1. Clear up disk space.
If you do not have high computer configuration and not clear up computer for a long time, it is likely that your computer is running slower and slower because the hard disk is crammed with too many junk files. If you computer is fast before but slows down recently, you need to clean up C disk as soon as possible. As for the junk files, you can the temporary and swap files, certain page files, history records files and so on. Most of them are hidden in the C drive.

2. By deleting the junk files in the C drive, your computer is able to run faster than before. Besides, you have to defrag C drive after wiping those junks. You can click “Start” > “All Programs” > “Accessories” > “System Tools”, you will see the defragmenting programs. And then it is necessary to clear up disk which is put in the same place as defragmenting one.

Next, set up a system restore point which is also in the “System Tools”. After doing that, you should close it down since restore point may consume a lot of C drive space. But it can help you restore the system to the normal state when you set up the point.

3. Uninstall some programs that you seldom use. It is undoubted that they take up too much space without doing any tangible things for computer. It is better to get rid of them, along with some useless functions such as “Error Reporting” and “Hibernation” which mean nothing for you but occupy the space.

4. Normally, when computer memory is too low, virtual memory will be created to solve such problem temporarily. You can set the value of virtual memory by hand. However too large or too small values can do harm to computer. You should set proper value for the maximum and minimum values respectively.

Slow computer is not so disturbing if you have grasped the correct methods to fix it. Besides, you can learn more about fixing slow computer problems by clicking the links.

First of all, you should check whether you have compressed disk or not. Since compressing disk can reduce computer performance seriously and slow down system speed for sure. Therefore, you should check whether you have used such function. Right-click the drive, click “General” to see if you have enabled to compress disk so as to free up disk space. It is better not to do that because it can decrease hard disk performance.

As a coin has two sides, though Windows-based systems are able to provide the service of running multiple tasks simultaneously, you have to tolerate the shortcoming of Windows operating system that is to manage files unclearly. Even sometimes you do not know whether this file is useful for computer or not. As time goes by, more and more files are increasing in the Windows directory, plus those swap and temporary files. They are consuming a lot of available disk space. When the available disk space is too little, there may be not enough space to support temporary and swap files which can slow down system running efficiency definitely.

More important, since you have restored and deleted much software frequently, it makes those available disk space fragmented. In this way, system has to spend more time in moving disk head when restoring and reading certain file. See, this is another cause of slow computer speed. In order to fix low disk space problem, you need to free up more space by deleting junks files such as temporary and swaps files in the C drive or on the Internet. And you can try to defragment disk by running defragmenting program of Windows or other third-party tools like “Advanced Defrag”.

And, if your computer is not updated enough for supporting SP3 or SP4 but definite too many partitions, it also drags the startup computer system. Therefore, it is advisable for you not to set too many partitions if your computer have not prepared very well for that. This is because Windows has to load every partition when starting up. As the partitions are becoming more and more, it also has to spend more and more time to operate them. So, you should not take the risk to set too many partitions which have little use but slow computer speed.

In order to increase Windows speed it is necessary for you to keep hard diskrunning normally. If not, it is vulnerable of slow speed. In this regard, you need to spare no effort to protect your hard disk.

In the first place, close down the redundant programs. In fact, if you open too many files or run excessive programs, it may leave little memory to other programs. So, please shut down all the files except those using ones and exit the programs you don not use currently.

Then, restart your computer. Sometimes, if you just exit the program but not restart the computer, this program is unable to give the memory resource back to the system. Therefore, it is advisable for you to restart your computer before running any important application so as to free up enough resources to run it smoothly.

Third, do remember to defragment and clear up hard disk. As computer has been working for you for a long time, it is unavoidable to produce tons of junk in hard disk or on the Internet. Therefore, you should try to get rid of them completely since they are the main cause of low memory. You can defragment disk by using the programs in the Windows or turn to third-party tools. As for removing junks, cleaning up C disk should come to front because it restores many useful programs and useless junks as well. It is the place that you can find tons of temporary and swap files. Delete them without hesitation.

And then, reduce the number of automatically-running programs. When running too many programs automatically, it can not still provide enough memory to support others even restarts the computer. You can clean up some unnecessary system starting programs in the “Configuration Properties”.

Last but not least, reinstall the broken programs. If the system reminds that memory is too low when you just run certain program but others work well, the running program may have been broken. On such condition, you can attempt to remove and reinstall this program and then re-run it to see whether the memory is insufficient or not.

All in all, sincesufficient memory is really quite important for running computer smoothly, you should form a good habit to manage your computer orderly so as to leave little room for any problems that can lead to low memory.

