My computer is slow. What cant I do?

Question

I have a Acer computer with windows vista and extra memory. I've had it for almost a year now. It's not a bad computer, but I can't play The Sims on it with out it freezing every few minutes. Please tell me what I can do to help my computer run faster?

Answer 1

Using a registry cleaner can clean up your computer and then make your computer faster,Why?the reason is that there may be some registry errors and remnant,corrupt files and temp files in your computer to cause "computer slow".

Every time you install and uninstall software on your computer and surfing online you create junk in the computer registry.over time, the registry can grow to enormous proportions, especially if the various programs you've installed do not do a good job of deleting and/or updating it's Registry entries.You need to scan and clean your computer with registry cleaner to make it fast.Good Registry Cleaner will improve your computer and Internet performance dramatically!

There are some comparison and review of TOP 5 registry cleaners.

http://www.fix-system.com/

You can download and scan your computer for free.

Answer 2

install an anti-virus program, open hard drive c then properties then disk clean up then defragment your programs

Answer 3

My guess would be that the graphics card is your 'weak link'.  In Vista, there is some took that determines how 'good' your computer is... use that and my guess is that your graphics card is slow.  Screen refresh rate is totally dependent on how powerful the graphics card is.  

A new graphics card can be from $50 - $400.  But the installation is plug and play and they all have CDs with drivers on them - just make sure it is Vista compatible.

good luck

Answer 4

If your virus/spyware free, there are  a couple things you can do get your computer working faster. If you using your computer for normal stuff and not gaming. You don't always need more RAM you just need to perform a few maintenance task.

First, if you haven't cleaned your registry in a while. This is necessary. Your registry holds all the information regarding updates, installs, un-installs etc. Each one of those events produces a key. That key needs your PC's resources and free space. So, if you clean your registry, you make more resources available for speed. Do a registry scan if you got more than 20 errors you should clean it.

http://www.delete-computer-history.com/w...

2. Clear your Windows cache files, this is your temporary file. It can grow up to a large volume and stop your computer from using RAM properly. In a sense slow it down by preventing it from using free space.Here is how:

1. Quit Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other web browser

2. Click Start, click "Control Panel", and then double-click "Internet Options".

3. On the General tab, click "Delete Files" under Temporary Internet Files.

4. In the Delete Files dialog box, click to select the "Delete all offline content" check box , and then click OK.

5. Click OK.

3. Manage your startups. Your excess CPU usage is due to too many programs running in the background. You can cut these to barebones by alter your msconfig. Here is how:

1. Open your Start menu.

2. Click Run

3. In the command screen type "msconfig.exe"

4. In the "system configuration utility",click either "service" or "startup" tab

5. Uncheck all programs that your are no longer using.

6. Click "OK"

Answer 5

have the best buy geek squad check it out for you.

Answer 6

You can take the computer to Circuit City this week for a free check-up...which normally costs $40...they will clear out any viruses, bugs, etc.

Check out their sale circular or go to the website for details:  www.circuitycity.com

Answer 7

To speed up your computer and free up space and memory for free:

Go to the Start Menu> Run

Type in "appwiz.cpl"

Uninstall whatever you don't need.

Next, go to Start> Run and type in "msconfig".

Go to the Startup Tab and uncheck everything you don't want to startup. If you want, you can uncheck everything, and your anti-virus will still restart itself when you log on.

Now go to My Computer> Hard Drive> Documents and Settings> [USER NAME]> Local Settings> and delete everything inside the Temp Folder. (This is a hidden folder so you will needto have "show hidden files and folders" checked in Folder Options) All the files in this folder are just temporary files that your Internet stored that for certain websites.

Then go to My Computer> Hard Drive> Windows> Prefetch and delete everything inside it. This folder is like an cache for programs and should be emptied about once a month.

Next, you should install CCleaner, it will get rid of alot of temporary files on your computer. It also has a registry repair system, which is easily the best free one available on the Internet:

http://www.ccleaner.com/download

Another option is to try defragmenting your computer.

Go to the Start Menu and go to All Programs

Go to Accessories and System Tools.

Choose Disk Defragmenter and when it loads click defragment.

Next, go to Device Manger (Start> RightClick My Computer> Properties> Hardware Tab> Device Manager) and update all drivers.

Another thing I would say is to compress your files if you already haven't.

Open My Computer and right click on your hard drive

Check the Compress Drive button and let it do it's thing.

Finally, make sure your Hard Drive doesn't have any bad sectors. Go to My Computer> Right Click Hard Drive> Properties> Tools Tab> Check Now> Check both boxes and Start. It will ask you to reboot, so reboot. This will clear out any bad sectors on your Hard Drive.

These are short-term solutions however. the easiest way is to just upgrade the RAM on your system, but at least the ways above are free.

Your hard drive could be too full of data to function

efficiently. There should be at least 300MB-500MBs of free space to allow for disk file chores. Note that this mostly applies to the C: drive or whatever drive your Window's cache is on.

If your C: drive is too full, delete unused programs on the C: drive to make space.

It's possible that your computer may have so many background programs running that there is not enough main memory to run your main programs. All icons in your computer's system tray are background programs using memory.

To see and remove all running background programs:

a. Press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time.

b. Click any program or task except Explorer or Systray.

c. Then click End Task.

Repeat steps b and c to quit all programs except Explorer and Systray which are necessary components of Microsoft Windows.

Your computer could be full of adware, spyware, viruses, or trojans. These are all nasty programs that literally take over the functioning of your computer so they can run their programs. You definitely don't want any of this junk on your computer. To get rid of these parasite programs, and to prevent them from installing in the first place, you need and up-to-date firewall, anti-virus, and spyware removal programs.

These are three separate software programs that must be running at all times except for when you are not plugged into the Internet. It is very important that these programs continuously update themselves or they will become out-dated and will no longer be useful. These programs can be purchased together or from separate manufacturers.

Answer 8

also, all computers have some maintenance routines that you can perform, like Hard Disk defragmentation  and updates. Find also  updates for your Vista at the Microsoft Website.

Answer 9

run some antivirus softwares on it and you can also always restore the compuster but back up all files to a disc because when you restore it everything is deleted.