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Why you don't need to keep re-installing Windows to "Start Fresh"
Brandon Davenport
Every tech savvy person always tells you to re-install Windows every once and a while to "speed things up". The problem is, the operating system itself doesn't get slower, its all the stuff you are installing or using. Windows is just another piece of software that just happens to have the ability to run stand-alone. Here is the real reason why your Windows OS is slow.
What are the myths?
Windows chewing up your Hard Drive
Windows is just another piece of software that just happens to have the ability to run stand-alone. Windows itself has very little effect on what happens to your HDD. Its the applications that use the OS's resources to do their functions. But if they are poorly written, they can just bunk up your hard drive.
Windows Slowing down your PC
From the moment you install it, to the moment you upgrade it -- "Windows" never changes. The stuff that do change are your applications and their respective resources. Poorly written applications and improper use of the applications are the cause of slowdown.
Its the computers fault
No its not. It does not know anything but what you tell it to do. So if you dont take care of it, the PC will become slower. This includes (number one), lack of knowledge, installing junk programs, not maintaining core components of the applications -- like cleaning up the registry and completely unistalling un-needed apps.
Why does Windows slowdown over time?
via Gizmodo
No-one is going to tell you that Windows never slows down, but everyone tells you that it does "over time". Actually, this is one of the biggest myths related to PC's. What actually slows your PC down are too many poorly written applications that stay resident in memory and waste CPU cycles. This means poorly written programs, or the use of more than one anti-virus program.
Applications you should be careful about
via Gizmodo
Apps that function as an Explorer plug-in, because they directly hook into the shell and any problem will make your entire PC slow or in the worst case, crash repeatedly.Antivirus applications are notorious for slowing your PC down, and you should never, ever, ever use more than one real-time antivirus application at a time. We recommend Microsoft Security Essentials as a free, fast, and awesome antivirus tool.Anything that says it will "Speed Up Your PC" or "Optimize Your RAM" will most likely slow it down, or best case, do nothing at all. Avoid these like the plague.Make sure to install official system drivers from the manufacturer website. Drivers have a huge impact on performance, and you want to have stable, updated drivers.Registry cleaners are a mixed bag, and really aren't going to speed up your PC in most cases. The biggest problem, however, is that too many of the commercial registry cleaners set themselves to run at startup in the system tray, wasting your memory and CPU cycles.You should strongly consider the idea of using portable applications wherever possible, since their self-contained nature means they won't clutter up the rest of your PC with things you don't need.
Taking care of your PC
I recommend CCleaner. It takes all the junk that builds up in places you don't care about like the registry and temp folders.
Its easy to do, but your best bet is to set up CCleaner to run automatically on a schedule, so you don't have to remember to do it.
Its also a good idea to do some De-fragmentation in Windows.
All the files on your PC are in bits and pieces on your hard drive. They get jumbled up, so your OS has to go find all the peices before it opens the file.
De-fragmentation takes all your files and orgenizes their bits and pieces so your OS can find them in one clean sweep.
