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Written by Russ Levanway, CEO of TekTegrity, Inc.
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Tuesday, 18 May 2010 12:30 |
Many have experienced problems with personal computers, and there are solutions. Here are the Top 10 ways to improve your PC's performance.- If your computer is slow at start up, it may mean you have too many programs launching at the same time as your computer loads. Many software applications have part of their software load in start up. Often, this is unnecessary and wastes computer resources. If your problem is slow start up, you should have a technician remove unnecessary items from your Start Up folder and from the Run key in the computer Registryl.
- If your computer consistently runs slowly your system may not have enough memory. A computer that consistently runs slowly may need a simple memory upgrade. You can check the current amount of memory under System Properties in your computer’s Control Panel. Typically, we recommend you have at least 1GB of memory for running Windows XP, and at least 2GB for running Vista or Windows 7.
- Your antivirus program may be running while you are working on your computer. Some antivirus programs try to run a full scan when you startup your computer, and others automatically schedule the scans to run in the middle of the day. These full scans dramatically slow down many computers. You should open up the Antivirus Management program and look for “scheduled scans.” Change the schedule so the scans run at a time when you can leave your computer running but are not working on it. Keep in mind, full virus scans can take several hours on older computers.
- Your computer may be infected with spyware or adware. This is even more likely if you also get random pop-ups while browsing the internet, or prompts to install software when you do not expect to see them. You should try to clean your computer thoroughly of these types of infections by downloading and installing a freeware (free software) cleanup program such as Spybot Search & Destroy.
- Your new computer may have come with a lot of unnecessary software bundled with it. Many cheaper, entry level systems come with demo software pre-installed. Most of this software you may never use. You should download and install a freeware program called the PC Decrapifier onto your computer to remove these programs.
- Your computers hard drive may be severely fragmented. When a program such as Word saves a file to your hard drive, the file is sometimes broken up into parts and saved in different places on the hard drive. It takes longer for a fragmented file to be accessed and opened than a continuous file. You should run the Defragmentation tools included with Windows on your hard drive periodically to reduce file fragmentation.
- You may be running very low on hard drive space. You should typically have at least as much free hard drive space as you have memory on your computer. If hard drive space is very low, you will encounter numerous performance issues on your computer, and possibly even difficulty starting your computer and saving files. Clean up your hard drive by un-installing programs you do not use, and running the Disk Cleanup tool included with Windows.
- Over time, many temp files get stored on your computer, especially temporary internet files. You should use the Disk Cleanup tool on your computer to clean out temporary files, empty the recycle bin and remove downloaded program files.
- Make sure your system is up to date with all critical and recommended patches at Microsoft’s Windows Update web site. Patches for bugs and performance issues are routinely released there, not to mention important security fixes.
- The software you use may need better system resources than your computer can offer. If you have a computer that is several years old, consistently slow and you have tried the above steps, it is probably time for a new computer.
Russ Levanway is the CEO of TekTegrity, Inc. TekTegrity is an IT Strategies and Management firm that provides premium IT services to businesses, government, education and non-profit organization in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Monterey and Kern counties. TekTegrity’s goal is to become your organizations long-term strategic partner by supporting your IT infrastructure with your bottom line in mind. Some of TekTegrity’s services include System and Workstation Installation, Virtual Hosted Servers, Priority Backup, Off-Site Data Replication,, and Total Systems Management™ (TSM). TSM is an industry-leading managed services model that emphasizes proactive and preventative IT support at a predictable fixed monthly fee. For more information about TekTegrity, you can reach them by email at
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, on the Web at www.tektegrity.com, or by telephone at 805-596-0135.
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