Introduction

If you’re reading this book chances are good you have a slow computer at home. Here’s the short list on how to tell if you have a slow computer.

1. You can go make coffee, drink a cup or two and come back and your computer is still loading up.
2. You hate your computer and consider it more of a giant size paper weight than a usable machine.
3. Your computer is so cluttered with stuff you can’t find anything.
4. Your hard drive is full to the brim and you have no idea what to do with it all.
5. Your blood pressure goes up at simply the thought of using your computer.

If any of these apply to you, you’re in the right place.

What causes a slow computer?

Well slow computers can be cause by a lot of things. A common culprit is age. Like anything, as it gets older computers tend to slow down and parts start to wear out.
But if your computer isn’t suffering from old age just yet, then chances are good your hard drive is just full of stuff and most of it you probably don’t even realize is there. You see every time you use your computer, install software, add or remove or change files, you create what are called temporary files. There is nothing you can do about this, it’s something that happens on every computer but it can be fixed. You have the ability to delete those temporary files and later on in the book I’m going to show you how to do just that. Once the clutter is gone and your hard drive is clean(er) you’ll find that it will speed up considerably. Think of it this way - try running in waist high water. How fast can you go? Not very right? Well the same is true with your hard drive. At some point it will get buried in so much stuff that it just won’t be able to go very fast. Not that it doesn’t want to, it just can’t.

What will I get from this book?

Well you’re going to learn how to clean up your computer and I’ll give you the strategies to keep it that way. I promise, this first time around will be the most painful because your computer is at it’s most cluttered state right now. If you keep up with it and do these things regularly your computer will stay clean and running smoothly for a long time to come.

What if it’s still slow?

The last couple of chapters in the book are about upgrading the RAM and buying a new computer. Sometimes no amount of fixing is going to make that old computer go any faster. So I’ll give you a bunch of tips and tricks to think about as you head down to the local computer shop to buy a new one. But don’t fret, it’s not as scary as it sounds!