JB COMP

My brother just got a computer that had some sort of computer tuning software, that supposedly makes it run faster. What exactly does software like that do, and is there any good free ones?

Lately my computer has been slowing down, and I want to get it back up to speed. (I'm running 1gb ram, but uses only use 600mb of it)

DarkFire989

You could possibly Overclock your RAM and CPU, but you would probably have no idea what you were doing and fry everything. Starting cleaning up the files on your computer.

sheograth

Software programs that claim to speed things up (unless they're actually overclocking something) don't work, simple as that. Clean up files, make sure the PC is free of malware, etc - those are the things you can do to make it run optimally. Frankly, those "speed up" programs basically ARE malware, most of the time they just bloat things, or worse act as spyware.

JB COMP

Alright. Thanks.

Ttam Says Blarg

Allways good to have a decent anti virus! As everyone else said its prob. spyware..... If you dont have a good one get the free one AVG offers.

Eman77

I suggest you defrag your hard drive on a regular basis. Windows comes with its own defrag program, just use that every now and then (I check it once a month). Right click on your hard drive (C: or D:, whatever), choose Properties.

In the Properties window, go to the Tools tab. Click "Defragment Now" - this brings up the Defrag window. There you can choose a physical drive (C, D, etc) and Analyze. Windows will suggest a defrag if it's necessary. It can take quite a long time, so run it overnight, or whenever you won't use it for a while.

Note: above steps are for XP. For Vista, they vary slightly, but these steps will get you there.


Otherwise, for basic maintenance/speed, I suggest running the occasional anti-malware software updates and scans on a regular basis (MalwareBytes, Spybot Search & Destroy, etc) to help clean stuff up.

Also make sure you still have adequate free space on the HD - once that puppy gets near full, HD performance starts to go down the crapper.

JB COMP

I try to defrag every month or so, and run a registry cleaner.

Also I run AVG 9 (free) malwarebytes, and spybot. My drive is only half full.

Eman77

In that case, I'm not sure why your computer would be slowing down. More stuff installed that runs in the task manager, I assume? Meaning, more services/active things running?

JB COMP

I'm running 39 processes with FF, Outlook express, Windows media player and the task manager open. (when I got the computer it had 96) I might see if I can't get that numbers lower.

Another thing is my computer slows down when I'm only using about 60-70% of my memory.

HJJFFFAA

That's a fair amount of memory use.

JB COMP

Only have 1gb so I'm usually using 600mb - 700mb. FF and system are my biggest processes. FF usually 130-160K (depending on whether or not I have a chat/IM open) and system 83K. Other than that there's three or four that are in the 30k - 34k range (two of them being outlook express and media player) then the rest are <10K

Eman77

That there's yer problem sonny - you have only 1 gb instead of 1 GB. That's not very much.

...get it? bits vs. Bytes? Anyone?

*crickets chirp*

samguan

Most tuning applications do not do anything. Scan to make sure your computer does not have spywares as these spywares can slow your computer down alot!. Check the task manager to make sure you don't have any memory hogging processes running.

Disable Windows startup for applications that you do not need, it will speed up your startup time.

Get more RAM if it is not enough. 2GB or more. You will see improvements.

dudecat

The only tuning software that tunes right are the ones designed for videocards example rivatuner. All they do i let you ramp your clock on the videocard for extra performance but come at a cost though. With out proper cooling your gonna cook something and end up costing you a card.

The_Shark

i found many running problems are caused by over heating. crack open your case, clean all the electronics and if you can, upgrade the fans.

JB COMP

Running a laptop. I may pop it open and clean it.

Nik.

get ccleaner, get defraggler, quit all the things you don't need, uninstall all the things you dont need, dump avg and get microsoft security essentials.

best served with new install

Eman77

Does a defraggler get rid of all the fraggles?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraggle_Rock