I read an interesting article recently that gave some excellent tips at making your computer run faster– without an upgrade! I thought I’d pass some of these tips along and add a few of my own.
First, You can make your computer run faster (and free up space by uninstalling software that you no longer use. You can easily do this with an excellent piece of software called, PC Decrapifier.
The other thing you can do is ensure that you remove applications from your startup that you do not absolutely need. In Vista, you can manage startup applications through Windows Defender. Defender has an integrated tool called Software Explorer that lets you check programs that load at startup and disable anything unnecessary.
You can also access the list of startup applications in either Vista or XP through the Msconfig utility (type “msconfig” into the Run box in the Start menu). Select the Startup tab, then uncheck any applications you think might be slowing your startup.
Consult an online database of startup processes, such as Sysinfo, to find out what the process may be– keeping in mind that it may not be 100% accurate.
If you’re serious about shaving every last second of startup time, dig into the Boot tab in the Msconfig utility, which controls the settings for the boot.ini file. Generally, users should tread carefully when tinkering with boot.ini, because one slip up and you can have a non-bootable computer. But one easy edit is to check the “/noguiboot” option to time by skipping the Windows startup animation.
Another useful tip is to clean up the registry. There are various applications out there, Free programs such as CCleaner and Glary Utilities, as well as more fully featured software such as System Mechanic (System Mechanic just simply can’t be beat in my opinion, the others are free but sometimes don’t do as complete a job) are available for download online and will scrub the registry for “keys” left over from old applications no longer resident on your machine.
Doing some or all of these will no doubt result in some extra free space on your computer as well as some extra free time– who knows, you may not even have time to get that first cup of coffee in before your computer is totally logged in. 
Enjoy!
