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

Description

This is a working draft of a pre-release book. It is available before the published date as part of the Rough Cuts service.

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

Sample Content

Table of Contents

Introduction

    What’s in This Book

    Who Can Use This Book

    How to Use This Book

    There’s More Online

    Speed It Up!

1 What’s Slowing Down Your Computer?

Signs That Your Computer Is Getting Slower

    It Takes Longer for Your PC to Start

    It Takes Longer to Do Familiar Tasks

    Your Computer Gets Sluggish When You Have Two or More Windows

        Open at a Time

    Your Computer Pauses for Long Stretches at a Time–or Freezes Up

Signs That Your Computer Really Isn’t Getting Slower–Even if You Think it Is

    New Programs Run Slowly

    Your Computer Has Trouble Running the Latest Games

    You Upgrade to Windows Vista and Your PC Gets Sluggish

    Internet Sites Take Forever to Load

    It Takes a Long Time to Copy Files Across Your Network

Quick Fix: Five Quick Steps to Improve Your PC’s Performance

    Quick Step 1: Reboot Your Computer

    Quick Step 2: Delete Unnecessary Files

    Quick Step 3: Remove Unused Programs

    Quick Step 4: Defragment Your Hard Disk

    Quick Step 5: Add More Memory with ReadyBoost

The Bottom Line

2 Before You Start: Protect Your Data

Potential Problems: What Can Go Wrong When Speeding Up Your PC

    The Wrong Programs Are Uninstalled

    Valuable Data Gets Deleted

    A Registry Edit Goes Bad

    You Have to Reformat Your Hard Drive (and Reinstall Windows)

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