Don’t be fooled you don’t need a super fast processor and tons of memory to surf the internet and do word processing. A properly maintained but out dated system will most always out perform a newer more modern system that is not properly maintained. Not knowing how to take care of your computer eventual leads to buying a new computer when it is not necessary. Invest either your time in learning how to maintain your system or your money in purchasing software to do the job for you. (See chapter 5)
Clean out the start up folder -Too many programs loading at start up is one of the most common causes of lackluster computer performance. Learn how to control what software is running on your computer behind the scenes. This is one of the places that control what programs load at start up.
In your Start Menu select Programs then Start up. Now Right Click and Delete each short cut.
Keep unnecessary services from loading at Start up-The services control panel dictates what services load at start up. Some services are required for Windows to run while others are 3rd party applications that are not.
Hop on over to your Control Panel, Select Administrative Tools now click on Services
This is a complete list of all your services. Some are manual while others are automatic. You can change the start up type from automatic to manual by right clicking on an entry and choosing Properties. Look for a text box label Start Up Type. You can stop, start, disable or change the service from automatically loading to manually loading. In most cases you shouldn’t need to do much of anything here. But it doesn’t hurt to pay this screen a visit. You could find some unneeded items running and shut them down. Every little bit helps. Read the description carefully before doing any modifications though and if you are not sure what the service is leave it alone.
There is one more place I like to check for start up items and that is the Windows Registry. We will cover this topic in the next chapter.
Scan disk- Scan disk will find and repair data errors on your hard drive. Make sure to close all programs before starting. Right click on your C drive icon in My Computer and select tools. Click on check now.
Disk Defrag- Over time data stored on your hard drive gets scattered around. Windows needs a continuous block of free space to store data for fast access or in other words to cache from. You most likely noticed Disk Defrag in the same window as Scan Disk. Again make sure to close all programs before starting
I recommend running Scan Disk and Disk Defrag at least every other month.
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