Windows XP Slow? - Top 5 Ways to Fix it Now

What Makes Windows XP Slow?
With so many people using Windows XP and it being nearly 10 years since its release in 2001. There has been a surge in the number of people wanting to know what makes Windows XP slow and more importantly, how to fix it. The answer is simply - daily use. Unfortunately, the Windows operating system is good at doing a large number of things except keeping itself running at its best. As people use their computers, a large amount of information is gathered over the years and accumulates on their PCs. As you install new programs onto your computer, remove old ones that you no longer use, install new devices like iPods, cameras and webcams, you PC begins to get clogged up and naturally begins to slow down.

The first sign of your computer slowing down is the start-up time. If you can easily, switch on your PC and make yourself a coffee, come back and watch it still loading, then you have the signs of a slow Windows XP computer. If you avoid taking any action at this point, then things will only tend to get worse. As a quick example, do you remember when you first got your PC and how quickly everything was? It's amazing how over time, it can slow down to the point of absolute frustration. The good news is that you can fix it relatively quickly and easily.

The Top 5 Ways To Speed Up Windows XP

1. Get rid of all the programs that you're no longer using. To do this, open the Control Panel and click on 'Add/Remove Programs'. Then browse through the list and remove those applications that you don't use anymore. They are just making Windows XP slow.
2. Remove programs from the start-up folder. From the 'Start' menu, open the 'Startup' folder and 'right click' on the programs listed in & select 'Delete' on the ones that are not necessary. For example, if there is an Anti-virus program, you'll want to make sure you keep that one. The same for any firewall software as these are important for your computer.
3. Defragment your hard drive. This can be found in the 'Accessories->System Tools' folder and the program is called; 'Disk Defragmenter'. It may be an idea to let this run over night depending on how many files you have on your computer.
4. Turn off System Restore. Most people hardly use this feature. And even if you did leave it running, most people wouldn't know how to restore their PC back to a previous instance if they really wanted to.
5. Clean up your registry. Get your hands on a proper Registry Cleaner. When referring to proper, that means avoiding the freebies on the internet. They are very reasonably priced and may set you back $20-$40 however; the huge difference to your computer's speed will be worth every single penny.

Now that you have a short list of ways to speed up you r computer and what makes Windows XP slow, you should get started today and open your control panel right now to get rid of those unused programs.

If you're not sure which registry cleaners will make a difference to your, check out some of the latest reviews here: http://xpslow.org

Windows XP Slow? Here's What to Do

Why Is Windows XP Slow?
It seems to be one of those things with having a PC running Windows XP. The slow Windows XP experience that you have probably been putting up with for a while is a result of a number of things that accumulate as you use your computer. The main problem with Windows XP is that it contains a registry. The registry is like a central place where all the settings of your computer and the location of all your installed programs are stored.

Each time you do something on your computer, like start a program, change the wallpaper on your desktop or install a new printer, the registry is updated with this new information. As you can imagine, the large number of tasks that the average person performs on their computer each week, causes the registry to get quite complicated. Unfortunately, the registry is one of the main downfalls of the Windows XP operating system.

How To Fix Windows XP?
There are many things that you can do for your Windows XP system. The first thing you should do is remove those unwanted programs. They are just taking up space and causing things to take longer, especially if they are loading things up when you start up your computer. You would be amazed at how many software programs include little applications that start to make their own program run faster. These programs are usually located in the taskbar on the bottom right side of your screen. Have a look to see how many you have on your screen now out of curiosity. If you have more than 5 icons, you know that this is causing your computer to run slower than normal.

The next thing is to 'Defragment' your hard drive. This will basically put everything back in order so that it's easy for your computer to find things when you are opening applications and documents. The good news is that there is an application located in the 'Accessories->System Tools' folder in the Windows 'Start' menu to do this.

The last solution is probably the most important for the slow Windows XP problem. It's also the one that you'll see most benefit from in terms of speed. It requires you to get a registry cleaner to fix up your registry and remove all those unnecessary entries. This will make such a big difference, especially to the start up speed of your PC. As with all things, you get what you pay for, so avoid those free programs on the internet, they are playing around with the heart of your Windows XP system. Try and think of it like this, if you needed heart surgery, would you go for someone that you found in the yellow pages, or someone that has a good track record and comes highly recommended. Make sense?

Hopefully you know have a good idea about what makes Windows XP slow, and what you can do for making it a little faster.

If you're curious about which registry cleaners are worth your time, check them out here at: XP Slow? - Speed It Up Now

XP Slow? - 3 Thing to Do Now

Why is Windows XP slow?
How long do you sit at your computer waiting for it to start up? How long does it take to start a program or even surf the web? If you can start your computer, go off and make yourself a cup of coffee, come back, and the computer still hasn't finished loading up, then something is seriously wrong. The good news is that you can do something that's easy, quick and will make such a big difference to the speed of your computer, you'll wish you had done it ages ago.

The main reason why Windows XP gets really slow, is because it has a thing called a registry. The registry is like a phonebook for your computer. Every time your computer needs to do something like start a program, for example, after you've clicked on it, Windows XP will go to the registry (the phonebook) and look up the program that you clicked on (a person's name) and see what it should do next (the person's phone number).

Things tend to get bad as time goes on because the registry gets bigger when you install / remove programs, meaning that it takes longer to find things (just as it would with a bigger phonebook). Things get especially bad when you remove programs because when you remove the program, it may not remove all traces from the registry, causing invalid or corrupt entries to be left in the registry. This is like looking up a person's name in the phonebook and calling the telephone number listed, but the number has been disconnected.

What Can You Do About It?
With Windows XP slow, you'll need to do 3 things at the very least to get your computer working at a faster speed.

1. Remove the programs you don't use anymore - they're just taking up room and making things harder to find for your computer.
2. Defragment the hard drive (the program's already installed) - over time, things get spread out all over your hard drive, when you defragment, it's like putting the files back in order to make searching for them easier.
3. Clean up your registry - the most important of the 3. And hopefully, you should know why now. Get yourself a good registry cleaner. Avoid the freebies, like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.

Now that you have a better understanding of why Windows XP is slow, do yourself a favour and follow these simple steps to get your PC running properly.

If you're not sure which registry cleaner will help speed up your computer, check out my latest reviews here: http://xpslow.org/why-is-xp-slow/