REDUCE THE OVERHEAD

You can get rid of all kinds of programs that run in the background that you may not need. The easiest way to do this is with the System Configuration Utility, otherwise known as Msconfig. Launch it by clicking the Start button and then Run, typing MSCONFIG into the text box, and hitting Enter.

Click on the Startup tab and look at the contents.

This is a list of things that start when the computer boots up. All of these little goodies run in the background, eating up memory and resources and slowing your system down.

Uncheck those in the list that are not required such as itunes, quicktime, autoupdate features, and so on, reboot and see if any of your programs or hardware devices lose functionality. If they do, run the System Configuration Utility again and recheck entries that you suspect to be the programs your system needs, rebooting between each attempt until you narrow it down. Leave everything that doesn't affect normal use of your system unchecked. This will speed the Windows boot process and clear up system resources.....