It’s an inevitable fact that the operating speed of computers deteriorates over time. Conspiracy theorists will tell you that this is the result of a pact between Intel and Microsoft, in a bid to force their customers to buy a new PC every few years. I wouldn’t be quite so cynical about it - usually all that is required to speed up the machine is a bit of routine maintenance. So over the next couple of weeks I aim to provide some basic tips on improving your PC or laptop’s performance.

We’ll start with the hard disk. First, check that the hard disk is not too full. Windows-based computers begin to slow down when the hard disk reaches 50% of capacity. To see how much space is used, go to My Computer, right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. A pie chart is displayed showing disk usage. To free up some hard disk space try any or all of the following:

1. Right-click My Computer and click Properties. Select the System Restore tab. Move the slider to the left to decrease the portion of disk space reserved for backup files. I would usually set this to the minimum allowed (200MB). Then click Apply. Expect the system to hang for a minute as it reallocates disk space.

2. Still in the System Properties, go to Advanced and click the Settings button under the User Profiles heading. Be careful here - deleting an unused user profile can free up lots of space, but that user’s documents and settings will be irretrievably lost. Only delete the profiles of people who no longer use the computer. Click OK when finished.

3. Open My Computer, double-click C: drive, then Windows folder. Any folders displayed here whose names begin and end with a dollar sign ($), are backups created when a Microsoft security update was installed, and are safe to delete. These folders may be hidden, so it might be necessary to go to the Folder Options on the Tools menu, click the View tab and select Show Hidden Files and Folders.

4. Open Internet Explorer and go to Tools - Internet Options and delete the Temporary Internet Files. It is also possible to adjust the space allocated for these files by clicking the settings button. I recommend no more then 100MB.

5. Go back to the C: drive properties, as described previously. Click the Tools tab, and the Check Now button under the Error-Checking heading. Select both options here and click Start. A message will probably pop up, saying that the disk cannot be checked now, and asking if you want to schedule it to occur the next time the machine is restarted. Click Yes. Don’t restart the PC yet, as the check can take anything up to an hour to run. Best to wait until after the next step.

6. Click on the Defragment Now button, and when the Disk Defragmenter window appears, click Defragment. This process rearranges and consolidates the system files on the hard disk, making them quicker to access for the PC. It takes 15-30 minutes to run, or longer if the hard disk is in bad shape.

7. Finally, once the defragmentation is complete, restart the PC and allow the scheduled disk check to run, by NOT pressing any keys when prompted. When it (eventually) finishes, the hard disk should be working as well as it did when it left the factory.

That’s it for hard disk maintenance. Next week I will show how to assess memory (RAM) usage, and find problem programs that might be slowing down the PC. In the meantime, post a comment if you have any questions on this subject and I will do my best to answer them.