10 Ways to Make Your Laptop Run Faster

There is nothing more frustrating than your computer locking up, freezing, or just being pokey, especially if the client is patiently waiting for the presentation or the paper is due.  Laptops are extremely accessible to everyone, yet if only the knowledge to keep them optimized was that easy to come by.   

These 10 tips are simple things you can do to make your laptop run faster.

1.  Start with a disk cleanup.  There are several ways to access this, but one is to click on the Start Program>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup.  This will allow you to delete temporary Internet Files, Offline Files, the recycling bin, and other types of unnecessary files. 
2. Through the Control Panel, go to Internet Tools and delete cookies and history.  This can take several minutes if it hasn’t been done in awhile.
3. Disk Defragment.  You can access this the same way as a disk cleanup, but select disk defragmenter instead.  Many programs allow you to schedule a time to do this application, as it can take several minutes or several hours depending on how much work is to be done. 
4. Malware or Spyware are big offenders of slowing down laptops.  Installing and running an anti-malware or anti-virus program and running it regularly will often times make a tremendous difference. 
5. Check your power management by accessing the Control Panel.  Select power management and then Maximum or Best Performance.  If you use your battery pack rather than being plugged in it will drain quickly, but will give you optimal speed. 
6. From the Control Panel, go to Add or Remove programs.  Remove programs that you know you are not using.  This can be a daunting task, since some programs affect others, and therefore you may want to know what’s important before you remove it.
7. Check the memory usage of your computer.   You may need to add more random access memory (RAM) to store memory, rather than using disk space that is slower in all cases.
8. Consider using registry software cleaner or repair program.  There are many good ones out there such as ccleaner.com or registryfix.com.  These will identify and repair problems within the registry.
9. New computers that use Windows Vista can be slowed down by excess animation.  It is possible to turn it off by going to the Control Panel>System and Maintenance>Performance Information and Tools>Advanced Tools.  Then select Adjust the Appearance and Performance of Windows.  The Performance Options box will prompt, and if you select Custom, then uncheck Animate Windows when Maximazing and Minimizing.  You can consider other options as well, but this definitely pep it up.
10. Use an external hard drive to store all music, photos and games.  It can be unplugged and used with multiple computers, and will save valuable space.

These ten tips are proven ways to get that computer moving and prevent untimely frustration.  By utilizing some or all, you will be optimizing your system and working efficiently.