Do you need a PC Accelerator?

Is your once lightning-fast computer now struggling to open web pages while you sit and wait? Or when you start up your computer, do you hit the button and go get a cup of coffee because you know it will take a few minutes for it come up?

It’s sad but true—most computers slow down over time. But the good news is that there are methods and products available to help speed up your computer.

What is a PC accelerator?

The term is broadly used to refer to software that increases the speed and performance of your computer. While there is a product called PC Accelerator, there are many others that aren’t called accelerators, but perform many of the same functions. You may see products with terms such as system optimizer, registry repair/cleaner or speed-up in the titles. While these tools may differ in specifics and capabilities, they are all based on the principle of allowing your computer to increase performance and speed.

What causes my computer to slow down?

Over time, your computer accumulates more data—new software, files, temporary Internet files and cookies, among others. When your computer has more applications and data stored, it takes longer to find any specific program and access it.

If your computer is really slow at start-up, it may simply be trying to do too many things at once. Many programs will automatically come up at start-up, whether you really need them or not. Some of these just install themselves this way, such as MS Messenger, but it may slow your computer down if you have too many programs trying to come up at once. “Consider getting rid of some of the programs that launch automatically when Windows starts. By saving the memory and processor time they use, this will make your computer run faster…” (Tech Pro)

You can do this yourself by simply going to Start/Run and typing in MSconfig. Click on start-up and a list of programs that come up automatically on start-up will be displayed. Just uncheck those you don’t need. (E-how) You may be amazed when you see how many programs are coming up automatically and running whether you need them or not. Paul Salmon, tech systems analyst says “The more programs that are running in the background, the slower your XP will be running.” (How to do Things)

Registry errors are another common cause of slow performance. “The state of your computer’s registry has a big impact on system performance, because it is accessed hundreds of times a second.” (Tech Pro)

Registries accumulate redundant and incomplete entries over time and through the installation and removal of software.

Can I use a PC accelerator myself?

This depends upon your level of computer skills, but most people can find software that fits their level of knowledge. For example, PC Accelerator by Defendgate, is described as “a tool best utilized by experts”. (Cnet) However, Registry Patrol is called “easy to understand and operate” and “designed for the user who wants to clean their registry up but requires a program that doesn’t require a lot of background understanding and is pretty well completely automated”. (Ask Nerd)

How do I know which accelerator tool to use?

This is an area where you want to be extremely careful. There are literally thousands of ads online for registry cleaners and optimization tools. Many of these advertise “Free scans” and some of them are legitimate. But some of them are not, and the difference can be crucial.

In most cases, you can look for reviews of products in choosing which to buy or use. In the case of registry cleaners and accelerators, you will find hundreds of so-called “reviews” but many of these are nothing more than ads for specific products. “The issue lies in the explosion of spam-review sites…their reviews are up for sale—and are not anything but thinly veiled dales pitches.” (Ask Nerd)They are not impartial reviews and some of these sites can be dangerous to visit. Yahoo cited 4 registry cleaner review websites as “hazardous” with “dangerous downloads” in the first few pages of websites.(Yahoo)

Check out consumer report reviews or reviews from sites you know and trust such as Cnet, PC Magazine, etc. In regard to specific products, PC Accelerator itself has an editor’s rating of 4/5 stars from Cnet. Registry Patrol and XP Medic are recommended by Ask Nerd and Registry Mechanic has awards from Major Geeks and PC Advisor Magazine. Hubpages rated RegCure as their top pick and Registry Mechanic and Registry Booster were well recommended by reviewers. (Neat Net Tricks)

Is there anything else I can do to speed up my computer?

There are always options, depending upon your preferences, level of expertise and budget. If you really need a faster computer, you can always think about adding more RAM or a new and faster processor. If you do a lot of online gaming or watching streaming video where speed is very important, you might want to consider this. If you have a very large music library on your computer or a lot of pictures and graphics, you might want to look into an external hard drive, where you can store these libraries without using so much space on your hard drive.

And of course, keep up the usual maintenance such as anti-virus and anti-spyware scans, disk cleanup and defragmentation. All of these can help accelerate your PC speed and performance, as well as keeping your computer secure.