As personal computers continue to become more of a mass-market item, with $400 Netbooks and "computer package" deals at every electronics store in town, as well as the rise of "gaming PCs", the number of computers owned by North Americans continues to climb.

Often, due to their initial makeup or use over time, these computers will experience a "slowing down" effect which will make programs slower to respond, take longer to load and will generally interfere with the regular use of the computer. Here are a few easy ways to get things back up to speed.

Find Out What's Running

This is the big one, especially for Windows users. Whenever a computer starts up, there are a number of programs which run in the background. Some are absolutely necessary to the functioning of the device, but some were placed there the manufacturer or by the user, sometimes without the user being fully aware of it.

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