If you’ve ever experienced random slowdowns and high CPU usage for no apparent reason, System Restore might be responsible for it. Believe it or not, System Restore can take up as much as 15% of your hard drive.

System Restore is a very useful feature that acts like a built-in time machine. The System Restore service creates snapshots of your system, so that you can always roll back if there are any unexpected problems.

But if you never use it and prefer other backup methods, like saving all your valuable data on an external hard disk or a DVD, it will be worth it to disable System Restore altogether.

If you have Windows XP:

1. Right-click My Computer and go to Properties. Alternatively press the Windows key + the Pause/Break key on your keyboard. That will take you straight to the System Properties dialog box.
2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the System Restore tab
3. 
4. Click the Turn off System Restore check box (or the Turn off System Restore on all drives check box).
5. Click OK and then confirm that you want to turn System Restore off.

If you are a Vista user:

1. Go to Start and select Control Panel
2. Select System and Maintenance and then go to Backup and Restore Center
3. Select Create a restore point or change settings
4. If UAC is active, click Continue
5. Select the System Protection tab
6. Uncheck your hard drives under Automatic restore points
7. Click Turn System Restore Off and then click OK

Remember that if you disable System Restore, all your previous restore points will be deleted. If you don’t want that to happen, leave this service enabled.

Registry tweaks can speed up your computer a lot. But if performed incorrectly, they can seriously harm your system. To minimize the risk, you should backup the Windows Registry before applying any changes, so that you can always undo them. I’m going to show you two Registry backup methods.

1) Create a System Restore Point

One way to backup the Registry is to create a system restore point. System restore returns your computer to a previous date without losing any recent personal data, like documents, email, history, etc. This method is not the most reliable one, because older restore points get deleted by the system. So it can easily happen that your backup will not be there when you need it.

To create a restore point:

1. Go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore
2. Click Create a restore point, then click Next
3. 
4. In the Restore point description text box type a name for this restore point
5. Click Create

2) Export a Selected Branch of the Registry

This backup method is more reliable and is preferred if you are changing a particular key or area of the Registry.

1. Click Start - Run
2. Type regedit in the box and click OK
3. Find and click the Registry key that you are going to edit
4. Go to the File menu and click Export
5. 
6. Select where you want to save the file
7. Type the file name and click Save

Now you have created a backup of a particular Registry key. If in the future you’d like to undo the changes you’ve made, simply double-click this file and the information it contains will be added to the Registry.

There are many ways to improve computer performance, from hardware upgrades to editing the Registry. But upgrading hardware can be quite expensive and editing the Windows Registry can seriously harm your computer if you do something wrong. In this article I’ve focused on simple and safe tweaks that will not cause any trouble and will make your computer run faster.

1) Speed Up Windows Explorer

Sometimes starting Windows Explorer can take a while. This is because Windows automatically looks for network files, shared network folders, and devices when you start Windows Explorer. It is possible to make it open faster by changing the settings:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Then click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab
5. Find Automatically search for network folders and printers check box and uncheck it
6. Click Apply, then click OK
7. Reboot your PC

From now on Windows Explorer will start faster, as it will no longer automatically search for network files, shared folders, and devices in the network.

2) Optimize Appearance Settings

We all are used to how Windows XP looks. But actually its visual effects waste system resources. The graphics card is not the only one that has to deal with it – the CPU and the memory are affected as well. Windows Vista graphics are even more advanced and can dramatically slow down your PC, especially if your computer is not one of the latest and the fastest ones.

Luckily there is a way to configure Windows XP for best performance by reducing the effects in the graphical user interface. This will free up RAM and increase computer speed. To configure Windows XP for maximum performance do the following:

1. Go to Start - Settings and select Control Panel
2. In the Control Panel, click System and then Advanced tab
3. In the Performance Options window select Adjust for best performance
4. Click OK to confirm and close the window

This will turn off all visual effects, which is good for less powerful PCs and laptops. However, if you would like Windows XP to look more like what you’re used to, leave the following boxes ticked:

• Show shadows under menus
• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show translucent selection rectangle
• Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons

3) Uninstall Unused Device Drivers

Once you have uninstalled a device, it’s a good idea to remove any device drivers that were left behind. Otherwise those drivers will still be using valuable system resources. Here is why this happens.

When you install a device, you also install its drivers and they get called each time you boot up your PC. And even when the device has been removed, but the drivers are still there, your system continues to load them at boot up. What a waste of resources!

If you have Windows XP, follow these steps to remove any unwanted device drivers:

1. Press the Windows key + the Break key on your keyboard. System Properties box will appear
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. 
4. Click Environmental Variables
5. Under System Variables click New
6. In the variable box type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
7. Type 1 in the Variable value text box
8. Click OK to return to the System Properties box
9. Click OK again
10. Go to the Device Manager tab
11. Click View – Show hidden devices

Then you will need to expand all the branches and look for washed out icons. Those icons show unused device drivers that you can uninstall.

Once you have found a device driver you wish to uninstall, highlight it, right-click it, and choose Remove. Delete only washed out icons. All the other icons show drivers of connected and used devices. If you delete them, your devices will stop functioning properly.

4) Remove Software You Don’t Need

One more way to speed up your PC is to check what software you have installed and see if you need all the applications or not. To do this click Start - Settings - Control Panel – double-click Add/Remove Programs.

Most likely you will find programs you’ve used only once or twice. Removing them will free up disk space and make your PC run faster.

When Uninstalling Software Fails

Uninstalling software doesn’t always go as smooth as one hopes it would. A very common problem is that some programs don’t remove all their data completely, thus leaving some files behind. These files are called junk files.

Sometimes you have to uninstall the software trial version in order to register the full version. But if the uninstall process is not complete, you might fail to register the program that you have paid for.

If the uninstaller doesn’t work, it may be possible to remove the software manually. This means that you will need to remove all related files and configuration data from your hard disk. Usually software uses the Windows Registry to store configuration information.

Firstly, you will need to find the folder where the program was installed. Most likely it’s the Program Files directory. Locate the software folder and delete it. If it’s impossible to delete some files, try restarting your computer. This will help if the files were used by the system. If you can’t delete the files even after a restart, try booting in Safe Mode (tap F8 during PC boot) and then delete the files.

After that you will need to remove invalid Registry entries. Microsoft offers a free Windows Installer CleanUp Utility to help you do the job. After you’ve installed and opened it, select an application you wish to uninstall from the list. The utility will remove all registry entries related to that software. Double check what applications you select and also backup the Registry in case something goes wrong.

If running Windows Installer CleanUp Utility does not solve the problem, you can use a third party registry cleaner. Be careful and only use well-known software that has received positive reviews and trustworthy awards. There are lots of programs that claim to be great, but in fact they contain malware and spyware, and can damage your computer.

Another way to uninstall software without having to worry about the Registry is to use a software uninstaller. Program uninstallers track down and remove all application-related components from your system, thus ensuring that the software gets completely uninstalled.

Auslogics BoostSpeed contains both an uninstaller and a registry cleaner, plus lots of other useful tools to optimize and protect your system. You can download it from http://www.auslogics.com.

5) Disable Indexing Services

The Indexing Services use large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer pretty slow and loud. This service indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer in order to enable you to search for the files and folders faster. To tell you the truth, this service is not really needed and you can safely disable it.

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click Add/Remove Windows Components
6. Uncheck Indexing Services
7. Click Next and then click Finish