If you use a PC on a regular basis this topic is of no surprise. Over months, maybe even after years of use (although I hope you're not waiting this long to move into actin), your computer is now running through sludge. It's easy to blame the machine about its lack of processing speed, effective RAM size, and diminishing hard drive space, but truthfully, it's probably your fault. All the Internet surfing, downloaded programs, partially deleted programs, malware, disorganization, and plethora of other junk files build up and bog your PC down. It is likely these stated reasons far outweigh your supposed factors of the lack of CPU speed and the capacity of your RAM. Luckily there a few simple steps that lead to enhanced performance of your system. These actions are rather simple and should be performed on a regular basis. Remember, a PC is an example of a fine machine, and like any fine machine it requires maintenance.
Defragging your system is a simple but necessary process that could potentially surprise you how much speed you have been missing. As the name suggests, defragging (or defragmentation) reduces the amount of fragmentation on your file systems. Windows OS has a built in application called Disk Defragmenter that organizes the contents of your hard drive's stored files into smaller regions thus freeing up larger sections of, well, free space. It's akin to organizing your desk: by organizing documents into folders, speedy access to them is easily achieved and there's more space for you to work.
Cleaning your hard drive is another premium option to utilize regularly. In fact, while writing this article I forgot that I hadn't performed this particular maintenance in a while. By using CCleaner, a free application, you can rid your PC of useless files that are no longer needed for you system to function. Examples of useless files are temp files, registry errors, cached files and the like. For the record, I was able to clear a little less than 1 GB of useless data.
Remove spyware and malware. There can be much junk that gets downloaded to your computer from free programs you use, rogue emails that find their way to you (and then you open them) and a number of other methods that could potentially infect your computer. Malwarebytes, another free application, is the tool for the job. Keep it up to date, run it on a regular basis, and your computer will thank you for it.
General maintenance that is performed on a regular basis can do wonders for the speed of your machine. More importantly, general maintenance of your PC can do wonders for your sanity. If you have ever felt the need to toss your machine out the window because it's not doing what it's supposed do, take a deep breathe, exhale, perform these simple tasks I listed above and smile.
George is the Online Strategy Manager for Comset Computers, providing Chicago Computer Repair.
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