You might be surprised to find that your hardware may be the cause of why your computer boots up slowly. The boot process involves initializing and loading up hardware and their drivers. That is why it is very important to keep updated all your systems drivers. But this may require that you check the manufacturers web sites on a regular basis. You should also verify that the drivers are for the version of operating system you are currently running.

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

The network card of your PC can also present a substantial drain on the time it takes your computer to startup. Enabled network cards take up time locating network addresses. It many network protocols are set up then it can take a significant amount of time for all this to try to connect to load up. If you have a home network set to assign IP addressed automatically you can speed things up by giving your computers a permanent IP address.

There are methods that you can use that will help you keep your computer system maintained and running fast. Most of the utilities and methods you can use to improve the performance of your computer are contained in operating system and do not cost any additional money.

The utilities that you can use to determine if your system is running at peak performance include fixing any disk errors and registry errors found, increasing the amount of available space on the hard drive, improving the access times of programs and data and protecting your computer from various threats from malware, spyware, adware and viruses.

Detecting and repairing disk errors can also help to optimize your computer and improve its performance and speed. You are able to check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

Over time with use your computer can develop bad sectors. These sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult or even impossible. Use the Error Checking utility to scan the hard drive for bad sectors and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

ReadyBoost is another option if you own a Windows Vista or 7 computer. If can speed up your system by adding memory to a system. It uses a non-volatile flash memory, a USB flash drive or a memory card, to improve performance without having to add additional memory.

Speeding up access to data can be accomplished by removing the fragmentation on the disk drive. This fragmentation can slow down the overall performance of your computer. When files are scattered all over the hard drive it forces the computer to search and piece it back together in order to open it. This can take significantly more time that if the files are not fragmented.

The Disk Defrag utility is provided by Windows to automatically consolidate fragmented folders and files that exist on the computers disk drive. It will rearrange these files and folders so that they occupy a single space on the drive. When file are arranged in this manner it will help improve the speed of the PC.

It is recommended to run the Disk Defrag utility weekly as a part of your routine maintenance routine. However, you should also run it when you add a large number of files, your have less than fifteen percent of total free space available, you install a new program or update the operating system.

Detecting and repairing disk errors is another maintenance process that will help to improve the speed of your computer. The Error Checking utility will verify the integrity of the files on your computers hard drive. Over time and use the hard drive of a computer can begin to develop bad sectors. These sectors will slow down the performance of your computer. They may also make it impossible to write to or save a file. This utility will search for these sectors as well as scan for other file system errors.

You may have disk errors that need repairing and once you do you may notice that your computer runs faster. Microsoft has an Error Checking Utility whose purpose is to find and fix any errors found on your hard drive. Bad sectors can develop over time during the normal operations of your computer. These areas can cause poor over performance of your computer or if they get bad enough it may make writing to the hard drive impossible.

When you run the Error Checking tool it will not only fix these sectors it will look for any folders or files that are misplaced as well. You should run this utility weekly if you use your computer every day. This will help you to prevent any loss of date as well as helping the performance of your computer.

You can run the Error Checking utility by right clicking on the hard drive and choosing Properties then Tools. Be sure all files, folders and programs are closed before running this utility.

Spyware, adware and viruses and other items that can make your computer run slower. It is as important to prevent an infection, as it is to remove these items once they have found a way on your computer. Spyware can be downloaded onto your system without your knowledge. It will use up system resources, internet bandwidth and memory from your computers resources. So it is vital to have a good anti-spy, ad and viral software running that you update frequently.