The slow running computer and slow start up. Fix it easy for free. Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 2000.

By Greg Bush

Boise, Idaho

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is: “My computer is so slow. Should I just get a new computer?” The question usually arises from the most common scenario: Either there is a significant amount of male ware/viruses on the computer, or there are too many programs starting when the computer powers on. This is the most common issue going on with computers today and also easily cured.

Two most common causes for a slow computer or to power up very slowly:

1. Male/viruses running in the background

2. Too many programs starting when the computer powers up.

Solution #1- Tune it up for free!

You may have seen ads on television about online services that can speed up your computer, of course, for a price. You can do the same thing yourself at no cost. CNET offers a wide variety of free utilities for download that can accomplish the same task as the services being offered online. These utilities will not only clean the cache memory and remove male ware, but can also perform a disk defragmentation and clean the registry. The registry of the computer is the part of the computer that contains all the settings that most people do not access, except for the nasty male ware and viruses that interrupt the normal computing processes and also cause other malicious programs to run that you cannot see on your computer screen. Most anti-virus software does not address these issues, which is why your computer is running slow if you are using the recommended antivirus software.

Advanced System care 4

The utility that I use for tuning up computers is called Advanced System Care and is available free for download. This is a great software utility that scans and removes male ware, cleans the registry and performs a disc defragmentation. I recommend that you uninstall the Advanced System Care software after you have performed the cleanup of your computer, due to that the program will run in the background of your computer and slow it down if you do not uninstall it. I keep a copy of the software on a thumb drive so that I can easily plug it into my computer and reinstall it. You can also save the program to a cd rom or dvd.

Click here to download Advanced System Care 4.

Solution # 2- Change the program start up settings. (Windows XP users)

If advanced system care did not fix the issue with your slow computer, then it might be that there are software programs that are starting when your computer powers on, which significantly slows down the power on process and will also cause a situation where these programs are actually running on your computer, even though you do not see them on your screen, which also causes your computer to run slow after it is turned on. Sometimes these programs are necessary to start when the computer powers on, such as anti-virus programs or firewall programs. Other times there are other software programs installed on your computer that will undesirably start when your computer powers on. You can quickly change the settings for which programs that you would like not to start up when your computer powers on, which will significantly speed up the powering on of your computer, and quite possibly speed up the overall performance, too. For Windows XP , here is how to do this:

A. Go to the start button and click "run."

After clicking "run", a box will appear. In this box, type in the following: msconfig

After typing msconfig in the box, click "OK" inside of the box. A new, larger box will appear on your screen that has tabs at the top that you can click on. Click on the tab to the very right labeled "startup." Do not click on any other tabs.

As you can see from the image above, there is a list of programs, some with check boxes, others without check boxes. This is the list of programs that start on your computer whenever your computer powers on or you restart your computer. Take a look at the list and see if you can identify any of the programs listed. Once you have identified the programs, decide if it is necessary for the particular program to start when your computer powers on. If you do not want it to start up when your computer starts, then uncheck the box next to the desired program. After you have unchecked the desired programs, click "Apply." As shown in the screenshot below, you will get a message stating that you have made changes. Click "OK" on this box. You then might receive another message asking if you would like to restart your computer. If you get this message, click "OK" to restart your computer.

If the two solutions above did not fix your computer and it is still having a problem either with a slow start up or slow computing, then it could be either that the hard drive is full, there is not enough memory, (RAM), for all of the software applications that you are running on your computer, or you might need more possessing speed. Here is how you can check the volume of your hard drive on Windows XP to see if it is full:

1. Go to to the start button and click on "My Computer." A box will appear showing the primary hard drive, usually listed as Drive C. There will be other hardware storage devices listed, such as cd rom's, dvd drives and other storage devices. See screenshot below.

Next, right click on the drive that is labeled Windows C. It might be labeled just "C." After right clicking on drive C, there will be a coulomb of items to click on. Click the word "Properties." You will then see a box appear on the screen as show below.

You should see a window like the one pictured above that has tabs at the top, and it should default to the general tab. If it does not, click on the general tab on the top left side. If there is 10 % or less available hard drive space, then this might be causing your computer to run slow. When there is less hard drive space, programs are fragmented and it takes longer to load the program that you are trying to open. At this point, you can clean up your hard drive by deleting unused programs. If you have lots of pictures on your computer, you can transfer them to a dvd or some cd roms. You can also get an external hard drive that plugs into a usb port, where you can transfer pictures and programs that you would like to keep.