Speed It Up! A Non-Technical Guide for Speeding Up Slow Computers

Book excerpt: Speed It Up! A Non-Technical Guide for Speeding Up Slow Computers Does your PC perform like grandma on a cold winter morning? Does it limp along slowly through everyday tasks, such as starting up, shutting down or just opening an email? Are you wondering if your PC’s get up and go has got up and left? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this is the book for you. Sure, there are uber-geeky guides out there that provide tweaks and customizations appealing to the pocket protector nation, but there is no other book that addresses these common problems at the everyday consumer level. We think it’s time for a book that covers all of these topics in a way that appeals to real humans, like you. Let us help you keep your PC running like it did the day you brought it home from the store. • Troubleshooting—We show you how to diagnose the cause of your PC’s dawdling behavior. We help you determine whether the culprit is your hardware, software, the network, a cluttered registry, or even a virus. • Software—We show you dozens of easy, non-techy things you can do to speed up Windows, your applications, your Internet apps, and more. • Hardware—We show you easy upgrades you can do yourself. The solutions we provide are easy to implement. • Network—We show you how to easily fix network issues that are robbing you of precious time. • Buyer’s advice—If it’s time to put your beloved PC out to pasture, we offer some tried and true advice for choosing a new PC and keeping it in tip-top condition. CATEGORY: Windows Operating Systems COVERS: Windows XP, Windows Vista USER LEVEL: Beginning-Intermediate