Your computer running Windows isn’t running in the same speed that it used to run when you

first used it. It’s slower, crappy, takes a while to start and tests your patience like anything. There
are many reasons for this, let’s try fixing up a few things on your slow Windows PC:

Slow Start Up
There can be a variety of reasons to Windows loading slow during start up. Go to Run, type
msconfig and hit enter. Under the ‘Start Up’ tab, uncheck the unwanted programs and press OK.
Things should be a bit fine the next time Windows boots.

Another program worth mentioning here is StartUp Delayer which will help in setting after how
much time programs should be loaded after Windows boots. For instance, you could set your
instant messenger program to load 50 seconds after Windows starts up.

Slow Loading Start Menu

If the Start Menu items are loading slowly, you can open the Registry Editor by typing in the
Run menu ‘regedit.exe’ and pressing Enter. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\Desktop. Look for MenuShowDelay, and double click to edit the value. The lower the
number specified, the faster the Start Menu will load.

Slow Right Click Context Menu

Probably the Windows Right Click menu on your computer is loading slow because too many
programs added unwanted entries there. Just download this program called Mmm, install it and
then modify your context menu to remove unwanted items to speed it up.

Slow Send To Menu

If the Send To menu loads slowly, you can type ’sendto’ in the Run Dialog,
and remove unwanted items in the Explorer Window that appears. This
should add some speed to it.

Slow Defragmentation
The Windows Defragmenter can’t get any slower. You need to have an alternative to the
Windows Defragmenter, and Defraggler is just one of the best ones available in the market. It’s
free, and works like a charm and can speed up defragmentation manifold. For some alternatives,
see Five Free Programs to Defragment your PC.

Slow loading My Computer Window

If the My Computer Window loads slowly, in the Explorer Window, go to Tools >>
Folder Options >> View and uncheck ‘Automatically search for network folders and
printers”

Slow loading Add or Remove Programs Applet

This is one of the most annoying piece of programs present in Windows, it takes ages to load if
you have a considerable number of programs installed on your computer. You can either use the
all-in-one CCleaner for this purpose, or get MyUninstaller that comes as a speedy replacement
for Add or Remove Programs.
Slow Ending of Unresponsive Programs
If you’ve clicked on ‘End Task’ if any program is running unresponsive, you might have noticed
that the program is not terminated immediately. You can alter this by going to Run >>
regedit.exe >> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ and change this
value to 1000.

Disable Animations and Appearance Overhauls to maximize performance

If you’re a serious performance junkie, you probably won’t bother about eyecandy. Go to System
Properties in the Control Panel. Click ‘Advanced’, then ‘Performance’ and click ‘Adjust for best
performance’. This might boost your PC’s performance up a bit.

Additional Tips:

- Always keep your computer clean. Remove Junk and Unnecessary registry entries. Use
CCleaner for this purpose, one excellent tool that just does what it says.

- Don’t keep installing software. Install a program only if it really serves you a purpose.

- Keep as less programs as possible running on the System Tray. This essentially means reducing
the number of programs that start during Windows start up.
(By) Shankar Ganesh, a student and part time blogger from India, and the guy behind
KillerTechTips