Mar
18
2009
AUTHOR
admin
Tags

eBiz Insider

Tech Corner: A Well-oiled Machine

One of the most frequent questions I get about computers is that the once impressively fast computer is now running as slow as a snail. This week’s tech corner tips can help get your productivity speedy again.

  1. Uninstall Unused Programs: Did your computer come with programs that you’ve never used? Look on your start menu for programs that you can uninstall to free up resources. If you’re using Windows, use the “Programs” or “Add/Remove Programs” feature to determine software you don’t use. If you’re not sure what a program is, do a Google search to find out if you really do need/use it.
  2. Add Memory: Use the tools at Crucial.com
    to increase your RAM memory. Different from hard drive space, this memory is used in processing activity on your computer. Your computer will have a maximum memory limit. The closer you are to this limit, the faster your PC will operate. Also, if your hard drive space is depleting rapidly, consider a clean-up or upgrade. Drives fill up fragmentation and slow performance result. Speaking of which…
  3. Defragment your Hard Drive: Think of a hard drive as a sheet of graph paper. As you add files to your hard drive you fill up a row of boxes. As you delete a file, certain boxes are cleaned out. Now, you save a larger file. Those boxes are filled up and then somewhere down the page there is another open box and that gets filled until the file is saved. Defragmenting your hard drive takes all the pieces of that file and puts them next to each other in the correct order. This increases performance and extends the life of your drive. A good utility (better than the one that comes built into Windows) for defragmenting can be found for free at Defraggler.com.
  4. Get a Laptop Desk: If you’ve ever heard the term “Fried Circuits” then you know that heat is bad for computers. Overheating can be disastrous. If you’re using a laptop with no cooling system, you’re probably doing some amount of damage. A good laptop desk
    (http://lapdesks.ebizinsider.com) can keep your machine running well and also help with ergonomics. Cool, right?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 2:48 pm and is filed under eBiz Insider. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply