These days, life seems to speed by at 110 kilometres an hour, with people rushing to and forth, multi-tasking on their smart phones while catching public transport, having one meeting en route to another. As a result, we need our computers to meet our dizzying pace, which is why it is more important than ever that they run at optimum speed. There are several ways in which you can aide this in happening, without having to fork out for costly computer repairs when your machine seems a little sluggish. Here are our 4 top tips for keeping your PC running at a sprint.

1. Get Rid Of Adware!
Accessing and downloading ‘free’ programs online often has the hidden cost of slowing down your computer, as adware will be downloaded onto your system so that those annoying ads will continue to pop up on your desktop. These take up valuable space and should be removed, which you can do easily by installing a program such as Adware 6.0, Spybot Search and Destroy or another effective program. These can be run every week and can dramatically affect the amount of space on your hard drive depending on the type of sites you re accessing.

2. Get Rid Of Start Up Files
In order to get your attention and be the most-used programs, almost every program you install has the ability to install itself into your startup drive, which means it begins to run when you start to use your computer, whether or not you need it at that time. In order to discover which programs are running, you can do a simple check (control/alt/delete on a PC) and then cull them. Leave any virus scanners running though, and look for detailed instructions on how to clear unwanted startup files.
3. Install Only What You Need
Often we forget that the programs we download with reckless abandon take up valuable space and speed on our computers. Think carefully about whether you really need the novelty applications or multiple operating systems for the one function–instead of having 3 or 4 music downloading sites or photo editing software, choose the best one for you and then stick with it. Also, in terms of Microsoft Office, make sure you custom select what you’d like to install in order to save on space.
4. Defragment Your Computer
Keeping your software organised, with everything in its rightful place is kind of like sorting out your cutlery drawer–it makes things go much more smoothly! Defragmentation is a process you can implement yourself very easily on your computer, at least once every two months. On a Windows XP operating system you access defragmentation as follows:
Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter
These are just a few steps you can take to ensure your computer runs as quickly as it can. There are countless tips and tricks for keeping things running well, so, just like you service your car in order to maintain it, a regular computer service using those tips is a necessary part of maintaining your investment.