Everyone who has ever used a personal computer (PC) has had to deal with computers that run slow, lock up, or generally become difficult to use. Everyone who has had to deal with these problems eventually find out that the problem is the lack of PC resources. PC resources are the hardware elements that a computer uses to perform calculations and process tasks. At its core, these hardware elements consist of the following: hard drive space and speed, random access memory (RAM) space, and processor time. As PC users install new programs on to their computers, over time, these programs, especially ones that run in the background, will consume PC resources thus degrading a PC’s performance. However, this does not need to be the case and a user can control what programs should be active and what programs should be shut off. The user does not need to be a victim and can free up PC resources with a few clicks of the mouse.

1. Log in as the administrator for your PC.

2. Right click on the task-bar and select task manager. A PC user can also access task manager by pressing the keys CTRL-ALT-DEL simultaneously and selecting ‘Start Task Manager’.

3. Once task manager is open, go to the processes tab. If the user is logged in as the administrator, the user should be able to see all of the applications that are currently running on the computer.

4. Evaluate the programs that should remain active or should be shut off. If the name of an application is unfamiliar, enter the application name into a search engine (such as Google) to find out what the application is used for and information about the application. It is recommended that the user do this for all applications that are currently active to determine if malware (harmful programs or software) is currently running on the PC.

5. If the user determines a program should not be running, the user should highlight the program in question.

6. After highlighting the program in question, the user should right-click while the cursor is atop the program item and select “End Process” in the pop-up menu.

7. Once “End Process” is selected in the pop-up menu, a confirmation window will pop-up.

8. To end the program, the user should press the “End Process” button in the pop-up window.

9. In the task manager window, the user should sort the program listing by memory usage by pressing the column header called “Memory”.

10. The user should evaluate each active program that uses a large amount of memory to determine if they should be closed.

11. If a program should be closed, the user should repeat the aforementioned steps to close a program. This is how a user can free up PC resources easily and without the help of a PC technician.

By following these steps, a user should see increased performance in their PC. However, one thing to keep in mind is that this process is a short term solution. There are long term and more permanent solutions available for freeing up PC resources but the user may want to seek assistance from PC professional before working with such solutions.

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