Microsoft is always proud of announcing just how much faster each new version of Windows is, compared to the previous one. It's true that, if you upgrade to a new version of Windows your PC will run faster. But in many cases, the speed-up is nothing to do with the new operating system. It's simply that, the more you use your PC, the more it gets bogged down with old files and unnecessary registry entries. And it's these which are largely responsible for the slow-down, rather than the upgraded OS.

You can see it for yourself if you wipe your computer's hard disk and install a new copy of the same version of Windows that you had before. Your computer will almost always run much faster. But then, of course, over time, it will slow down again as the detritus builds up.

There are many programs which claim to be able to clean up the mess that Windows continually accumulates. Probably the best known is CCleaner, made by Piriform. While the full version is a paid-for product, the basic free edition is still very powerful and worth investigating if you've never tried it.

The most recent update to CCleaner was a couple of weeks ago. And as well as the standard installable version, there's also a portable edition which runs without installing anything. So if you don't like it, or don't intend to use it regularly, just delete the downloaded files and all traces of the software will be gone.  Read More