Time for a Tune-Up

[Manager]

So, you'd like a quick and easy tune up? I would start by Downloading http://www.ccleaner.com/ (its free), and running it. It will help clean junk off your hard drive, and your registry also if you like. I personally use it very often. There is a section in CCLeaner called Startup, try to disable (uncheck) any applications from starting that you don't think are absolutely necessary.

While you are at it, go ahead and get another free software package called Malwarebytes http://www.malwarebytes.org . This is a really good app for keeping spyware in check.

Another think that I try to do frequently is run the Disk Defragmenter. You will be surprised how it quietens down your Hard Disk, and speeds up your system.

If your machine still runs slow when running the games, then there maybe something that is competing for resources. Our games are DirectX and need to take a good deal of control over the video card in order to show full screen. If there is another application running that does not like that, it will cause you problems. I have noticed those pop ups that come from the task tray sometimes are the culprit.

Also, make sure that you check every few months for the latest drivers for your video card.

[Manager]

you may just need to do some cleanup on your disk. A quick way to do it is with a Microsoft program that you run by clicking on START, then RUN, then type CLEANMGR in the run box and click OK. It comes up with a list of all of the files you can safely remove including temporary internet files (checked by default). But one you especially want to check is the temporary files. When I ran this utility at home I was able to remove over 1.5 gigs of useless files and my speed increased dramatically.