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Have you found that your computer is running a little on the slow side recently? Been tempted to take a sledgehammer to it? Before you do that, you might want to see if we can help you!
As you all know February 14th marks St. Valentine’s Day, a day of celebrating relationships in your life and the one you love. It also marks the international ‘Clean Out Your Computer Day’ and what relationship do you spend most of your working week building on? That with your computer.
Over time a PC will build up unwanted registry entries, unused programs and general clutter, which are the biggest contributing factors in reducing the speed at which systems run.
To help resolve these problems – and rescue you from the verge of insanity - Annette White from PC Help Centre has put together some tips for giving your computer a clean up to help it run more efficiently:
1. Review your programs
With so much free software available to download, it’s easy to start accumulating unwanted programs that you rarely use. We recommend that you review and uninstall any programs that you don’t use. When uninstalling software programs, double-check that they are not needed for the running of your system.
2. Clear out temporary files
When you visit a website, some files are saved to your computer to make it faster when visiting that site again. Temporary files are not always deleted automatically and can take up a huge amount of space. You can use the inbuilt tools on your computer to clean up your internet files (search ‘Disk Cleanup’).
3. Update anti-virus & anti-spyware software
If you’re using the internet or email we highly recommend that you have anti-virus, anti-spyware and malware software loaded onto your computer. It is important that you keep these updated regularly and that you run them daily – or at least weekly – to protect your computer from malicious software. We recommend using Avast, Spyhunter and Malwarebytes, as we use these ourselves.
4. Run Windows Update regularly
It is also important that you install the latest security updates otherwise you are open to hackers. Set Windows to update automatically, but be mindful of the age of your machine as not all updates are supported by older technology.
5. Duplication of information
If you save files to your computer to work on, plus you also have the same document saved as an attachment in an email, you’re doubling the amount of storage space taken up on your computer. Be vigilant with what you save and remember, delete old ‘Sent Items’ too.
6. Add more hardware
There are many options available should you need more space. You can upgrade your existing hard drive to a larger size (i.e. 320GB) as long as your computer can manage the upgrade. Alternatively, you can use an external storage device connected through your USB.
7. Compressing pictures
Digital pictures can take up vast amounts of storage space on your hard drive or memory card; what’s more, when sending such large files you may find that your service provider has limitations on the size of attachments. If you are a Microsoft Windows 7 user, you can create a folder that will automatically compress pictures, saving valuable space.
8. Upgrading RAM (Random Access Memory)
If there is not enough memory the computer uses your hard disk to store information, which is a much slower process. The computer then always appears to be busy, writing and reading information from your hard disk.
If memory is a problem, your computer will be slow whenever you start a new application. We recommend you talk to a computer expert before buying more memory, as you’ll need to know exactly which type of memory is compatible, that you have space available to add the hardware and that you replace with matching memory at the right speed.
9. Give your computer a physical clean inside and out!
(Applicable to desktops)
Step 1: Inside the case
Using a screwdriver, remove the side of the case that’s opposite the motherboard. Keep your fingers away from any cards and cords, and then blow air from a can of compressed air around all of the components and at the bottom of the case, keeping the nozzle at least five inches away from the machine. Blow air into the fan (from around the back of the case) and also into the power supply as dust acts as a blanket and overheating can occur.
Step 2: Outside the case
Give the case a clean with a damp cloth and wipe dry.
Step3: Keyboard We highly recommend cleaning your keyboard on a weekly basis as it is one of worst areas for collecting germs. Turn the keyboard upside down and give it a gentle shake, which will clear a lot of the dust. Take some hygienic keyboard wipes and give the keys a gentle rub and clean. If you have a laptop, follow the same procedure but take extra care with your machine.
Step 4: Mouse
Rub the top and bottom of your mouse with hygienic wipes.
Step 5: Monitor
Use a monitor screen cleaning kit but do not spray anything directly onto the screen, instead spray the fluid onto a duster or similar and wipe the screen gently to remove dust and fingerprints. There are specially formulated screen wipes available for laptops.
10. Rebuild your system back to factory settings
If you want a completely clean machine, you can rebuild your computer back to factory settings. It is a good idea to do this after three to four year’s use. The most important thing to remember when doing this is to check if, firstly you need any of your data saving before it is rebuilt and, secondly, do you have the original discs for Windows and all the drivers (i.e. sound, video etc) or can you provide the restore disks? We recommend that you get your local computer expert to do this for you, unless you’re confident you can complete this rebuild yourself.
Annette White, PC Help Centre
