First of all, there are two ways to make your computer run faster: hardware and software. Hardware boosting involves upgrading and adding new components to the computer to increase its speed and performance. Typical upgrades include installing more memory, purchasing a better motherboard or getting a better processor.

Software optimization, on the other hand, does not require purchasing anything; it only requires that you optimize and fine tune your software set up and installation to make your computer run faster. Here are a few ways to accomplish this type of optimization.

1. Uninstall unneeded applications – Over the course of your computer's lifetime you may have installed a bevy of applications, many of which you do not need anymore. If this is the case, then now is the time to get rid of them. This will make your computer run faster, and more efficiently.

Start off by going through your uninstall menu and look for applications that you do not need anymore. These programs will usually have their own uninstall routines that will remove all files and services they may have installed.

Most applications install applications that eat up not only disk space, but valuable RAM. As you computer starts up, these programs start up too, eating precious processor time as well.

Some programs do not have their own uninstall routines. You may have to use custom uninstall applications to remove these files from your computer. Make sure these applications remove both the program and the supporting files it is packaged with. Also make sure that registry entries regarding this application are also removed.

2. Defrag at all costs – Run a defragmenter application regularly. Data in a hard disk is not necessarily stored in a contiguous manner. This means that when your hard disks read data, it has to jump from platter to platter, sector to sector just to get a file in its entirety.

If your data is located contiguously, then this problem could be avoided, saving your hard disk valuable read time. And as a result of this effort, your computer could experience faster disk reads and an improvement in computer speeds from 30% up to 100%.

3. Check for Viruses - Install a handy antivirus to help weed out those pesky codes that could seriously compromise your data's security, integrity while slowing your computer at the same time. A well-infested computer will typically grind to halt as malicious code use and abuse precious computer resources.

There are many antiviral agents around, aside from installing such, avoid the spread of viruses by making sure you only use removable media that is from verified sources. Also, be careful of the sites you visit as they could contain online malicious code.