Having a slow computer can be very frustrating. If you like me, you are probably trying to do just about everything in order to speed up the process of what it is that you are doing. One of the best ways to do this is to get to your most commonly used applications as quickly as possible. Just think of how much time is wasted when you are looking all over your computer trying to find the applications that you use all of the time.

How much would you save if you were to add it up for a whole week or how about a month? I'm willing to bet that for the average person it would add up to a lot and even if it didn't, being able to get to your programs quicker is just much more convenient. The user interface is something that you use frequently - you might as well spend some time to make it as convenient for you to use.

Let's begine with the quick launch (if you are not sure what the quick launch is, its the group of icons that are right beside your start button). For those of you that don't see a group of small icons right beside your start menu, just right click on the taskbar and select the Properties option. Then just select the "Show Quick Launch" option. Now, in order to do anything you are going to have to unlock the quick launch since it is locked by default. To unlock it, right click on the task bar and select "Lock Taskbar". Now you should see small dotted lines which will allow you to resize it your quick launch. Now all you have to do is to just find the top 3 applications that you frequently use by going through your All Programs list (in the start menu) and then just right click on their icons and select the Copy option. Now go to your desktop, right click and select the Paste option. Now you should see a copy of that icon on your desktop. All you have to do is to just drag it into the quick launch area and the icon should be in bottom right hand corner next to the start menu. So now when start up your computer you don't have to look all over the place for your main programs - there right in front of you now.

Now let's work with the Start menu. If you click on your start menu you will notice that there is a faint horizontal line on the left hand side. Everything that is above this line is permanent unless you manually remove them and below this line are programs that you have most recently used. What you're going to want to do here is to add 3-5 programs that you use regularly to the permanent (the top part) of the list. Just go to the All Programs on the start menu, right click on the program icon and select "Pin To Start Menu". This will then put it on the permanent part of the start menu so that you can quickly get to them without having to search around your messy desktop.

To take it to the next level you can spend some time cleaning up your desktop. A messy desktop can really slow down your ability to find what you are looking for. Delete all files that are unnecessary and put all important files into folders that are organized. You should really only have shortcuts to your applications and maybe a few important folders on your desktop.