|
Home
News
Products
Services
Contact
FAQ's
| |
DEALING WITH SPEED ISSUES
Every computer eventually slows down. This is
just the way computers are. The reasons they slow down are many and sometimes
complicated but the two most common reasons are 'background programs' and 'fragments'.
A third reason is most often found on older computers and has to do with how much
hard drive space is available.
To diagnose the problem, start the computer and look
at the lower, right side of your computer screen. If you see a bunch of icons down
there, then you have a bunch of programs loading at start-up. These programs can be
Real Player, AOL Instant Messenger, Weather Bug, Yahoo Messenger and a host of others.
Because all Windows 9X based operating systems (95, 98, 98se and ME) have
difficulty dealing with multiple programs after a certain point, the idea is to limit the
number of programs running all at once. For instructions on how to clean up multiple
background programs - click here.
If your lower-right corner is relatively empty, then
the next thing is the most likely thing. Your hard drive needs to be optimized.
Defragmentation (or optimization - the terms are generally interchangeable.
You defragment to optimize it) should be done at least every six months or more often,
depending on how much the computer is being used. When new programs have been
added (or removed) and large files moved in and out, the hard drive becomes filled with
holes that could otherwise be filled up for faster data access. This is basically
what defragmentation does. For instructions in optimization and defragmentation, click here.
Finally, the last probable cause of a slowing
computer is hard drive space. A computer MUST have NO LESS THAN 10% of its hard
drive available in order to operate normally. To check on how much space has been
used on your hard drive, double-click on the My Computer icon, right click on the C drive
and click Properties. The graphic will display how much of your hard drive has been
used. To see if you have more than 10% available, take the space used, divide by the
capacity and multiply by 100. The number you get is the percent of space available.
If it's less than 15, you might worry. If it's less than 10, you MUST do
something about it or your computer will start to operate incorrectly. For
instructions on how to clean up a hard drive and free more storage space, click here.
Another less spectacular means of revving up a slow
computer is memory or RAM. All computers are sold today with about
256-512 megabytes of
RAM. This is considered bare minimum today. Computers do best at
1000 megs of RAM (1 GB or Gigabytes), unless you are doing specialized applications like video rendering and editing.
In that case, no less than 2 Gigabytes (2000 megs) is sufficient. If your computer has less
than 512 megs of RAM, you may notice an increase in speed and performance if you upgraded
your memory.
To find out how much RAM you have, right click on
the My Computer icon and click Properties. It will tell you how much RAM your system
contains, along with what operating system you have and your general computer type
(Pentium, Celeron, AMD, etc).
Not all RAM is created equal, especially with older
computer systems, so you will need to match the type of RAM you have (as opposed to the
amount) with what is available. Check with the retail store where you purchased your
computer for information as to the type of RAM your system requires and cost of upgrading
it.
Finally, your computer may be infected
with spyware, adware, malware or a virus. Click
here for further instructions in dealing with these issues.
|
