Go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Software, and remove stuff you don't want: Yes, obviously you don't need that 6 gig game you just installed, but often there are a lot of small things that get overlooked that can add up to a lot, and, incidentally, slow your computer down a lot more than the big things, because they load on startup and stay in memory.
- Programs you don't use anymore.
- Seems obvious, but often software just gets ignored. Windows has made then simpler to notice by telling you how often you use them and when you used them last, but only when selected. Select the topmost item in the list, then just use the down arrow and look at the date on each one.
- p2p Software
- We won't get into the legal issues here, but it's amazing how many people have p2p software installed on their computer, running all the time, and don't know it. If you choose to use p2p, don't leave it running all the time. Start it up, get what you want, and shut it down. If you want to leave it running, leave it running at night when you don't need the bandwidth. p2p software includes Ares, Gnutella, Kazaa, Kazaa Lite, eMule, and Morpheus.
- Programs that came with your computer
- This can be tricky. Some of them make sure your computer work right, and some of them are useless crippled programs, and some of them are full-features programs you may not need.
- Toolbar programs
- Any program that's a 'toolbar' or a 'search' or 'click' program, anything with a name like that that you don't recognize, uninstall it. It's almost certainly spyware.
- Music Match Jukebox
- A junky music player that's often pre-installed on computers. It uses resources even when it's not running. Just use Windows Media Player, Winamp
 , or foobar2000, or any of the dozen of other free music playing applications that don't waste resources all the time. - Real Player
- When you first get a computer, this will be on it. Uninstall it. In the incredibly unlikely event you need it again, you can download it and reinstall it. You probably won't.
- WeatherBug
- Takes up way, way too much ram for what it does. Find a web page that tells you and bookmark it. Google's personalized homepage has a few different weather things you can add.
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