Articles - Continued

Increasing PC Performance

Frustrated by the performance of your computer? Are you ready to go and purchase a new computer system because of the declining performance of your current system? Certainly, that is an option, but there are some things you can do to your current system which would go a long way to increasing its speed and performance.

Defrag your hard drive. Defrag is a utility included with the Windows operating system.  You might ask yourself, why would I want to defrag my hard drive?  There are several good reasons:  When a file is saved to a hard drive it is stored at the memory location that is first found. However, only a certain percentage of the file is stored there. A simple excel file could be stored in numerous locations on a hard drive. When you try to access the particular file your hard drive has to pull the file fragments from its various locations, making your system appearing slower. Using the defrag feature is very simple. Lets use Windows XP as an example.  It’s a matter of going to the Start menu, then choose the programs option. From there go into ‘accessories’ then ‘system tools’ and finally choose ‘disk defragmenter’.  When using this utility it will analyze the hard drive and may make a recommendation that the hard drive does not need to be defragmented.  However, if its been a while since you have done this, it might not be a bad idea to run the defrag utility.

One often overlooked idea that can contribute to system performance is cleaning the physical components of your computer system. Take the case off of your computer and get rid of all the dust that has accumulated. There are special vacuums made for this purpose or one can always take their computer in and have it done by a professional. It’s also a good idea to make sure that all the fans are running properly. This is an important thing to check because if the fans are malfunctioning, system components could be overheating and not functioning as efficiently as they should – causing a decrease in the speed of your computer.

Another good idea to ensure your computer system is running as fast as it should is to make sure you get the updates for your operating system. These updates are important to download and install not only for computer security reasons, but to ensure your PC runs at an optimal level.

On a monthly basis, it’s a good idea to run the disk cleanup utility that exists within the Windows operating system.  This is very easy to do and could go a long way in ensuring your system operates in a smooth manner. To run the disk cleanup utility, follow these steps:

Double click “My Computer” icon in the Windows menu

Right click on the “C” drive icon

Choose the ‘Properties” option

Click the “Disk Cleanup” icon

In addition to the above suggestions, another good tip that could help speed up your computer is to empty the temporary internet files on a regular basis. This is a good idea because every time you visit a web site, information regarding the site is stored in the above folder and can take up much needed space on your system. To perform this function, follow these steps:

Go to the “Control Panel” in the Windows menu ( start menu ).

Double click the “Internet Options” button

Select “Delete Cookies” and also to “Delete Files”