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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Is Your Computer Running Slow

Get your computer back up to speed

We here all the time my computer does not run as fast as it did back when I purchased the machine. This question comes out of every ones mouth every time we go out on a service call. There are many reasons why the computer does not run as fast as before but we are only going to take a look at a few. First thing you need to do before you do anything is back up your hard drive which holds all your files. If you do not back up your data you are asking for trouble and you may lose everything. See my page on computer backup.
Let’s take a look at why your computer may be running so slow.

Why Do Computers Start Running Like a Turtle

Computers slow down and cause the owner to get frustrated for many reasons. Some of the main reasons are due to hard drive fragmentation; lack of resources, viruses is a huge on, over heating, and a computer with low amount of ram. If you are contemplating trying to fix your computer on your own it is now before you do anything to back up your files such as you document folder to a flash drive or external hard drive. This should save most of your files safely and easily. You may also want to copy what is on your desktop to your flash drive or external hard drive also. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Getting your computer back up to speed

At this point if you are computer savvy enough the optimum thing to do now is totally format your hard drive and reload the operating system. If you have enough resources in the computer you should consider installing Windows 7 Ultimate edition. Most people are not computer savvy enough so here are a few other things you can try on your own to see if you can get some more speed out of your machine.

First make sure your compute is up to-date with all the Microsoft updates for your operating system. You do this by opening your Internet Explorer Web Browser and going to tools and then computer update. Click on compute update and then Microsoft will scan your computer and see if it lacking any of the updates for your operating system.

Next, download the freeware of AVG or another virus scan software that you prefer and check your system for any viruses. In my years of computer repair I have not seen so many viruses on computers as I have the past 7 years. Viruses slow down a computer and steal a lot of the resources your computer needs to make it run at top speed. Computer virsus enter the machine so many different ways and they come from all over the world. It is really scary what is taking place in the cyber-world. The biggest thing is to make sure that your compute is virus free and keep it that way in order to have a fast running machine.

Next you should take a look at how much ram (Random Access Memory) your computer is running. To do this you need to go to Start and then go to your Control Panel and then go to System. When the system page opens towards the bottom it will say how much ram your computer is running. In today’s world you should have a minimum of one or two gig of ram installed for optimal computer use. If you are running less than this there are many places to purchase ram memory or contact your local computer technician or contact us for consultation.

After you have done these chores to your computer it is now the time to clean up the registry of the computer and get rid of all that garbage that is stored in hidden areas of your computer to make things run smoother. A great utility that I install on customers computers is called CCleaner. CCleaner is a great free utility that cleans a machine squeaky clean and also can be used safely to clean up the registry files (the little hidden file cabinet that makes your computer run). I find CCleaner to work much better than Disk Cleanup which is built into Microsoft accessories. If you are more comfortable in using Disk Cleanup go ahead, each one of us have our own preference in cleaning up a computer.


What Is That

A computer does not take much to make it run hot. So make sure that you computer is in a location that is dust free, plenty of space surrounding the computer for good air flow and is free inside of computer dust webs. One should clean around the fan and power supply fan with compressed can of air. If you are not scared to open the case you should take extra time and clean out all the dirt and dust webs that have built up inside the case. Use only can compressed air and do not blow using your mouth. Your air has moisture molecules and will short out the mother board. Be very careful also to make sure you do not have any static electricity on your body for this will also wipe out the mother board. The cooler you can keep your computer the more optimal speed you will get out of your computer.