There is little in the lives of most people that is more frustrating than a slow-responding personal computer. The reason for that should be obvious: the vast majority of people who use computers spend hours each day sitting in front of their monitors.

Yes, personal computers are an important part of daily life for just about everyone. If you're typical, you use your computer to gather information... to correspond with friends and business associates and business clients, too... to pay bills... to entertain yourself... possibly even to work.

A computer that performs the right way is great. It's electronic and its responses are instantaneous. A computer that seems slow is agonizing for the person using it. Fortunately, there are things you can do to speed up your computer if you believe it is too slow. Here are five steps you can take...

(1) Eliminate Unnecessary Files and Free up Disk Space. You may have accumulated and saved far more information than you need or use. There is software available that can help you to empty your Recycle Bin... remove optional documents that have no relevance to you...remove no longer useful installed files... remove programs you've forgotten exist. Eliminating stuff you don't use clears the Hard Drive and frees up memory, lots of memory. The result: more speed for your personal computer.

(2) Speed up your Access to stored data. Some of your files may be fragmented (not all together in a single file). This is common, but it also makes your Hard Drive work more to locate all of the fragmented files when you want them... and that cuts into your computer's speed. Happily, there is software available that will eliminate the fragmentation and unify files that belong together. It's called Disk Defragmentation software and it really can help you make your computer perform faster.

(3) Locate and Repair Disk Errors. Your computer may have Error Checking capability. If it does, use it. Disk errors are common and, when undetected, they slow down your computer's speed. Find them, fix them... enjoy greater computer speed.

(4) Protect your Personal Computer against Spyware... adware and the viruses that can literally destroy your Hard Drive and shut down your computer. Most computer owners install software that defends the Hard Drive against the annoying and harmful intrusions of spyware, adware and viruses. If you don't currently have that protection, you need to purchase it - fast.

(5) Eliminate Unnecessary Icons. It happens to everybody - too many icons. If you have icons you haven't opened in months, or even years, you probably don't need them. Eradicate these space-eating icons and you'll put much more "drive" into your Hard Drive.

That's about it. You can restore your computer's speed easily and inexpensively by following the simple steps laid out here. Get started today. By the way, if none of these steps work, it may be that your computer is outmoded - too old. You may actually need to purchase a newer, faster model. But if you do, don't worry. Computers are much less costly than they probably were the last time you bought one.