10 simple things to make your computer run faster

As you already know, your computer survives and runs on speed, why wouldn’t you want a faster computer? To make your computer run faster, it is possible that you do not need to buy a faster machine in order to get the most out of it. There are 10 simple things that you can do that can potentially make your computer run faster for you.

The first thing you can do is to turn off all the programs that load into your RAM on start up. You can easily do this by selecting the start icon on the bottom left of your computer screen, click on start, then run, then type MSCONFIG into the open field and then click OK. Then, select the startup tab and check off anything that is not absolutely essential to your computer.

Second, you can optimize your FireWire and your USB external hard drives. To do this, knowing your start menu and your settings, and select your control panel. You’ll then want to double-click on system then click on the hardware tab followed by clicking on your device manager. Select the positive sign (+) is located next to your disk drives, then right-click on your external drive and choose properties. You will then want to click on the policies tab, and select optimized for performance. To avoid potential data loss, use the safely remove hardware option in the system tray when you disconnect the drive. You can also optimize your internal drives, by following the same steps, but instead, right-click on internal drive instead of external. Choose properties, then policies and then choose enable write caching on the disk.

Thirdly, Windows automatic updates are worth leaving on, because security patches for Internet Explorer are almost constant. Some automatic updates basically take over your computer while they are installing which can interfere with your work. However, many of the automatic updates have an option where you can request notification of updates, which gives you the option of installing or waiting. You can also schedule your updates to take place when you’re not using your computer, increasing your speed.

Fourth: When it comes to your audio interface, instead of using MME or WDM drivers on Sony creative software applications, use ASIO. Most interfaces have drivers for all three of these, but WDM and MME are slower. Also, do not ever use any driver that is marked as emulated.

Fifth, when you choose to use ASIO, give your background services priority. Sony’s programs support ASIO protocol for the best results. So, you’ll want to click on start, then settings, and then control panel. Again, double-click on system, advanced tab, then when performance comes up click on settings. Once the performance options window opens up, click on the advanced tab there and to schedule processing, select background services.

Sixth, you’ll also want to periodically check for new hardware and drivers. Updating drivers can result in higher performance levels for your computer.

Seventh, use an antivirus program to remove any Malware or viruses from your computer.

Eighth, you still should defragment your hard drives occasionally. Although this is not as important as it was in years past, however an extremely fragmented hard drive can really slow your computer down.

Ninth, do not disable your system restore application. There are people who think that disabling the system restore option improves your computers performance, but it is actually better for your computer to take a very small (if any) performance hit as its better to be able to return to a restore point when it is required.

Finally, insert a USB thumb drive into your computer when you use Windows Vista. Once you have done this, you will be prompted to enable ready boost. What this does, is allows your system to add more memory, which is not the same as adding more RAM, but more akin to having an exceptional disc cache. You will notice an improvement in your computers speed for nearly any application aside from continuous streaming data. If for any reason your USB drive is not fast enough, Windows Vista will tell you that it is not suitable for use.