how can i quicken my pc up

[bobtheduck]

is there a general clean up that can be done? does deleting unused desktop icons help?

[microfish]

desktop icons do slow your pc. you could also google for dustbuster, freeware, safe to use. defrag too of course. and look thru your running processes on task manager.

[Headtime]

I wouldn't think desktop icons would make a massive amount of difference to your speed, only a little.

As Microfish says, look at what programs are running in the background. Many of them are unnessecary and slow down your computer.

Go to; http://www.windowsstartup.com/ . This site has a free program that will analyse all the programs that load at startup, and advise you on which of them are safe to disable.

Also consider installing more RAM. It's a five minute, simple job and will make the greatest difference in speeding up your PC. Crucial will see you an extra chunk of RAM; http://www.crucial.com/uk/

And regularily defragment your disk.

[peanut]

also you can go to start, programs, accessories, system tools and select disc cleanup. after that is all done, right click internet explorer on your desktop, select properties, select delete files, click ok then select delete cookies click ok and then check the delete offline content box and click ok.  after that, take the advice of HEADTIME and defrag your hard disc. it is helpful to have at least 256 mb for your memory. check this by right clicking my computer select properties. at the bottom you will see your memory.