How to make your computer faster

t is indeed the bane of all computers that with the passing of time, the performance tends to drop off. The pc you bought for thousands of dollars, only twelve months ago, which was the fastest, shiniest thing you could afford, is now starting to slow down. You constantly notice the hard drive light flashing away, and have gotten used to going for a coffee when you turn it on to give it time to load up... Well, I'd like to cover some ideas to get your PC back into ship-shape, starting from software tweaks and initiatives, to inexpensive hardware modifications. These tips are good for beginners and experienced users too, with some as simple as accessing underused windows tools, to exploring the Bios menu and overclocking... let's get started :

1 - Software tweaking (The least expensive option, can have some good results)

The tools I will focus on first are both already in windows. First and foremost, get rid of your temporary files, which are clogging up your hard drive by running "Disk Cleanup" (Located in Accessories->System Tools) this will allow you to get rid of these files all in one go. You can check every box in the list EXCEPT for compress old files. This may sound like a good idea, but if you refer back to these files they will need to be decompressed first and this will degrade performance. The second step after a cleanup is to run a complete defragmentaion of your hard drive. This will help to rearrange files so they are contiguous, and will reduce searching across your hard drive. This tool is also found in the system tools folder.

Now that we have cleaned and run a defrag we can move onto some other programs I recommend, they are : Ccleaner (Crap Cleaner) This program will not only run an advanced version of disk cleanup, it also has a registry problem checker which is great. This program is free. Another great program to keep your PC in shape and bug-free is Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, this is another free (for home use) program which will scan your drive for bugs and cookies and clean them off for you. A final piece of advice is to uninstall (Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs) any unused pieces of software on your PC. This will ensure you have maximum hard disk space available, and the least amount of clutter.

2 - Hardware Upgrades and Tweaking

This section is a little more involved, and can mean some expense for hardware, however the performance gains will be a lot more noticeable.

Firstly when dealing with home PC's, one component can make a huge impact on performance, this component is the RAM. by increasing the RAM, we are enabling the computer to reduce the usage of the slow (relative to RAM) hard disk drive, and also allow it to store more cached material to enable smooth loading of programs. You will get much more performance per dollar for ram, than for any other upgrade. Most modern day PC's use either DDR or DDR-2 Ram. (you can check this by asking your manufacturer or referring to your user manual). Often, increasing ram is as simple as purchasing from your local retailer, taking the side of your PC case (Switched off!) and popping it in the slot, this is made all the less daunting by the fact that it will only fit in in one direction, saving you from blowing anything up inadvertently! If you are considering upgrading your ram, purchase at least a 512Mb Stick, as the price seems to reduce each increment (ie 2 sticks of 256 will cost more than 1 stick of 512).

The final component of low cost computer speed enhancement is the procedure called 'overclocking' by overclocking components we are increasing their 'work per cycle' by increasing their running speed. Overclocking is no easy task, but the sheer volume of guides available on the net make it a lot easier to ascertain the ability of your hardware to be overclocked, as well as the expected percentages.
Usually, this process is carried out in BIOS (the menu you get on startup, usually entered by pressing Del or any one of the -F- Keys). The process involves increasing base frequencies to bring the speed of the central processing unit up, usually by a factor of 5-15% (Heat and cooling are huge factors) to increase the processing power of the unit. This will translate into a direct increase in running and loading times of programs. Although I will not tackle the process here, as it varies based on hardware and numerous other factors (please use google to find a suitable guide). This process works because of the mass produced nature of processors and their ability to run x% higher than their retail markings. Using this technique will yield you a free performance boost in all applications. Please use with caution as warranties can be voided and parts can be damaged.

I hope you found this guide helpful in bringing your PC up to speed and giving you some ideas where to find software and guides to get your PC in top shape. I hope that with this guide, you can squeeze another 12 months life into your PC!

Overclocking Marathon Day 3 - A Budget Build

Editor's Note: On the first day of our overclocking marathon, we tried overclocking Dell's factory-overclocked XPS H2C with very modest success. Yesterday, based on requests from many of you, we overclocked our high-end build from May's System Builders Marathon; it did very well indeed. Today we build a brand new low-cost PC designed for optimal overclocking and see how far we can push it to maximize its performance. Tomorrow we'll sum up the performance of the three PCs in our overclocking experiments and show you which of the three is the best from a price performance perspective.

What Makes A Good Budget Build?

As we mentioned in our original system builder marathon, the budget specification we first came up with didn't cover overclocking. But we decided that to take on a high-end Core 2 Extreme in the overclocking department, we would have to take a hard look at what we wanted to include in this budget build. Here is a list of the components we used for this article - if you think we're off base on anything, an explanation of our choices follows.

System Builder Marathon High-End PC Component Cost
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo e4300	$120
CPU Cooler	Thermalright XP-90 & 120mm fan	$55
Motherboard	Asus P5B	$115
RAM	Wintec Ampo DDR2 PC2-6400 - 2GB	$81
Graphics	GeForce 8800GTX	$500
Hard Drive	Western Digital Caviar 250GB	$63
Sound	Onboard	$0
Case	Raidmax Smilodon	$80
Power	Aerocool Zerodba 620w	$125
DVD-RW	Sony NEC Optiarc 7170 SATA	$35
Total Price		$1174

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300

Our main change from the marathon budget build is the platform of course - we've chosen the Core 2 Duo e4300 over the Athlon X2 3200+ used in our budget marathon. The reason for this is simple: the Athlon 64 architecture simply doesn't measure up to the Core 2 Duo when overclocking is introduced to the equation.

While that is almost indisputable, many will disagree with the member of the Core 2 Duo family that we've chosen to overclock. The e4300 CPU only has 2 MB of cache and low a stock clock speed of 1.8 GHz, but it does have a very nice 9x multiplier and an ultra-low price of $120. The e4300 has proven to be a cheap, safe bet to get to 3 GHz with a decent motherboard.

But why didn't we choose the e6600 processor instead? For $100 more the e6600 also has the sweet 9x multiplier, double the cache for extra performance, and a reputation for high overclocking. In addition, the e6600 has been known to reach speeds of more than 3.5 GHz. In truth, the e6600 is also an excellent choice for a budget overclocker's system, and is probably even a better choice than the e4300 we used. Frankly, there is a bit of male hubris involved in our choice as we had an e4300 on hand and wanted to show that it could run with the big boys. The only other thing we'll mention is that if you're running an e6600 at 3.5 GHz or more you'd probably want to consider some high-end water or TEC cooling, which would have added a bit more to the cost of the build.

When all was said and done, even though our e4300 was no record breaker, we're very happy with the results from a cost/performance standpoint. But if you're putting together an overclocking rig, you should definitely give the e6600 some serious consideration as well if you can afford the extra $100.

CPU Cooler: Thermalright XP-90- And 120-mm Fan

When overclocking is the goal, the stock CPU cooler isn't going to cut it. Thermalright offers some excellent high-end air coolers for a good price, the only downside being you have to purchase the 120-mm fan separately. But $40 for the XP-90 and $15 for a 120-mm fan is well worth the huge cooling performance increase over the weak bundled cooler which, in the case of the e4300, was only designed to keep the CPU cool at 1.8 GHz.

If you manage to bring your overclocked CPU to even higher heights and find that a high-end air cooler isn't doing the job, it's probably time to consider water or TEC cooling. But for speeds less than 3.5 GHz at regular voltages on the Core 2 Duo, a high-end air cooler will probably do the job.

We should note that the XP-90 is an older cooler and may be difficult to source. The newer Thermalright SI-128 should do a similar, if not better, job for about $5 more.