Technology Toolkit

Every time it boots up, it seems that your computer is getting slower and slower. Here are some steps you can take to get faster boot up times for your Windows PC.

1. Turn off unnecessary services Lots of programs think that just because you have installed them, you’re going to want them always available instantly. Sure, your anti virus needs to go off and check for all the latest updates. But is it really essential for you to know the instant that iTunes or Adobe Acrobat have a new version available? Probably not, but the software programmer thought you would, so they’re likely there anyway. Turn off unnecessary programs like this – there’s usually a menu option buried deep or you can get help online or, if you’re brave, you can manually tweak your msconfig file.

2. Reduce Windows boot time-out This also involves running msconfig (just type that word in to the Start, Run menu option) but is just a matter of changing one setting. Click the “boot.ini” tab and you’ll see a setting that says Timeout. Chances are that your system shows the default 30 seconds. You can safely reduce this: experiment with 10 seconds or maybe even as short as 5 seconds. It’s the time it takes Windows to decide to carry on booting. Setting it lower won’t be a problem unless you’re a geek who uses more than one operating system on your computer and need time to select the correct system.

3. Cut down on your fonts Sure it’s nice to have every font that’s ever been created ready, just in case you need to use it. But it takes Windows time to read through all the fonts you’ve got installed every time it boots up (as well as when you select a font in programs like Word). Removing fonts that are only decorating the space on your hard drive should speed up your boot times.

4. Clear out your temporary files At times, it seems that Windows housekeeping was learned from a teenager. Bits and bobs are left all over the place. Most of these files have an extension of “.tmp” (quite often they’ll start with a “~” character as well) and can safely be deleted. While you’re at it, clear out all the temporary files that Internet Explorer litters around your hard drive. Doing this may not boost your Windows start up speed but you’ll notice the difference when you explore the web.

5. Defrag your hard drive Depending on how long it is since you’ve defragmented your hard drive, you may or may not notice a difference here. Select the drive using My Computer, right click it, choose tools than Defragmentation and follow the instructions.

6. Check your drive for errors Like any mechanical device, your hard drive can get errors. These are usually covered up by the operating system but it pays to occasionally go in and check your drive. Select the drive with My Computer as before but this time run the Error checking option. If you find any problems, follow Windows instructions to fix them.

Computers always seem to be slower than you’d like. So how to make your computer faster again?

1. Make sure your anti virus software is up to date

New computers often come with a trial for popular anti-virus software such as Norton. But since viruses come out all the time, you need to make sure that you keep your anti virus software slap bang up to date. If you don’t do this, there’s a chance not only of getting your files or data corrupted but also of a nasty program running itself on your computer and slowing everything down.

2. Keep your firewall on

Most recent versions of Windows come with a firewall to help protect you whilst you are connected to the internet. Make sure that this is always switched on so that malicious programs can’t creep in and use your computing power for their own ends.

3. Watch out for spyware

This is different from viruses, so there’s a good chance that your anti virus software won’t pick it up. Spyware does exactly what you’d expect from the name – it spies on you. Its cousin is Adware, which flashes up unwanted adverts or new unexpected browser windows. Both these types of software can be sloppily programmed and can therefore cause crashes and memory leaks, generally slowing down your computer.

4. Switch off unwanted background programs

Lots of software programmers assume that you will always want their program immediately to hand. Even if you only use the program once in a blue moon. It would dent the programmer’s ego to learn that you weren’t always using their program, so they often make sure that the setup program asks Windows to run their software every time it boots up. Sometimes they will ask your permission during the setup routine but often they just tick the “yes” box for you and let you decide that you’d prefer the program doesn’t run all the time. The trouble is that all these different programs are using up computer power and memory. So they will be slowing down your computer, often without you knowing. Get ruthless – you probably don’t care whether or not you have absolutely the latest version of iTunes or Adobe Acrobat so long as the software works. Double check online but you can almost certainly turn off the auto-updaters for most software programs and free up your computer power for yourself again.

5. Clear out the Registry

Specialist software is the safest way of doing this. The Registry is Windows equivalent of your attic storage combined with your garage combined with a handful of actually useful things. It stores information about your machine. But whilst most software is quite happy to install settings in the Registry, it’s less happy to uninstall them when they are no longer needed. Quite often, even uninstall routines will leave scraps of completely useless information in the Registry. Which will slow Windows down when it comes to trying to find the settings it really needs.

6. Buy more memory

Modern software is memory hungry. Feed it more memory – you’ll be grateful!