If you are constantly finding that your slow computer is causing frustration, stress and lost productivity – it may be time for you to look into ways of speeding up your Windows computer.  Fortunately, there are a number of “little things” that you can do to improve your computer’s performance, speed, and efficiency.  In order to help you out, we have put together a list of four methods that you can use to speed up your Windows XP computer.

Speed up XP #1 – defragment your hard drive

When the files on your hard drive become fragmented, your computer has to work extra hard when you are opening up certain files and programs, which can lead to a slow PC.  By defragmenting your hard drive, you are essentially “cleaning house” and allowing your computer to operate more efficiently, therefore speeding up your computer by putting things back into order.

Speed up XP #2 – clean your temporary files

While an overabundance of temporary files aren’t a always the major culprit when it comes to sluggish behavior with your PC, they can cause your web browser to lag and they will cause performance issues if your computer is low on hard drive space.  Programs such as Crap Cleaner (www.ccleaner.com) can clean up those temporary files and restore hard drive space where it was lacking.

Speed up XP #3 – reboot often

Many computer users fail to recognize the importance of regularly rebooting their computer, but it can play a significant role in your PCs efficiency and speed.  Some people leave their PCs running for days or even weeks on end – through memory leaks and applications that do not close properly; your system’s available memory is being “eaten up”, so to speak.  By rebooting your computer on a regular basis, you are eliminating the effects of excess memory usage, which tends to be a major contributor to the slow computer problem.

Speed up XP #4 – use a registry cleaning tool

When your Windows registry has been used over a period of time, it becomes filled with obsolete, redundant and even invalid information.  These problematic entries can lead to sluggish behavior and a wide array of other problems.  By eliminating the errant and unnecessary registry entries, you can restore your computer to its optimal running state and therefore improve its speed.

In many cases, improving your PCs performance can be achieved through a few simple steps.  By following this tutorial, you should be able to speed up Windows XP, regardless of your computer experience level.

As Windows computer users, computer errors will plague the best of us at one time or another.  From non-responsive programs to constant error messages and the like, computer errors are an unfortunate part of owning a PC computer.  However, that does not mean that we are destined to hand over our computers to a computer repair guy or gal (and a lot of cash!) each and every time our PCs aren’t running smoothly.

Here are three ways that you, regardless of your computer “know-how”, can attempt to fix your computer’s errors.

Reboot your PC

Amazingly, the easiest fix for some computer errors is a simple reboot.  Whether your computer problems are a result of not-enough memory, an error with your registry or application – rebooting your computer sometimes causes your problems to disappear spontaneously.

Here are a couple of instances where a reboot restored functionality to our PCs:

1. “out of memory” error messages
2. Stuck keyboard keys
3. Intermittent mouse problems
4. Constant error messages when opening specific applications

Quite honestly, we cannot explain the intricacies of why these problems were fixed when we rebooted our PCs, but suffice it to say that refreshing the system every once in a while can work wonders for certain problems.

Run a registry cleaning software

Your Windows registry is in-demand nearly every minute that your PC is up and running.  Not only is it in constant use, it’s relied upon to manage information on all of your programs, Windows processes, user profiles and drivers – if your registry becomes filled up with empty entries or outdated information, it can cause visible problems with your computer.

Problems such as applications lagging when loading (or not loading at all), frequent error messages and sporadic system “refreshing” are indicative of registry-related errors.

As a last resort – run Chkdsk

Chkdsk, or the Check Disk program, is built-in to your Windows PC and helps to find and repair system-related errors as well as hard drive problems.  Now, this should be used as a last resort on your part because it is an intensive program.  While it is easy to run, it can take a lot of time to run its course and if your PCs problems are severe – it can actually make matters worse.  If you are going to use Chkdsk, we highly recommend that you have a recent backup of your important files.  While it’s not at all common that running Chkdsk will ruin your computer – there have been instances where the program has made data recovery a nightmare on PCs that were experiencing severe problems.

While these tips may not fix every computer error that a PC user will run into, they will work to correct problems in the majority of cases.  If you are concerned about your computer, try the first two tips and skip over Chkdsk for now.  If you are still experiencing problems with your PC, you should consider contacting a computer repair technician to help you with your PCs repair.