Is your computer too slow?
A few months ago, Michael mentioned his computer was running way too slow and was considering buying a new computer. Michael was using an old, but not outdated DELL desktop which is a cost-effective solution if you are not planning to play games in the office. 
Before I told him to buy a new computer, I asked if I could see what I could do to solve his computer woes. What ended up happening was I backed-up all his data, installed a fresh copy of his operating system, and did a number of tweaks to the operating system to really give it some extra performance. This took a lot of time, but Michael said he felt like he had a new computer when he got it back.
I know everyone might not have the time or expertise to completely reinstall their operating system, but I’ll share one quick tip that is fast and should have a big impact of the speed of your PC if you are running Windows XP.
Turn off all those windows styles and extra graphics. If you prefer speed over graphics, you can turn off a number of windows styles that just slow down your computer.
- Click your Start menu->Settings->Control Panel.
- Double-click on “System”.
- Click your “Advanced” tab above.
- Click your “Settings” button under the ‘performance’ category.
- Uncheck as many options as you can or select “Adjust for best performance”.
- Click your ‘OK’ buttons for both open windows.
I hope this helps. Feel free to post a comment on what you feel might help others speed up their computer, but will only take a few minutes to complete.
Copyright © 2000-2010
12:35 pm
I did not expect a handful of tweaks could make such a big difference…well worth the investment for any PC user I’d say….
3:49 pm
I hope this works, I love my vidgames
thanks dude
5:10 pm
Hi Tim,
If you have all your styles on, it should make a noticeable difference. Pretty much all my computers at work and at home end up looking the Windows 95 desktop because I turn off all the extra graphics in Windows XP.
Cheers,
-Daniel
11:14 am
wow ! what a differance it made.my computer now runs faster than i ever seen.
Thank you.
1:02 pm
Hi Harinder,
I am happy to hear that it made a big difference on your computer. Turning off unneeded applications that appear on the bottom right corner of your “Taskbar” is another tip to improve performance.
This especially helps when you prevent them from starting up in the first place. I typically find a lot of old computers that have a ton of unnecessary software accumulated over the years that bog down their computer.
Cheers,
-Daniel