Use your computer’s idle time wisely! Windows contains a feature that allows the PC to optimize (a mysterious term, but I have noticed improvements personally) your hard drive as your computer runs idle.

This is a registry hack though, so be careful. Go to Start -> Run -> Regedt32 -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OptimalLayout and find the REG_DWORD “EnableAutoLayout;” set the DWORD = 1 to enable the optimization (create the DWORD if it does not exist). Once set, you should soon notice some performance increase. If not, complain to Microsoft about it.