How to make your computer run faster part 2, clear out the baggage!

Your computer is like a train.  The more programs your have running, the more energy and effort it takes to get it started.  In part 1 of our series, I showed you how to clear up your RAM by closing programs you don't need to be running.

Sometimes there are programs running at startup that you don't even need at all.  These programs run in the background every time you boot your computer sucking your precious RAM dry.  A good indication if a program is running in the background can be found in your system tray.  The system tray can be found on most Windows computers in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.  It looks something like this:

This screenshot is from Windows 7, but XP and Vista are similar.  Each one of these icons represents a program running in the background.  You can see that my Dropbox program is running in the background signified by the little blue box.  Most of these System Tray programs run on a light set of resources, but what happens when you have programs running that you don't want running or that you're not sure about?  Uninstall them!

You can substantially speed up your computer simply by removing programs you don't use.  To uninstall your programs on Windows XP, go to your control panel and click the add/remove programs icon.  On Windows 7, just click the start button and type "uninstall" in the search box and select "Uninstall a Program" from the results.  You will see a window similar to this one:

Find whatever programs you never use or want to uninstall and remove them here.  You can do this by right-clicking the program and selecting "Uninstall" (Windows 7) or click on the program you want to remove and select the "remove" button (XP).

If you're not sure if you need a program, search Google for the program name and see if it's something you want to keep around and use.

If you are having a hard time removing a pesky program, I suggest using a program called Revo Uninstaller.  This program will help you delete programs and program data that the built in Windows uninstaller can't get rid of.  There is a free version (which I use) and a paid Pro Version as well.

The first step to lightening your load of programs is to uninstall the obvious programs you don't want on your computer.  Most computers and laptops come with some core programs that you will want to keep around such as programs related to your graphics drivers (like NVIDIA) or sound drivers.  There will be Windows updates listed sometimes that you don't want to get rid of, and you'll also want to keep around plugins like Adobe Flash Player, some PDF viewers, and Java.  Just remember not to go hog wild in your zeal to rid your computer of program baddies.  

A short list of programs (crapware) that I often uninstall from friend's computers are:

• Toolbars (such as Ask.com, Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.)
• RealPlayer
• MSN Messenger (if you don't use it)
• Microsoft Works (if you have a full version of Microsoft Word or other word processor)
• Game demos that ship with new computers
• Trial versions of software
• Customer support/tutorials and updater for some vendor hardware if they will not be used (HP, Dell, Gateway) 
• ISPs (Earthlink, AOL, NetZero) - if you don't need them (most people don't)

That's all for today.  Next time, I'll show you how to keep your remaining programs from all trying to load at startup slowing your booting experience to a screeching halt.