The Need for Speed: How to Speed up Your Computer

"Get you those documents by this afternoon?" "Sure, I'd love to" - if my computer would wake up and start working with me! Our PCs are like boxes operated by inefficient hamsters. Day in and day out, the little hamsters become bogged down from carrying too many nuts, storing them in illogical places, and depositing bits of nutshells for possible future uses. Most likely, our computers will never verbally state that they need us to fix the problems that our processor hamsters have created. The only indication is when they begin to run at the speed of molasses in January.

Fortunately, help is on the way. Here are a few ways to reverse this process:

• Protect yourself from spyware. Whenever you access the Internet, your information is accessed and collected from some of the sites you visit via spyware. Although this process may occur without your knowledge, it can be highly detrimental to your PC's performance.
• Arm yourself with free antispyware, which is available online. Conduct a Google search on antispyware, and a variety of options will appear. Run these programs on your PC regularly to stop web spies from setting mousetraps on your computer, thus slowing it down and stealing your data.
• Make sure your computer is running at an optimal performance level. Do this by running utilities found on your PC, such as "Error Checking".

To perform this task, follow the following steps:

1. Close any open files and applications.

2. Click "Start" --> "My Computer"

3. "Hard Disk Drives" --> Right click on your local disk.

4. Regular click on "Properties"

5. First, make sure that your disk is not running at full capacity. Next, click the "Tools Tab" --> "Error Checking" --> "Check Now." Click the "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" box, and then click "Start".

6. If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Disk Defragmentation

Another utility that should be your friend is Disk Defragmentation. This is the one that makes sure all your nuts are easy to find, located in one box, and not scattered haphazardly all across the floor. The idea is to see very few red (fragmented files) in this box.

1. Click "Start" and hover your mouse over: "All Programs" --> "Accessories" --> "System Tools" --> "Disk Defragmenter". Click on Disk Defragmenter.

2. Click the disk that you want to analyze, and click the "Analyze Now" button.

3. Once this is complete, a pop-up box will appear, notifying you about whether or not you should defragment your disk.

4. To defragment, click the "Defragment Now" button. Close the utility box when it is finished. Note: This process may take several minutes. However, it's beneficial to run this procedure when you have something else to do while your computer works.

Disk Cleanup

Disk Cleanup is another great way to speed up your electronic ally. It will remove programs you never use, empty your "Recycle Bin," eliminate temporary Internet files, and more. To perform this process, adhere to the following format:

1. Click "Start" and hover your mouse over: "All Programs" --> "Accessories" --> "System Tools" --> "Disk Cleanup". Click on Disk Cleanup. The utility will then scan your disk and provide a box with options for freeing up some disk space.

2. Scan through the returned list and carefully select the files that you would like to delete, and then click "OK".

Make a habit of running these utilities at least once a week. Also, you can create shortcuts on your desktop to simplify these processes and remind you to run them. If you're frequently online, you may also want to clean out your Internet boxes. In the Internet Explorer Toolbar, click "Tools" --> "Internet Options". Under "Browsing History", click "Delete". Although it's best to click "Delete All," note that temporary Internet files, cookies, browsing history, form data and passwords will all be erased. However, remember: You should run this every time you access a public or shared PC.

Congratulations, you're now on your way to speedy processing!