text: what can i do to improve my computers speed to start up, shutting down and opening in between files? i beleive my computer has unneeded items that could be removed for improvement. am i right? try number 3 as it is the easiest and quickest way to improve speed.  1) increase ram (memory). 2) increase free disk space (remove unneeded programs from hard drive, delete temp files and folders, switch to a larger hard drive, add a second hard drive) 3) reduce the number of programs running in your system tray/at startup. you can do this by going to start > run > type "msconfig" > go to the startup tab and deselect everything except critical programs like your anti-virus. 4) scan for/remove spyware/adware/malware.   check out advanced windows care, it will help with most of this automatically and it's free: http://www.iobit.com/