Let Windows XP close down within one second. Windows system is too bulky to close down efficiently. You have to spend thirty to fifty seconds to do that completely. But you can speed up your Windows by changing some items in the registry.
Find “HKEY/CURRENT USER/Control Panel/Desktop and modify the value of “Wait To Kill App Timeout” as 1000 which means it just need one second to close down programs.
Change “Hung App Timeout” as 200, it takes half of second to wait for error programs.
Change the value of “Auto End Tasks” as 1 so that system can close down the stopped responding programs automatically.

Close down stopping responding programs automatically. Sometimes, Windows may remind you that certain program is stopping responding. It is really disturbing. As a matter of fact, you can let it turn off automatically by altering registry. You can click “Start” > “Run” and type “regedit” so as to enter into “Registry Editor” and then click “HKEY /CURRENT USER/Control Panel/Desktop” orderly. You can change the numerical value of “Auto End Tasks” as “1” and click “OK” then restart computer.

Sector is the basic unit in the computer hard disk. A file usually takes up certain sectors. As you use hard disk for a long time such as adding, changing and deleting files, it is unavoidable to create a lot of discontinuous sectors so that disk head has to spend more time in reading and writing the data. This can lead to slow computer. That is why you need to defragment disk regularly. You ought to perform defragmenting program to rearrange those discontinuous files in order so as to optimize Windows. It is better for you to do that based on the usage of hard disk in your computer.

At the same time, you can reduce the loading items when starting computer. Many applications add system startup group forcibly when you install them in the computer. Therefore, every time the computer starts up, they may run automatically. It can not only delay starting time but also take up a lot of system resource. It is advisable for you to reduce such items in order to speed up computer.

By doing the methods, you can speed up Windows without question. Since slow computer is really a head ache for all the users, you have to be very careful in daily operation.

Put the shortcuts reasonably.
In most situations, you run software by using its shortcut. Many users like to put shortcuts on the desktop. As more and more applications are installed in the computer, there are an increasing number of shortcuts in the desktop. In this way, excessive shortcuts cannot only daze the users but also decrease the computer performance because they take up too much system resource that can result in unstable system.
Therefore, you had better use shortcuts properly and put others to “Start” menu and shortcut starting column and then delete all the shortcuts of uninstalled software so as to improve system performance. In addition, do not use repeated shortcuts as possible as you can.

Use certain software cautiously.
Certain software means those real-time anti-virus software and firewall. Such kind of software can occupy plenty of system and CPU resource, even more than thirty percent. The best way to protect your computer is not to visit those unstable and unsafe websites. It is more fundamental than over clocking the CPU.

Use hard disk properly.
First of all, let us learn the physical structure of hard disk briefly. Hard disk is basically divided into certain sectors on every track. Since hard disk is running mechanically, the less density of sectors is, the faster hard disk is searching, reading and writing. So, you can categorize your hard disk properly. It is advisable for you to put different applications to different disks. For example, games software is put in D disk and video files in others.
Besides, do not forget defragmenting disks regularly. It is quite useful for hard disk and computer optimization; because it can help you manage those disk fragments clearly so as to free up disk space to run applications smoothly.

And, you should not make desktop background too complex.
Even some users make active desktop. Beautiful as it is, it can not bring any tangible benefit to system. On the contrary, system may become unstable by using such function. In this regard, you can forbid active desktop for sure.

Although active desktop can display Web components, it has obvious influence on CPU processing speed and reduces Windows performance as well. Therefore, it can improve system responding performance by forbidding this specious function. You can right-click desktop to find “Properties”, choose “Web” option and cross out the options of viewing active desktop by Web and IE channel.

To sum up, you are able to improve system performance a lot by using the methods in this article. Besides that, you can try to simplify your system after making computer optimization. It can not do any harm to your computer indeed.

There is a large number of swap files in the hard disk which is prepared for putting virtual memory and many applications may often use them. In this way, system has to read the major storage at every turn. Its speed is the main cause that has influence on computer running speed. Normally, Windows system can manage virtual memory automatically according to different requirement of various applications. However, such variable changes can add excessive burden to system and reduce its working speed. As a result, you had better set the maximum and minimum values of virtual memory so as to avoid altering that too often.
As for how to do that, you can right-click “My Computer” and click “Properties”. And in the “Advanced” tab, choose “Performance” dialog box and then set “Virtual Memory”. By doing this, you can improve computer performance by limiting virtual memory correctly.

