Don’t lay the wreath yet on Windows XP. While Microsoft has been constantly posting obituaries on its best-selling OS, PC makers are stubbornly reviving the respected program. At the forefront of the campaign to keep Redmond from euthanizing XP are Acer and HP.

Both PC makers are steadily flooding the market with netbooks. In case you have little or no idea what those contraptions are, netbooks are ultra-portable PCs that are rivaling laptops for space in people’s backpacks. They are fast becoming the mobile PC of choice because of their size, weight, and price tag.

Intel Atom

Most netbooks are powered by the Intel Atom processor. This chip was primarily designed to be the heart and soul of mobile devices, such as smart phones, and portable PCs that are smaller than laptops. It’s not as powerful as its multi-core counterparts, but the Atom can let you do your office chores without much hiccups.

So what do netbooks and its processor have to do with Windows XP’s survival? Pose this query to every computer geek or PC shop salesman and they’ll give you one unified answer – “a lot!”

Limited Specs

Netbooks mainly run on XP since Vista is too heavy for Atom to carry. Atom’s strength and capacity is only half of a Pentium M’s. Adding to the mini laptop’s disability is its limited specs. Most netbooks have only 1GB of RAM. Run Vista on that amount of memory and you’ll know what Alzheimer’s disease means.

As long as netbook specs don’t jump beyond the current bar, this mini PC will continue and remain to be powered by Windows XP because it’s the only viable OS for its limited capability. So don’t think that having a machine that’s bundled with XP will give you a Back-to-the-Future experience. As far as this family of computers is concerned, XP is still the way to the future.

Remember when you first bought your computer? The good old days when it ran like a champ? You’re not the only one who wishes they had a time machine. As time goes on, the speed of your personal computer is bound to decline. It will be slow to respond to simple requests such as opening files and programs or surfing the web. While this has become common in the Windows environment, you don’t have to be stuck with these performance issues. There are ways to speed up your PC.

How to Speed Up Your Old PC

1.) Limit Programs Running at Startup

All the applications on your computer require memory, a critical resource the operating system relies on to perform various functions. Sometimes these applications automatically run silently in the background every time your computer starts up. Most of the time, you won’t even know it. These are usually the programs you see in the system tray at the bottom of your desktop screen. Unless it is an anti-virus program, firewall or other security software, there is probably no need for these applications to be running. By stopping these applications, you can preserve memory and dramatically speed up your PC.

2.) Remove Unused Software

Sometimes, addition by subtraction is the simplest way to speed up your computer. It is common to accumulate a large number of software programs over time. After a while, there might be quite a few that you use rarely or not at all. These programs take up disk space and even when not used, they still interact with the operating system and can have impact on the speed of your computer. If you are in possession of the original installation disks and don’t have a frequent need for these applications, remove them to free up space on your hard drive. Removing two or three large programs can help the system breath a lot easier and speed up your PC.

3.) Clean Your Hard Disk

Though you might not be aware of this, just because you are done with a file doesn’t necessarily mean your PC is. In fact, the Windows operating system will hold onto piles of junk files you thought were long gone months ago. These could be temporary internet files and other data you no longer have any use for. The Windows Disk Cleanup Utility is a handy tool that allows you to easily speed up your PC by cleaning out those irrelevant files taking up space on the hard drive. Consider it like performing a oil change, a small part of a tune-up and one that should be performed on a regular basis.

4.) Remove Malicious Items

Malicious software like viruses, Trojans and spyware are notorious for hogging system resources and slowing down PC performance. Hopefully, you already have a reliable security program installed on your computer to remain safe from the latest threats. If so, you should run your scanner frequently to detect any sneaky programs that may be slowing down the system. Doing so can speed up computer dramatically.

5.) Defrag Your System

The more files and applications you have installed on your computer, the greater the chance that they are misplaced and scattered throughout the hard drive. This could actually be hundreds of files depending on the size and age of your hard drive. If your PC gets heavy usage, it is recommended to run the Windows Defrag utility every now and then to put those files back in order. When used in conjunction with the steps above, this tool can put the finishing touches on restoring performance and helping to speed up your PC.