How to Make Laptop Computer Run Faster

Short of the computer completely crashing and dying, is there anything more frustrating than for your computer to hang, freeze or run like a turtle on cold medication? This can be more stressful if you are doing business, course work or keeping in touch with distant friends and family, especially if you are away from home for a period of time.

While laptops are extremely popular these days for their portability and compact nature, if you do not keep your laptop in top condition and optimized, it will grow old and tired and soon give up the ghost. You can do a few things to attempt to improve the speed of your computer.

• Clean up the disk. This is something that is very easy to do, but is also something that is often overlooked. This is where you delete unnecessary files, such as temporary Internet files, unwanted cookies, offline files stored by the system and empty the bin.


• Go to the disk cleanup feature by clicking Start>Programs >Accessories> System Tools>Disk Cleanup. This process may take some time if you have not done it before, or in some time. This should be done weekly.


• Clear the Cookies and History by clicking Start>Control Panel>Internet Tools; here you can delete cookies and history. This also can take some time if you have not done it before, or in awhile.
  
  Keep in mind though, if you are used to clicking on a log in field and having a list of your IDs drop down for easy log in, this will disappear when you delete cookies unless you have your system set to store log in information and passwords.


• Defragment the disk; this will also improve the speed. The disk defragmenting process can be accessed the same way you accessed disk cleanup. This allows your programs and files to be stored more efficiently. Something like arranging books on a shelf so that they are neat and easier to access and take up less shelf space.
  
  Defragmentation can take anywhere from several minutes to several hours. You can set a scheduled time to run this application to prevent it from slowing the computer while you are trying to work. This should also be done weekly.


• Update your protection software. Some of the biggest offenders of causing a laptop to start running slowly are Malware, Spyware, and Adware. Anti-virus software does not catch these things and does not automatically come with features to check for these things. If yours does not, download, install and run a good, reputable anti-malware/anti-spyware program. Be sure to set this to do daily checks. If you do find you have these sneaky offenders on your laptop, removing them usually makes a huge difference in performance.


• Set the Power Management for the most optimal performance for your usage and needs. 
  
  To do this, access the Control Panel>Power Management> drop down menu>Maximum or Best Performance. 
  
  Keep in mind, while this will give you optimal speed, it will drain your battery quickly when you use it rather than electricity.


• Remove excess programs that you know you do not want, need or are not using. This can improve performance. If you are not familiar with all the programs on the computer, as some are factory installed and you may never have touched them, it can be a bit scary. Especially since some programs affect each other. Therefore, before you remove programs you are unsure about, you may want to do an internet search to learn more.
  
  To access the panel where you will uninstall unwanted programs, click Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs.


• Check the Registry to ensure it is running optimally. Registry software cleaners will identify and repair problems within your laptops registry. There are many good registry software cleaners, such as ccleaner.com or registryfix.com.


• Stop the animation that is automatically factory set. Animation is unnecessary on any computer, and can slow computer reactions.
  
  It is possible to turn it off by going to Start>right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced tab>Performance, click Settings>Adjust for Best Performance. This will disable all animations.
  
  You can also select Custom, and then uncheck "Animate Windows When Minimizing and Maximizing". At this time, you can also choose whether you want to enable or leave disabled other options. Either way, disabling animations will definitely improve the speed.
  
  Also, you may notice a bit of a faster response if you revert back to the "Classic Windows" theme.

• Use external storage, as this will also free space on the computer. Another great thief of speed and performance is memory used by photos, music, games, and files. External hard drives remedy this problem. Store your music, photos, files, and anything else you want to save on an XHD, and can increase your storage well beyond the limit of GB on the laptop itself.
  
  If you choose to use a portable XHD, you can take it with you when you take the laptop, or you can just take the XHD and use it with any computer that has an accessible UBS port.