Then you should check applications and drive programs. Some programs may slow down system speed when computer starts up. If you want to check the problems in this regard, you can start your computer under “Safe Mode”. Because it is the original starting method, it should be slower than normal ways. Actually, the safe mode booting way does not have to load too many applications and drives as normal one does. But if you find it is faster rather than slower, it is probably that certain program in the system goes awry so that computer booting is so tardy. So, you need to check them in order to improve computer performance.

What is more, excessive desktop icons can reduce computer performance as well. Every time when Windows startup and display desktop, it has to find and load desktop shortcuts one by one. The more shortcuts are there, the more time are needed. Meanwhile, some anti-virus software has the function to scan system which also wastes much time. As a matter of fact, if you have opened real-time monitor function of certain software, it seems redundant to scan system when booting. You can shut down this scanning function but should be on condition that you have opened real-time monitor. And, it is suggested that you can put the seldom used icons to a specific folder or delete them without further ado.

Now, are there problems in your computer in accord with one or more descriptions in this article? If so, you should take some measures to improve computer performance; if not, you also ought to prevent those problems so as to optimize Windows performance.

It can categorize into two kinds: logical and physical bad tracks. Put in simple way, logical one is produced by using certain software or disk improperly while physical bad track is due to problem of magnetic media of hard disk itself. As a matter of fact, to fix the former is much easier to fix than the latter one.

If you find your hard disk is troubled with following problems, it is necessity for you to check whether there is bad track in the disks.

As a matter of fact, your system is not affected by any virus but cannot startup normally and come up with some prompts like “Sector not found” or “General error in reading drive C”. Every time you start up system, it will run Scan disk program to scan disk errors. The normal running sound has changed into weird creaking. Or when formatting hard disk, it stops at certain schedule and then report errors that it cannot finish the whole task. If you perform “FDISK” to hard disk, it repeats at certain schedule. What is worse, the computer might fall into blue screen without any wrong operation.

How to fix bad tracks?
As it is extremely rigorous requirement for interior working environment in the hard disk, any tiny dust can result in irreversible damages. Therefore, if there is any bad track in the disk, you cannot fix the problems by taking apart the disks but can turn to other specific tools to help you so as to minimize the loss. After confirming the bad tracks in the disks, you are not still sure whether they belong to logical or physical. So, you have to fix disk errors from simple to complex means. The common logical problems can be solved by using Windows program or others. But as for physical ones, you need further repair to guarantee the safety of hard disk data and normal usage.

Shield physical bad tracks
If bad track still exits after low-level formatting, it is no doubt that there are physical bad tracks on it. Such problem is produced usually by furious impinge or abrupt power-off during using hard disk and disk head may likely collide with disk when it is tail-wagging. Even though you use disk checking program to mark those bad tracks so as to forbid operating system visiting this sector, the physical ones can extend after a period of time. That is to say, although you have marked bad ones, hard disk is likely to visit the sectors closed to bad tracks which can deteriorate the situation. In order to avoid such problem, you had better shield bad tracks into an unused partition.

By doing the above steps, you can fix logical bad tracks or shield bad tracks into hidden partition so as to ensure the stability of system running and safety of data files. In this way, you can refresh hard disks.

There are many aspects that will result in hard disk bad tracks, and most of them have direct connecting with the illegal operation and usage of hard disk in daily life. Here, some causes will be discussed, telling you how to protect your hard disk with some tiny points.

First, please remember not to suddenly turn off the computer because when the hard disk is still working. Simply stated, when the hard disk is running, it always operates at high speed for the read-write head to read data from different locations of the hard disk. If the power turns off suddenly, the hard disk head will quickly return to its place, which severally hardens the friction between the disk and the read-write head. So please remember not to suddenly turn off the power.

Secondly, please note that dust will greatly result in bad tracks and crash the hard disk, so sometimes we can say that dust is the number one killer of hard disk. To protect your hard disk, please keep your computer as dust-free as your can.

Besides, though the hard disk has the ability to resist shock, a shock will also result in bad tracks. So it is much better to be careful enough when moving the computer. Moreover, I believe it is known to all that bad tracks will be also caused by static electricity. Once you have touched the computer box when the computer is running, you will get a shock because of the static electricity. So please do not touch the circuit board at the back of the hard disk for the electrostatic on human body.

Another important consideration is related to the maintenance of the hard disk which includes a disk defragmentation and a cleanup of the programs / files on the computer. As we all know that when storing files or programs on the computer, a same content will be scattered into different parts and then located or filled in different corners on the hard disk. With the increasing amount of the disk fragments, the hard disk will become fragmented as days by. So it is recommended to regularly defragment the hard disk, rearranging the files on the computer and locating contiguously at a same place. Hence, it will reduce the workload of the hard disk head when inputting or outputting files. In this way, only only the hard disk but also the computer can be used longer. But before the defragmentation, please remember to first run a disk cleanup to delete some useless files.

