Under this strain, you will find that even running

This can, however, be avoided by following a few guidelines that will require little expense or technical know-how. Below are ipadstand.co.uk's top tips for ensuring that your office computer is working at its best:

1. External hard drives - Regardless of what work is being completed in the office, it is vital to protect and backup documents in case a driver fails. This can be easily achieved with an external hard drive, which are sold cheaply and offer more than enough space. This is the ideal method of securing documents for use on other computers in the future.

2. Buy a second router. Most modern companies use services online; whether they are building and maintaining sites or simply providing content, the internet is vital for a large amount of companies. This can create a number of connections on a single piece of hardware, leading to potential slow down. Using two routers, however, you can increase the reach of your wireless and speed the internet.

3. Remove/uninstall older files and de-fragment the drives - Office computer users will sometimes have to install programs that are for one-time use and then never use them again. Some programs will automatically set themselves to opening as soon as the computer boots, taking up valuable processor speed and RAM - however these can generally be uninstalled easily or disabled at start-up. Simply open the Start bar -> Control Panel -> Uninstall, or for stopping programs opening at start-up, press the windows key and R, type in msconfig.exe, navigate to the start up tab and un-tick programs that are not needed.

4. You may want to have a central network. In most cases, a computer will run slowly because it does not have enough memory, to solve this you could install a central computer and minimise the strain on individual computers. Then this central hub would have enough memory for all of your work-related tasks and it would be powerful to run regular computer tasks. This would then let you gain access to your computer system using a portable device, such as an iPad. And you could even have an iPad stand at your desk to still get all the benefits of a stand alone machine.

5. Keep desktop screen clear, imagine your desktop screen as your worktop. You will be able to work at a better pace and more easily if you keep it clear. Keep all folders well organised - for further organisation, separate the folders by date. Whilst doing this will not speed up the performance of the system, it will make planning and viewing documents considerably simpler.

6. Purchasing and installing the latest OS. Although this may seem like a costly option, keeping the OS of your computer updated can provide a significant benefit. Software is upgraded frequently to work better with new operating systems, so ensure that you are running the latest versions.

There are a plethora of methods with which to increase the speed of computers - some of which are easier and cheaper to implement; however these are worth using as they can all work to make computer use simpler and increase office productivity.