I have been asked by so many friends and neighbors, and neighbors who are friends, to ‘fix’ their slow computers, that I have decided to blog about how I do it.

1. What Anti-Virus Engine Ya Runnin’?

The first thing I do when working on a ‘slow’ computer is see what kind of anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are installed, and I do this for 2 reasons.

Reason 1: if there isn’t an anti-virus program installed, or if the anti-virus program’s database is out of date, there could be a virus on the computer that is causing it to be slow.

Reason 2: if there is an anti-virus program installed, the anti-virus program ITSELF could be slowing the computer down.  A 64 bit Vista machine I recently looked at was rendered so slow as to be unusable by the Spybot antivirus program.

Solution: Uninstall any existing anti-virus programs first, then download, install, and run the free version of Avast anti-virus software, and the free Windows Defender anti-spyware program.  These programs will update their databases when installed, then continue to update themselves automatically.  Scan all drives and remove any viruses and spyware.

2. Remove the crap.

I LOVE a program called CCleaner, which supposedly stands for Crap Cleaner.  It is THE best, fastest way to get all the crap off your hard drive quickly.  It removes temp files, browser caches, and also cleans your registry if you choose.  Download and install CCleaner. Run it and use the default settings, as it will detect all of the browsers installed on your computer automatically.

3. Remove MORE crap.

Windows also contains a program called Disk Cleanup Tool. Run Disk Cleanup Tool (start menu ->programs->accessories ->system tools) and choose the ‘remove files from all users’ option. Use the ‘compress old files’ option under the ‘more options’ tab to save space on your hard drive, along with whatever other options you want, including ‘remove old restore points’.

4. Repair the registry and deactivate unused services automatically.

Purchase, download and run Registry Mechanic from PC Tools. This will be the best money you ever spend if you want your computer headaches to go away.  After installing this program, scan your registry first and fix any problems found.  Then run the ‘Tuneup Your Services’ option, and choose the recommended solution.  This will deactivate any unused services that are running on your computer, and should speed up performance noticably on an older computer.

5. Run Windows Update.

Now you are set to run Windows Update and get the latest updates and fixes for your version of Windows.

6. Defragment the hard drive.

Defragmenting your main hard drive will speed up disk access times.  You can use the Windows defragmentation tool, or my favorite defrag program, Diskeeper.

If you still don’t have enough space left on your C:/ drive after doing all of the above steps, you can also do the following:

7. Move the “My Documents” folder to another hard drive on your computer.

Follow these instructions (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147) make sure you also do the ‘move documents’ step at the end.

8. If you are using Outlook or Outlook Express, archive your old emails, and move your email folder to another hard drive on your computer.

This link explains how to archive all your old emails, and move your email file (.pst files) to another drive.

9. More ideas:

Here is a link to a blog with more disk drive space saving ideas.

Good luck!!