In conclusion, to protect your hard disk, please do not miss the above aspects to avoid more bad tracks, that is, it is necessary for you to form good habits like running disk defragmentation in daily life to protect your hard disk.

As hard disk problems are divided mainly into two aspects—logical and physical bad tracks. If it is logical problem, you can reinstall software under the worst circumstance. And for physical one, you can still handle it on condition that the problems are not so serious.

First of all, let us see what will happen if there is physical damage in the hard disk.
When reading certain file or running programs, it is easy to go awry or takes long time to operate successfully. Even when reading, hard disk is creaking hoarsely. If this happens, you have to aware that certain sectors with data have been broken already.

When booting computer, system can not be lead by hard disk. After starting floppy disk, it can switch to hard disk drive letter but cannot enter into it. Even by using SYS order, it still fails. All of these are probably caused by the problem in hard disk sectors. It is more serious than the previous one. Besides, computer is always troubled with blue screen without any specific reason even though you use it correctly.

According to the situation mentioned above, there are some ways to remedy. Here are some methods to repair hard disk bad tracks. You should take these measures orderly.

First of all, it is wise for you from the easiest way. In Windows98 system, you can right-click drive letter and choose “Properties”. In the “Tool” tab, you can choose to scan the disk thoroughly and automatically restore the probable broken cluster.

To be frankly, the first methods can not work very well every time, because Windows98 just repair the logical bad tracks but not physical ones. Therefore, you should consider perform “Cold Treatment” to these bad tracks. So-called “Cold Treatment” is to mark those tracks and do not use them any more. You should remember their positions and perform high-level formatting. By doing these, those tracks can be arranged in certain area and computer may not restore any file there. Do not decide such area too small in order to save hard disk space. Because bad tracks can extend to other good ones, it is wise for you to leave proper space for those broken tracks in case of new bad tracks happen. Or you can use certain specific software to help you.

In the last resort, you can do low-level formatting to hard disk. This should be the last measure to take because it can harm disks in two aspects at least: one is to abrade disk; another is to accelerate the extension of bad tracks.

Last but not least, if there is any bad track, you should review whether you defragment disk too frequently or there is too low memory so that the applications have to visit disks hourly.

All of the methods mentioned above can solve hard disk physical bad tracks problems correctly but passively, because it expenses the disk capacity. So, the best way is to operate hard disk cautiously.

The one of problems is that if there is any error in the hard disk, it can hinder the applications to write temporary files into it. In order to solve it, you should make sure that there are not excessive temporary files, so it is better for you to remove them at first. By doing this, you can know that the problem is caused by too many files or disk errors.

First of all, I would like to tell how and where to clear up temporary files. Sometimes, redundant temporary files can be in the way of writing to hard disk.
Temporary folder: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files and C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\
History temporary folder: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\recent\
Internet temporary folders: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

In the menu of browser, you can click “Tools”—“Internet Options”. In the “Temporary Internet files” tab, click “Settings”—“View Files”. And then you can open this cache folder.
Or you can click “Start”—“Run” and type “Chkdsk” and press “Enter” or click “OK” so that the computer can start to check disk. In this way, you can add “D:” or “E:” to check them. Besides, you can also add the parameter of “blank/F” to restore errors automatically when detecting errors. For example, click “Start”—“Run” and type “Chkdsk D: /F”. You should be careful that there is a blank ahead of “F”.

Certain software like playing ones can produce temporary folders automatically when running. Such folders end with “temp” or “tmp”. You can find them by searching local disks and remove them manually.

Another problem is computer always reminds that “disk boot error” and you have to restart computer many times before entering into system. Why?

If you have encountered this problem, it is no doubt that there is logical or physical bad track in the hard disk. In the first place, you can enter into system and open the disk defragmenting program of Windows by clicking “Start”—“All Programs”—“Accessories”—“System Tools”. Choose to scan thoroughly and tick “Automatically fix errors” and then perform scanning program to see whether you can get rid of this trouble. If not, you had better back up the important files and data to other storage and try other restoring software to put those bad tracks into certain partition and hide them. The last method is to do low-level format. Although it softens or shield problems, low-level formatting can harm your disk without question. That is to say, you ought to make your mind cautiously before doing that.

All in all, since a lot of cause can lead to hard disk problems
. The best method to prevent them is to protect hard disk in advance.