Slow Computer? Why It's Essential To Back Up Your Data Before Attempting To Fix A Slow Computer.

Before trying to fix a slow computer, it is imperative that you make sure your data will be secure. Some of the procedures used to fix a slow computer may cause existing, but as yet concealed problems to show up, which may either keep Windows from starting or even prevent your computer from starting.

You must take the required steps to safeguard the information stored on your computer, before you begin with procedures to fix your slow computer,.

Take heed of this warning!. Several of the processes utilized to fix a slow computer could cause present but as yet hidden problems to surface, which may either keep Windows from starting or even prevent your computer from starting. You must make sure that your files and data will be safe

But before backing up your files and information, you have to make sure all your important files are stored in one, easy-to-find location.

Your personal data, usually your photos, music and videos are kept in a set of subfolders in the C:\Documents and Settings folder, where Windows has a personal profile for each user on the computer.

Over and above your data files, Windows also stores your Outlook Express e-mail messages, Internet Explorer Favorites and cookies, and information about your settings and preferences in the C:\Documents folder. To make backing up easier, you could move all your files stored elsewhere into the C:\Documents folder.

After you have done your first backup, additional backing up and setting up a backup schedule is quick and easy and will take as little as ten minutes a week. Besides, you will be able to let Windows do nearly all the work.

If you use Windows XP Home Edition, you will need to install Backup, as it is not installed by default. If you use Windows XP Professional, the Windows Backup utility (Ntbackup.exe) should be ready for use and does all Backups well enough.

Double-click the CD icon in My Computer after inserting the Windows CD. Then click the following buttons: Perform Additional Tasks. / Browse this CD. In Windows Explorer, double-click the Value Add folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup. Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.

Do the following to start Backup:
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard. Click Next to skip past the opening page, choose Back up files and settings from the second page, and then click Next.

Now you must decide carefully what type of information you would wish to Back Up. Don't check the All information on this computer. Think for a moment. If you've installed heaps of software, your backup could add up to several gigabytes. For most people, the C:\Documents folder with all your data should be enough. This option backs up all your data files, e-mail messages and address books and the personal settings stored in the Windows Registry.

Also, select Everyone's Documents and Settings if more than one person has a personal folder on the computer. This option backs up all the personal files and preferences for each user.
Click Let me choose what to back up, if you have files stored outside the C:\Documents folder, you would wish to backup as well. This is also handy if you have files you don't need to back up.

Select the My Documents check box to back up all the files in your personal profile, and then browse My Computer to select the additional files you need to back up. If some of your files are on a shared network drive, open the My Network Places folder and select those folders. This option also comes in handy if you have some files you don't need to back up.

Now you must decide where to store your backup files. On the Backup Type, Destination, and Name page, Windows asks you to specify a backup location. If your computer's hard disk is partitioned into drive C and drive D and your data is on drive C, you can safely back up to drive D. However, if this hard drive runs into a problem you may have difficulty in restoring the backups.

A CD-RW or DVD-RW drive can, unfortunately, not be used. The Windows Backup utility does not support that feature. You can use a Flash memory stick or other removable media, if you don't have multiple gigabytes to back up. Otherwise a shared network drive. (You're limited only by the amount of free space on the network shared drive) or an external hard disk drive. External hard drives have dropped in price lately. Consider getting an 160 GB or larger drive and dedicating it for use as a backup device. There are also websites to which you can backup to, for a nominal fee.

Now that you have chosen a backup location, enter a name for the file and click Next to display the final page.

You can now set up an automatic backup schedule for say, once a week and do regular backups. When you get to the final page of the Backup Wizard, don't click Finish. Click the Advanced button, and click Next to open the When to Back Up page, choose Later, click Set Schedule and set the schedule that suits you best. Click OK to save your changes.

Now Windows will run the backup automatically. Just dont switch your computer off. You can back up 5 GB of data in about 10 minutes. In addition, you don't need to worry about shutting down running programs, either, thanks to a feature called volume shadow copy, the Backup utility can safely create a copy of any file, even if it's currently in use.

We copy our data files to DVD, where after we can delete older data files on the hard drive which take up a lot of space. It also comes in handy if you need a certain file again for, say, a reprint. In fact, just about any type of backup is better than doing nothing and hoping that your data will magically take care of itself.

You can now start with the process of fixing your slow computer, seeing you now know how to backup your data.

You cannot completely speed up a slow computer by fixing only one or two of the problems on it

Computers become slower for several reasons:
- viruses and malware can damage your data and slow down your computer.
- too many programs are installed but not used anymore which consume resources,
- files on the hard drive become fragmented and disorganized,
- the Windows registry has too many unused entries,
- unused network connections slow startup,
- too many programs automatically run at startup

I have researched and tested several products over a period of several months and in order for me to get our slow computer 's performance up to speed again, I made use of not less than 17 different products, each of which is designed to do a certain task on the computer. Eventually we ended up using 11 of these apps (all freeware) on a regular basis, which keeps our computers performing clean and error free.

In forthcoming articles, I'll explain to you in detail, how to clear out forgotten programs, unused, unnecessary and junk files and how to clean and streamline the Windows registry.