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Four Ways to Speed Up a Sluggish PC

Computers are supposed to speed up our productivity…to help us do more in less time.

But what do you do when your computer is running so slow that it’s keeping you from getting your work done?

Before you kick it to the curb, try these easy, do-it-yourself suggestions to help your system run & perform better.

Why do computers get slow in the first place?
 There are lots of reasons.
When you first setup a new system, it’s usually fast and responsive.
Applications open quickly, websites load instantly and startup and shut down take no time at all.
But after a few months of serious use (installing and removing programs, downloading files from the Internet and general wear & tear) it’s normal for things to slow down a bit. This is where computer maintenance comes in…your disks and your file system need to be maintained for them to continue operating at peak performance.

According to Microsoft (see link at the end of this article), there are 4 key things you can do to increase the performance of your PC:

Click here to find out more without reading the rest of this article or read the rest of the article .

1) Free Up Some Disk Space

You can speed things up by deleting the unneeded files from your hard drive. Most recent versions of Windows include a nice utility called “Disk Cleanup” that does just what the name suggests…it cleans up your disks! It will scan your whole drive and return a list of files you can safely delete, which will free up storage space and also make your system more responsive. Temporary Internet files, temp files from documents, downloaded program files, and even items in your recycle bin can all be found and deleted using this tool. I would also recommend uninstalling any programs you no longer need, and any Windows components you don’t use. Once this is done, you can move on to the next step.

2) Speed Up System Access To Your Data

The more you use your hard drive, the more “fragmented” it gets. Simply put, after a while you start getting large gaps on your hard drive. Windows has to work around these gaps, and it does so by putting pieces of your data on various areas of your hard drive. The farther apart the pieces of your data are on the drive, the longer it takes Windows to put them back together again, which results in very slow performance. To fix this problem, you should run the Windows “Disk Defragmenter” regularly. This built-in tool will remove most of the gaps on your hard drive and place all your data in close proximity, which saves the operating system time…and that means a faster computer for you!

3) Find and Repair Any Errors On Your Disks

Sometimes sectors of your hard drive can go bad. There are lots of causes for this issue, but the bottom line is that bad sectors can slow down your hard drive performance and even cause you to lose data. Fortunately, Windows includes a utility to deal with this: it’s called “Check Disk”. When you run Check Disk, it will scan your whole hard drive and find and fix errors, including bad sectors. Once you run this utility and fix any problems it finds, you’re ready for the final step.

4) Deal With Any Spyware Installed On Your Computer

I hate spyware! As a technician, nothing frustrates me more than a system infested with adware, spyware and downloaded Internet junk. Some of this stuff is really hard to remove, and the privacy issues surrounding spyware are also serious concerns. Show me a computer full of spyware and I’ll show you a computer that’s running way slower than it should be. Microsoft has released a free product called “Windows Defender”, and it works great for not only cleaning up existing spyware, but also for blocking it from getting installed in the first place. If you protect your system from spyware, it will reward you by performing better and lasting longer before requiring expensive repairs.

Internet Scams 101 — Stealing Credit Information

Because my business takes me all over the Internet, I have the dubious honor of being on three e-mail sucker lists at one e-mail address and one more at another address.

Which is good, because all three at the one address send me the same warnings: my eBay account has been frozen, ditto my PayPal, and an amazing variety of banks need me to update my records.

These people are all pretending to be someone we trust: a bank, PayPal, eBay. And when we are suckered into their setup, they empty our bank accounts and run up thousands of dollars on our credit cards.

Microsoft, Yahoo, and other Internet organizations are working on systems that will let us know whether the sender is REALLY who they say they are. When this comes online, it will help get rid of some of the worst black hats, though other types of scam may not be affected.

These “big pretenders” are vicious. Yet, in a situation where I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, I laugh. And warn other people so they can laugh at them too, rather than be sucked into their scams.

Due to these scammers, I look forward to my e-mail. As I delete item after item, I enjoy the fertility of their imaginations. One guy even has a sense of humor. (I think it’s a guy.) Today his name is Chattiest Q. Ulcerates. Yesterday he was Infiltrated G. Perseverance (giving a nice clue to his personality), and before that he was Twists V. Haemorrhaging (spelled correctly and another personality clue). I have no intention of clicking on anything he sends, but I smile as I delete him into oblivion.

These jokers are all serious about one thing: they want to steal your bank account number, social security number, and/or credit card information, and if one attempt doesn’t work, they’ll try another.

• Anti-scam rule 1:
Scammers pretending to be someone they are not cannot harm you if you delete their e-mails without clicking on any of the things they want you to click on.

Lately I’ve been getting official looking e-mails that appear to be from banks. They have beautiful logos and extremely official looking forms. One supposedly from Washington Mutual Security begins, “WAMU is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of buyers and sellers. To protect the security of your account, WAMU employs some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud teams regularly screen the WAMU system for unusual activity.”

Note the emphasis on safety and security. They even have an anti-fraud team! In order to “secure my account” I’m supposed to click on a link and supply information — information which will lead them from my pretend account with them to my real account, which they will then kindly clean out for me.

• Anti-scam rule 2:
Your bank does not need you to “confirm” your account number, your credit card numbers, or your social security number. It already has all the information it needs. As for some official sounding bank you’ve never heard of — sheesh!

• Anti-scam rule 3:
Give your credit information online only when you have gone to a legitimate website and are in the process of purchasing something from it. People who buy things from my website, http://www.foodandfiction.com/ , a very legitimate site, as part of the purchasing process are taken to a safe place online, so they can give their credit card information directly to the credit card company with whom I have a legal contract.

As the owner of the site, I NEVER SEE THE CREDIT CARD NUMBERS! All the credit card company gives me is the name and address of the person to whom I should mail the merchandise, what they ordered, and how much they paid. And that is the way all legitimate online merchants deal with your credit card information. We say your information is safe, and it is.

Keep these simple steps in mind — and help yourself steer clear of the many, many online scams that abound. And remember, keep smiling and spread the word!

Regards,

Martin and Adrian

http://www.software-street.martinandadrianonline.com

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