When your computer has slowed down to the point that you can no longer get things done efficiently, it is time to consider doing a Windows cleanup.  Windows, the operating system behind most PCs in the country, is a wonderful program, but many things can conspire to slow it down.  Some of these problems can be addressed by your run of the mill user.

1.    Defragment Your Hard Drive
In theory, you should be able to utilize the entire hard drive.  In reality, once your hard drive is at 80% capacity, more or less, it starts to slow down.  The first thing you can do is defragment the drive.  Some computers come with a utility for defragmenting, others don’t.

To manually defragment a drive:

• Open the My Computer folder.
• Select the hard drive.
• Find “properties” and right click upon it.
• On the tab marked tools, click “Defragment Now” to begin the operation.

Files that are scattered about the hard drive take longer to find, slowing down your operations.

2.    Remove Old Programs, Cookies and Temporary Internet Files

• Next, go to the Control Panel.
• Find the Add/Remove programs icon.
• Click upon it and let it generate a list of all the programs on your hard drive.
• Eliminate all the unused programs.

3.    Internet Browser Clean Up

• Finally, open up an Explorer window.
• Click upon the tools icon.
• In the general tab, find the buttons that remove cookies and temporary internet files.
• Click them and let your machine remove all these unneeded pieces.

4.    Registry Cleaners
If you have accomplished the three tasks above and still have problems with a slow running PC, you should purchase and download a good registry cleaner.

Learn how to clean up Windows problems in the registry of your operating system.  They perform a Windows cleanup without your intervention or effort, resulting in a faster, more optimized machine.

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