Two More Ways To Speed Up Your PC
If you haven’t already, I suggest also reading my article titled, “Why Is My PC So Slow?” to get a better understanding of how your PC functions in terms of speed. But for now, here are two things you can do to deal with a PC that insists on remaining ‘maxxed out’ in resource usage, thus giving you very slow performance.
FIRST METHOD: Clear out all unnecessary cookies. — For the most part, cookies are not a bad thing. In fact, they remember that you looked at travel spots in the tropics and later show you ads for the Bahamas, or suggests blues albums after you Googled ‘BB King’.. that sort of thing. However, mixed in with cookies can be items that use up resources. Add them up over one or two year’s worth of usage and they begin to pile up like dust-bunnies craving attention. So, at least every two months give your PC a clean slate in regards to cookies.
Even though you can do this through your browser, I have found the most efficient method is to run a Full Scan using SuperAntivirus. Click -Here- to get the free version which will do the job without costing you a dime or dealing with a trial period. It simply works. Set it for ‘Full Scan‘ and let it run. While gathering up all your cookies it will also check for viruses, trojans and malware.. which is why I prefer it over simply clearing cookies through the browser. (2 jobs, 1 scan) When the scan is complete simply follow the instruction to clean out the selected cookies/viruses (if any) and you should see an improvement in performance.
To give you an example of what a difference this can make, in this chart (see image above-left).. the left-side of the graph shows my PC performance -before- clearing out all cookies (378 cookies). My CPU usage was tapping 100% constantly and averaging around 97%. That makes for a slow PC. Physical Memory Usage (RAM) was also high, at around 85% or more. However, immediately after I cleared out all the cookies and junk items found through SuperAntivirus.. immediately CPU Usage dropped down to 23% and my RAM now had 50% free for more programs. Needless to say, my PC returned to it’s usual fast speed that keeps up with my clicking and typing in real-time. 🙂 Can’t argue with science.. so clean out your PC with a scan to keep things lean and your Motherboard cooling-fan will thank you for finally giving it a break.
SECOND METHOD: Corrupt User Profile. — Every so often as you use your PC over the year, you may occasionally shut down your PC/Laptop improperly. This might be because your laptop battery drained out or your PC went down due to a power-outage. It might be because a virus locked up your PC and you had to force it Off without doing the proper Shut-Down procedure. Usually Win7 will repair your User Profile on the next reboot. Other times, it SEEMS like it did a good job putting all the pieces back together when in fact it’s struggling to ‘look normal’. That’s when your CPU starts working overtime to compensate.. leaving less power for your browser and other software. It also puts a burden on your mother-board temp and the cooling-fan seems to run on high constantly.
For our example, I will be creating a new User Profile called, “Henry263” and moving my files into it from my original User profile; “Main”. First, click on START.. then Control Panel.. then User Accounts. Next click on ADD NEW USER and create a new User account with a different name or nickname. [Example: ‘Henry263’] You will have the option of creating a password as well. Important: Be sure to create this User as an ADMINISTRATOR account, not a Limited account.
Now.. click on START.. then SWITCH USER. This keeps your current account open in the background while you open up your new User Account for the first time.. thus creating the file structure needed. Once you’ve logged in to the new User account you created and the Desktop has had a few minutes to be created for the first time… click again on START.. then open up Windows Explorer by clicking on My Documents. Click on C:.. then Users.. then click on the Original User Account name [Ex. ‘Main’] and click on that to see all your User folders and files. Copy all the Folders (My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos, etc.) and Paste them into the New User account you created. See image at left for an example of this where the account ‘Main’ is being copied to a new User account called ‘Henry263’. You may see a box asking if you want to ‘Merge’ the copied folders into your new
folders.. click on the check-box in the lower-left corner that says, “Do This For All..” and then click ‘Yes’ to Merge them together. Your files will then duplicate into your new account, so give it a few minutes to do that.
Once all your files have transferred.. click START.. Control Panel.. User Accounts, and Delete your original User Account. It will ask you if you want to ‘Keep Files’. If you are in any way unsure that you might not have transferred your files correctly, as just mentioned above, select ‘Keep Files’ and your personal files will be saved in a folder on your Desktop. From there you
can Copy/Paste them into your New User.. My Documents section so you continue using them as you did before. (documents, photos, videos, music, etc.) With your old (original) User Profile deleted, simply use your new one now knowing that the programming that makes your User Profile function correctly has now been refreshed and restored.
Henry Velez
www.henrythepcguy.com
Author: Henry The PC Guy
Since 1983, Henry The PC Guy has been working with the most basic of computers and continued to today’s Win10 operating system. From 2007 until 2012 was the owner/operator of ‘Up&Running PC Repair’ in Southern California until moving to a life in the Philippines in 2012. He has been building websites since 1993 and is well versed in various aspects of blogging, vlogging and podcasting.