Improve Computer Speed on Windows 7 for Free

11 Easy and Advanced Steps

Credit: www.techtrends.co.zm

Does your computer start up slowly? Do applications run slowly and freeze all the time? Do you want to get rid of these problems without having to spend money? These steps here will help you resolve your problems for free.

Simple Steps 

1. When you turn on your computer, ensure that there are no discs in the ROM drive or any attached USB devices. Having any of these causes the computer to start slowly as it tries to read them for possible boot options.

2. Change your Power Plan. Click on the battery icon on the taskbar in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. This displays the power options menu. If "High Performance" is not selected as the power plan, select it. This power plan maximizes system performance. Use this option if your computer is plugged in and charging.

3. Uninstall unused programs . This is self-explanatory. Unwanted and unused software take up hard disk space thereby reducing available space for hard disk caching. Multiple antivirus software also slow down your computer. Use only one antivirus software.

4. Create ample space on your primary hard disk partition. Your computer begins to slow down as the space on your hard drive decreases. This may be due to your computer's inability to use Virtual Memory as described below.

5. Use ReadyBoost. This is an option that allows you to use to a USB flash drive to increase hard disk cache allowing your computer to run faster. This option does not work with solid state drives (SSDs). To use ReadyBoost, plug in the USB drive.
- Click on the Start button and click on Computer to open the Computer window.
- Right-click on the displayed USB device and select Properties on the menu that appears.
- Click on the ReadyBoost tab and check the Use this device or Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost button.
USB thumb drives, SecureDigital (SD) cards and CompactFlash (CF) cards are all supported by ReadyBoost.

Using ReadyBoost on Windows 7

6. Disable the Windows Aero color scheme which gives your UI a transparent, glassy look. Windows Aero consumes computer memory and it is advisable to switch to another color scheme which uses less computer memory if your computer is running slow. To do this, right- click on an empty position on your desktop window and select Personalize from the menu that appears. You can also open Personalization by clicking on the Start button and selecting Control Panel and then clicking on Appearance and Personalization.
In the Personalization window, scroll down to see Basic Windows Themes and choose another option such as Windows 7 Basic or Windows Classic. These themes use less of your computer's resources.

Advanced Steps

 7. Run Disk Cleanup . This option deletes unnecessary files from your hard disk and frees up space which enables your computer to run faster.
- To do this, click on the Start button and select Computer. Right-click on your primary hard disk (or any other hard disk partitions you would like to clean) and choose Properties.
- Click on the General tab and select Disk Cleanup. After Disk Cleanup runs, it displays the files that can be deleted along with descriptions of what those files are.
- Select the files you would like to delete, click OK and then click Delete Files to confirm.

8. Defragment your hard disk regularly . As data is added, changed and deleted from your hard disk, it creates non-contiguous portions of data (spaces usually occur where data has been deleted and changes made to data are saved in locations different from the original files). This is known as fragmentation and causes your computer to work harder to find a particular piece of data. This tends to slow a computer down. Defragmenting your hard disk rearranges the data so that it works more efficiently. Defragmentation usually runs on a schedule but you can run the disk defragmenter manually. 
- To do this, click on the Start button and select Computer. Right-click on your primary hard disk and choose Properties.
- Click on the Tools tab and select Defragment now. When the application opens, click on Defragment disk. You should click on Analyze disk first to determine whether your hard disk requires defragmenting or not.

9. Disable startup programs. These programs cause your computer to boot slowly as many of them have to load before you can begin to use your computer. To do this, install a program like CCleaner.
- If you use CCleaner, click on Tools and select Startup. This will display a list of programs on your computer that are set to run when your computer starts. You will find these under the Windows tab. There are other tabs for Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and so on.
- Click on the displayed programs to see which ones can be disabled.
- Click on the Disable button to disable the program you have selected.
Make sure that you do not disable essential programs although most essential programs will not have a disable option.
You can also disable programs that run at startup by running them, and ensuring that the "Run At Startup" option (if they have one) is not checked or allowed.

10. End application processes which are not in use at a particular time. These processes compete with the programs you are currently running for available computer memory and speed. To end processes, open the Task Manager. There are several ways to do this:

a. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. This is the quickest way.

b. Right-click on the taskbar and choose Start Task Manager from the menu.

c. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and choose Start Task Manager from the options that appear.

In the Task Manager window, click on the Processes tab to display currently running processes and right-click on the process you want to end. Select End Process or End Process Tree to end a process. If you are not sure what a process is, read the description that accompanies it.

11. Increase Your Computer's Virtual Memory. This is a complement/alternative to upgrading RAM on Windows operating systems and is similar to ReadyBoost described above but here you make use of the space on your installed hard drive. Virtual memory or paging file is an area of your computer's hard disk that Windows uses as if it were RAM. Its size can be increased. For Windows 7 do the following:

- Open the Computer window and click on System properties at the top of the page.

- On the System properties page, click on Advanced system settings in the top left-hand corner. This displays a System Properties dialog box.
- Click on the Advanced tab and then click on the Settings button under Performance; this displays a Performance Options dialog box.

- Click on the Advanced tab and then click on the Change button under Virtual Memory. This opens another dialog box.

- Uncheck the box next to "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives". Select the radio button next to Custom Size and enter the values you would like. Enter an Initial and a Maximum size. Click OK to save. There is a recommended value which you may decide to use if you like. You have to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

How to increase virtual memory. (Click to enlarge image)

Follow these steps and there will be a noticeable improvement in your computer's speed and performance.

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