Boost PC Performance

Graphics Card: right now every single thing you see on the monitor is being dumped on your CPU, if you get a graphics card that frees the CPU from having to take the load (if you are using onboard graphics).

Ram: i would advise DDR 1 gig should be enough but if you have the cash to burn 2gigs is nice
when getting ram your best off buying multi sticks of 512mb and not a 1gig stick and here is why. When you have 1gig of DDR *400mhz* vs. two 512mb sticks of DDR *400mhz* the 2 sticks can both pump out 400mhz *this does not mean you have 800mzh just means that instead of trying to suck threw one straw you are not sucking threw 2 straws

FREE upgrade: go to http://kickme.to/Fosi and download 2 programs
1.) tweaknow powerpack - install and do the quick maintenance.. then reboot
2.) windows washer - install and run a clean.. much better then disk cleanup that's provided by windows
after you do that.. defrag, you can find disk defrag by following this route
start > all programs > accessories > system tools > disk defrag

on your start-up items *that's whats down by the time*
take out anything that's not needed to start the computer
go to start > run > type msconfig >
here you will see tabs.. General, System.INI, Win.INI, Boot.INI, services, start-up
click on start-up, in here there are applications that start once your computer turns on.. nothing in here is needed (note: if you have a graphics driver keep it. if you unchecked a graphics driver the computer may run slower then it ever did before)

How to find out what to keep and what not to keep... each item has a command section.. one of mine is swdoctor.exe *at the end of the command line* now if i did not know what this swdoctor.exe is.. i would go to http://www.google.com/ and search just swdoctor.exe and find out what it is.. or if i needed it to be on the start-up

dont go all click happy and take EVERY thing out.. you might still want some things to load.. like i have Trillian, googletalk, spyware doctor, spysweeper, and some other apps open on start-up

Anti-virus.. everyone wants to use these.. don't have it start-up! it does not block viruses anyways. the only time a virus tool works is when you are scanning folders manually or if its set to auto scan when you have told it to.. only open it to update, then scan, then close it out, anti-virus software cuts half of your CPU speed and lags other programs or the internet

on a day you have off, say Saturdays, mark this day your "Computer Clean-up Day". Start the day by running spyware scans, next do anti-virus, then run the windows washer, last defrag. Running these steps on a weekly basis will keep the computer running faster and more reliable.