what can I do to speed up my iPad?

If no change after powering the iPad off and on, try an iPad reset which is done by pressing and holding the home button and the sleep/wake or on/off button until you see the Apple logo and then release.

For anyone to help you, you'll need to provide more information. Under what situations is your iPad slow? Do you have original iPad, or iPad2?

The same problems that plague netbooks also plague iPads as they both have the same type of under-performing Atom-like processors.

1: Content grows over time

2: The web gets more involved every passing day.

3: Operating system makers add more features which slows devices down and forces a hardware turnover

Sorry I got off on a tagent, perhaps you need to totally reset the iPad, after you got your content synced back into the computer. 😀

(edited to avoid rant)

iOS devices as well as other devices get clogged up with temporary files. To clear them go to the device settings menu, go to safari, clear history cookies and cache. Hope this helps. P.S. I am typing on an iPad.

Hi. Just thought I'd put my 2cents in. I have a system activity app that works for seeing what is running, how much memory is being used, etc... This app also has little tutorials on how to free up memory and it has helped with my iPad 1's speed. It also gives you ways to increase your battery life. Since I got this it has helped immensely on keeping the speed of my iPad optimal and saved me battery life. I would recommend it. Hope this helps.

Hey Firespryte,

What's the name of this magical app? When I type "system activity ipad" into iTunes, I get 17 different apps.

Thanks in advance.

Double-click the Home button; hold Apps down (in the Task Bar) for a second or two until you see the minus sign. Tap and close all inactive Apps.

Inactive apps may hold on to some RAM, but if an active app needs it, the inactive apps relinquish what they are using. Unfortuately sometimes it doesn't work that way.

Diavonex wrote:

Double-click the Home button; hold Apps down (in the Task Bar) for a second or two until you see the minus sign. Tap and close all inactive Apps.

Yup. This trick works for me every time.

If you've updated to iOS 5.1, you can swipe four fingers up across the screen (instead of double-clicking the Home button) to reveal the task bar of active Apps (along the bottom of the screen). Then, as Diavonex wrote, just hold your finger down over one of the App icons until they all start shaking and a little red circle (with a white minus sign) appears in the top left corner of each. Tap the red circles one by one until all the Apps are gone. Now your iPad should run quicker. Do this every time you feel it's a bit sluggish.

Very helpful. Thanks!