November 16, 2006

Have you ever encounter situations when your computer is not running as fast as it should, it starts to hang frequently or all your applications and game play become sluggish? Here are some tips to help you.

1) Upgrade your RAM

If you are still using the old SD RAM or DDR RAM, it is time to change to the latest DDR2 RAM. It is faster and consumes less power. Remember to get at least 512MB of memory to give your system more space to store data, If you are a gamer, it is recommended to have at least 1GB RAM in your computer.

2) Upgrade your CPU

Faster CPU means faster data processing speed and that means better performance. Upgrade your CPU to a faster speed and you will see an improvement. If you have some cash to spare, go for the dual core CPU.

3) Upgrade your hard drive

A new 120GB 7200rpm SATA 2 16MB buffer hard drive will definitely give a better performance than one that is 40GB 5400rpm IDE 2MB buffer. Not only does it spins faster, transfers data faster, even the buffer (or data holding area) is much bigger. It is hard not to see an improvement in the performance.

4) Upgrade your Graphics Card

If you are a gamer, be sure to upgrade your graphics card to at least 128MB, preferably 256MB. You will be able to see the improvement in the image rendering speed and quality.

5) Defrag your hard drive frequently

You can speed up the performance of your computer simply by defragmenting your hard disk on a regular basis. To perform a defragmentation, go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter

6) Free up disk space

You can free up lots of disk space by un-installing all unused program, applications or games that take up lot of storage space. Make use of the Add/Remove program in Control Panel to do this.

7) Clean up the Internet Temporary file

If you surf the Web for at least 3 hours daily, chances are that your hard drive is full of temporary and downloaded files that are useless and consume lot of memory space. Use Disk Cleanup (Start -> Program -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup) to remove them.

7) Use antivirus and firewall

It goes without saying that a virus or worm attack would affect the computer performance, not to mention the crashing of the computer system. Make sure that your computer is equipped with antivirus and firewall program and remember to update the virus definition regularly.

8) Remove spyware

If you are not using any anti-spyware program to protect yourself, you are exposing your system to high risk. Use a anti-spyware program such as Spyware Doctor to protect your computer from spyware, adware and malware.

Damien