Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Computer Maintenance Tips

If you are experiencing some computer slow down and constant crashes let me suggest a few tips that will help to speed up your PC and clean from system parasites and any other harmful malware.

First of all - clean up your system drive (in many cases it is drive C) from all the junk and old files that you have. One reason why your computer might be experiencing speed problems is full drive C. As it is system drive, it always needs some extra space for page files and virtual memory. If you have just few megabytes - I am not surprised that your computer is so slow. You can easily perform your disk clean up by using the Windows tool:

For Windows 7 users:
Select "Start", then "All programs", then click "Accessories" then choose "System tools" and "Disk cleanup". Select the logical disk that you want to clean. In the "Disk Cleanup For" dialog box select the files lists that you want to delete permanently and click OK. The clean up will start and it will take some time to finish, depending on the quantity of file that you have.

For Windows XP users:
Click "Start" menu, select "All programs", and click on the "Accessories" and in the drop down box select "System tools". In another drop down box click on the "Disk clean up".

The "select drive" box option will appear and you will have to select which drive you want to clean up. Press OK and a calculation of potential free space will run for a few second, displaying "Disk Cleanup for (C:)" window. Select the files that you want to delete and click OK. The process will start.

Defragment your hard drive. Defragmenting the hard drive is necessary function, especially after a long usage of your system. As you open and edit your files, the bits and pieces of your files are scattered or fragmented through the system. Next time when you open the files, it is more difficult for the hard drive to locate all the bits of your file, and the response time becomes slower. Defragmenting puts the files’ and folders’ pieces back together on a disk to make a single space for each. The reading and writing of the hard drive becomes much quicker when all the files are in one place and additional space is gained.

Defragmenting in Windows 7:

Select "Start", then "All programs", then click "Accessories" then choose "System tools" and "Disk Defragmenter". In the dialog box "Disk Defragmenter" select the drive to be defragmented and click "Analyze". The analysis will show you whether you should make the disk defragment or not. Click on the "Defragment Disk" button and the process will start. You will be able to monitor the whole process.

Defragmenting in Windows XP:
Click "Start" menu, then "All programs", click the "Accessories" and in the drop down box select "System tools". Click on the "Disk Defragmenter" in another drop down box. The new window will appear, where you will have to choose the drive and click "Analyze" button. The pop up dialog box will show the information, if you need to make defragmenting or not. After that you can click the "Defragment" button.

You could also check your hard disk for errors. To do that you can right click on your drive (C: or D: or any other letter), select "Properties" and "Tools". Press "Check now" in the "Error checking" option.

Scan your system for any spyware, adware or viruses. Spyware process may dramatically slow down the whole system. I suggest installing and updating the newest antispyware or antivirus programs - it can be AVG, Avast or any other antivirus, besides those suggested are free of charge. Additionally you might as well install antispyware program and run updates. It searches more thoroughly for root kits and some of those can bypass antivirus scans. The best antispyware for me is Super Antispyware. Here is more information about the antispyware and computer diagnostics.

By Tomaz Greicion

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