Isn't it funny how one day your computer can be running smoothly and then in a few months it can slow down to the point where you just want to throw it out the window? The real question is - exactly why did it slow down? Well the answer isn't clear cut and easy to digest but most of it has to deal with how the operating system of your computer works. Most Windows based operating systems are designed to work as efficiently as possible, but that unfortunately isn't the case in real life. What happens is that after time your computer starts to build up junk in many different areas and this is what slows it down (for the most part). All you need to do to make it faster is to remove the junk. The only problem is finding all of the areas that the junk builds up and also removing it.
Where are the areas that junk builds up? There simply are too many to discuss in this article and there also is to many areas that you can tune to make your computer faster so what were going to do is focus on just one area so you have somewhere to start. Start with removing programs that you don't need anymore. Why? Most people will download a program and then when they realize that they don't need it anymore they will just leave it on their computer and move on. Why is this bad? First off, that program is taking up space on your hard drive but more importantly it is most likely running in the background of your computer and using up resources that you can be using.
Just to be on the safe side, if you are not sure of what a program is or what it does, don't remove it - your computer might actually be using it. Only remove a program if you know what it is and what it does. Here is the procedure:
If you are a Windows XP user just start by clicking Start, going to the Control Panel, clicking on the Add/Remove Programs and then waiting a little while for the list to be populated (if you have a lot of programs on your computer it will take a while for all of them to appear). Now, just remove the programs that you know you don't need by clicking on the program and then selecting "Change/Remove". After that you just have to go through with the process to remove it.
If you are Windows Vista user, click Start, go to Control Panel and make sure that at the top of the window that you have "Classic View" selected. Double click on the Programs and Features button (wait a few seconds for your programs to come up) and just select the programs that you don't need and select Uninstall to remove them. Remember to only remove programs if you what they are and if you know that you don't need them.