3. The Registry. If your registry is corrupted or bloated, there could be a BSOD in your future. The Windows registry is the master control center for your operating system and the applications it runs. Corruption or overload can cause: performance problems, including applications at start-up, slow windows start-up, extremely slow shut-downs and a general disruption of system processing. Unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing, DON'T manually attempt any changes to the registry. I go there frequently but not without first backing up and/or setting a restore point.

Once again, www.freeware.com. No quotes can lead you to several good registry cleaners and optimizers. I have a couple of "freebies," but in this case, I recommend Registry Mechanic and use it after each session. One of the free ones is Ccleaner. It is safe since it has a back-up feature as does Eusing Registry Cleaner.

4. Badly Fragmented Hard Drive. Over time, your computer's files can be scattered over your hard drive; this is called fragmentation and a cause for file searches to be slower than usual. Use the built-in tool of Windows to solve this condition and be patient as it runs.

Single click "My Computer," right click "C" drive, click properties, click tools. Highlight your system drive,(usually C ) then click defragment. While you are there, on the General tab, you have the option to Clean the Hard Drive. Click disk cleanup select all the items in the window. Follow the instructions and OK your way out. This, along with the defrag, will put your hard drive back in proper working order. While you are there, uncheck the box for "indexing the files" this is another source of slow-up.