ones that you could do without, then either manually remove them or use a special program to do so. Remember, they can always be downloaded again at a later date; you may even be able to save them to a disc or USB drive.
. - Do a scan for spyware and viruses: These are notorious for messing with a computer’s networking and causing slowness, freezing screens, and so on. To maintain your computer’s health, make sure to purchase or download an anti-virus scanner. Scans should be performed once a week, if not more. This is very important, and taking this step should be done before expensive repairs, or even complete replacement of the computer, is needed.
. - Uninstall software: As with fonts that you have not used in a while, you should also delete and uninstall any software programs that you are not using. This can also slow down the start up process, simply because there is so much to read.
. - Reduce Startup Programs: After you uninstall programs you no longer use, it’s time to clean out any programs that start automatically and run in the background. It’s easy to do this. Go to Start, then Run and type msconfig and click OK. Select the Startup tab and then uncheck any programs you don’t want to run when your computer boots. This can massively improve boot speeds.
Computer ownership is not necessary an easy process; many things can happen to it, even when you believe you have cared for it to the best of your ability. From accidentally dropping it, to somehow acquiring a virus, the list is seemingly endless. When it comes to wanting your computer to start up faster, there are many things that you can do, and all of them should be considered. Take care of what you own, and it has to potential to last a long time.
Guest post by: James is an in-house technology writer and analyst working for a supplier of HP cartridges based in the UK where he reviews hardware such as the HP 351XL. He also posts on their blog when time permits.
Hi
Why Hibernate.. why not plain old standby – restart is so much faster from traditional standby and ;ess probe to problems as is the case with hibernate.
I love my Windows 7 Sleep mode and use it all the time 🙂
Our PC is really slow these days, so I need to implement some of these suggestions. I’ve got to get the kids to tell me which programs they no longer use so we can uninstall them.
I haven’t heard about clearing out the fonts….any tips about how to do that?
I never even thought about hibernate I guess that does make sense to do. I will do that instead of shutting down sometimes my computer is so slow to reboot.
About the fonts this one is also one of my problem. Can you share some tips about this one ?
I don’t know why but the startup time when I use hibernate mode is always slower then when I turn it on. Its best advantage is that I could continue my works immediately. You should only use standby mode when you don’t use computer for less than 30 minutes.
Very well you said, one you missed Defragment also a nice way to Make faster
It really helped,thank you very much!
This are great tips, I’ll try it on my computer and see how it works
The sixth would be not to have too much on your hardisk. One trick would be that the partition with the OS to have enough free memory (minim 10 GB).
Great tips!
May I add also the occasional disk cleanup and defrag helps as well.
Also, deleting old unused files, shortcuts and folders works better.
Nice post but i really think (supposing you’re not infested by virus : see your #3) the most important thing is to check the programs at start up.
For this, i use this great freeware called Starter from CodeStuff.
With regards to number 4, CCleaner does a good job of cleaning temporary files and such which can bog down your computer. Whenever doing any major modifications to your system, however, I would definitely recommend backing up your files first. A screwed up registry can create all sorts of headaches.
And for those who are a little more computer savvy, try imaging/cloning your drive before running programs like CCleaner (this way you can get everything back no matter what goes wrong).
Additionally, I agree with the poster above, startup programs (especially virus removal and spyware removal programs ) can really slow down your machine on startup (AVG is somewhat notorious this these days).
With all the add-ons and plug-ins downloaded, for some people it doesn’t take long to fill up the ole hard drive. Add up the videos and photos and there is no place left for a single sentence. An eternal hard drive works wonders.
I’m the same as a few other folks; I’d never heard the thing about the fonts. It almost makes sense to get rid of some of the stupid ones, but can this really speed things up a lot?
I am good at making video and computer skill and having innovative and creative ideas?
I watch lots of site but what I see it will be different from other. I want to thank you for your work. I wish you all the best. 😉
Very useful tips. I do the clean up regularly to avoid clutter.
REally a nice post. Because everyone hates a slow computer. I found only Linux Operating System which has the maximum startup speed!
Really great tips! I used to hibernate my computer too, loads up so much faster. Also helps to use the defragmenter once in a while and cancelling the ‘indexing’ option in your hard drives for fast searching.
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Thanks for Sharing. I was facing same error in my client’s Laptop but after read your blog it’s very easy to solve the error and achieve to rid the computer faster.
Thanks for Sharing. I was facing same error in my client’s Laptop but after reading your blog it’s very easy to solve the error and achieve to rid the computer faster.