Planning on Reinstalling Windows? Read This First

Planning on Reinstalling Windows? Read This First

Many people find that their Windows computers slow down over time. Often, the solution they come up with is to do a painstaking reinstall. They back up all their files, wipe their hard drive and put either their Recovery disk or their Windows disk in the optical drive to reinstall Windows. Once they do that, they may need to install all their drivers and programs all over again. The entire process can take up the better part of a day.

Why should Windows slow down in the first place?

Windows can slow down for a number of reasons.

•  Many branded computers come with a bunch of software trials and utilities pre-installed. These are of limited are questionable the use too many users. Many such programs are set up to launch upon startup. A heavy startup load can slow down your computer right from the get-go. As you install software of your own, many of them (like Skype, Realtek or uTorrent) could be set up to launch on startup, too. At some point, your computer will have 10 or 15 programs to launch each time you start the computer up. Inevitably, this slows a computer down. You need to set these programs do not launch on startup.

Do you notice that each time you right-click on something, it takes a few seconds for the context menu to come up? This can happen when you have several programs installed that add items to your context-sensitive right-click menus.

•  Some programs install as background services – they constantly run, whether you use them or not.

•  You could have a resource hogging security suite that tries to protect you on every front. You could speed up your computer simply by uninstalling the program and installing just an antivirus program instead.

•  You can collect poorly written plug-ins, programs and toolbars over time. The Ask toolbar, for instance, is one such product. It installs itself on computers by piggybacking on other programs like Java. Whatever program you choose to install on your computer, you need to make sure that it’s a well-written one.

Reinstalling Windows is only a partial solution

•  While reinstalling Windows can certainly speed your computer up by quickly clearing out all the problems mentioned above, the problems are likely to return if you don’t change something about what you choose to allow on your computer.

•  Look through the Programs and features utility on Control Panel and try to eliminate programs that you don’t use.

•  When you install a program on your computer, pay close attention to every step of the installation process. If you are attentive, you can catch them and opt out when they ask you for your permission.

•  Don’t use too many browser extensions or toolbars.

•  Use a utility to clean up your computer’s startup inventory.

Sometimes, no amount of uninstalling and cleaning up can speed up your computer

If your computer has slowed down to the point that uninstalling things doesn’t help, reinstalling Windows could be a good idea. You don’t need to wipe your hard disk and start from scratch, though. If you have Windows 8, you have an easy pushbutton method to reinstall Windows – you use Refresh your PC seek. You just need to search for Refresh your PC on Windows search.