Please don't tell me the brand new computer you got for Christmas is getting slow and you're already asking yourself how do I speed up my computer? That's just too soon unless you've been downloading an unbelievable amount of junk and have gotten infected already - or that new computer didn't have what it really should have had in terms of hardware.

Now I can and will give you some tips on how to speed up your computer. However, let's get a couple things out of the way first. These days, the CPU speed is rarely an issue unless you are doing heavy duty number manipulation or very intensive graphics without a high end graphics board.

The two main hardware components to be concerned about the hard drive and the RAM (Random Access Memory). The bigger your hard drive the better. It'll take longer to fill up and it will be easier to defragment. Operating systems, start up programs and applications suck up a huge amount of RAM. If you don't have enough memory some programs simply won't run - or they'll be so slow they might as well not be running. And if you run multiple programs, slower yet. 512MB is pretty much the minimum. 1 GB is better. 2GB is even better.

As you use up your RAM, the operating system will swap data to the hard drive - to virtual memory. This slows things down since getting data to and from the hard drive is always slower than getting it from RAM. And if you have your virtual memory set too low, you'll get those annoying messages from the OS about how you're running out and it's increasing the size. By then things have usually gotten really slow.

As you run your computer and particularly as you use the internet, junk starts to accumulate on your hard drive. Windows systems also accumulate junk in the registry. Installing programs often leaves behind temporary files used in the install process and still sitting around taking up space instead of being deleted. There's a lot of sloppy coding out there and we're all victims of poorly designed applications and installation programs.

And, of course, there are quite a few vicious applications out there too. Malware, worms, viruses, browser hijackers, adware. You absolutely have to have anti-virus software and if you've been running without or with a not-so-good anti-virus then you have to at least check your entire hard drive and clean out any nasties. Be sure to use a firewall and a good anti-virus. I'd also suggest software (free) like Spybot Search and Destroy, SpyWare Blaster and maybe Lavasoft's Ad-Aware as well as the monthly malware cleanup program Microsoft distributes.

If you use any P2P networks to download music, video, etc., make sure your anti-virus checks the files. Also those networks will use your hard drive and your CPU (that's how a peer network works) and this can slow down your internet access or other programs if the P2P network is using your computer. While P2P programs should only be using your computer resources when you aren't, what's supposed to happen isn't always what really happens, so be aware.

No matter how good all your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are stuff can and usually will sneak onto your machine. Keeping your programs updated is essential and running regular scans of your file system are essential parts of how to speed up your computer, keep it running faster and keeping your system and files safe.

A while back when I started having trouble with my machine, I took a look around and found a product called Fast PC Secrets which is a step by step series of videos that walk you through the process of cleaning up and speeding up your PC as well as setting up protection using an excellent (and free) anti-virus program and anti-spyware program. And there's nothing else to buy, no monthly costs. I'll talk some more about it and my experiences with it, but I'll just say now that I've been using it for around six months and every time I run through the cleanup process I get rid of trash and I pick up added disk space. Plus it also includes PDFs not just video in case you prefer to read. Take a look here: Fast PC Secrets.