There are so many things that cause a computer to be sluggish from software to hardware. It can be too small a hard drive or not enough RAM. It can be anything from BIOS and/or Operating System Settings to programs that are eating up your CPU and RAM (no matter how much you have). Or it can be your network.Personally, I work my computer like a young mother with a house full of kids 12 to 18 hours a day.
That mother needs to unwind at the end of the day and so does my computer and probably yours too.
Here are 9 Tips in the order they should be completed that can help keep your computer happy and working without complaining:
1. This is so basic I shouldn't need to say it, Keep Which Ever E-Mail Program You Use Cleaned Out. I have clients who are always complaining, but who refuse to dump years and years of accumulated e-mail.
2. Make sure you have a good anti virus program (Only one per computer please), have it up to date, and auto monitoring.
3. Make sure you have a good anti spy ware program (Only one per computer), have it up to date, and auto monitoring.
4. Run Disk Clean Up Daily (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Clean Up - a box opens - make sure each box is checked, click 'OK' - a box pops up - Click Yes).
5. Delete Cookies and Cached Files Daily (Start, Control Panel -if you have not done it yet, click 'Switch To Classic View', Internet Options - a pop up box will appear - Delete Cookies, Click OK, Click Delete Files - check 'Delete All Offline Content' - Click OK, Now Set Your Clear History to no more than 7 Days - if you haven't used it for a week you probably won't miss it - Click OK)
6. A very important step almost everyone misses: Empty The Prefetch Folder (Start, My Computer, 'C' , Windows, Prefetch Folder, Edit, Select All, File, Delete - pop up box appears - Click Yes, Close Windows Window)
7. Empty Recycle Bin. For the sake of brevity, I am assuming everyone knows where it is and how to empty it.
8. Scan Hard Drive 'C' (Start, My Computer, Right Click 'C' - box opens - Click Properties at the bottom - another box opens - Click Tools, Click Check Now, Make sure both 'Automatically fix file system errors' and 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors' are checked, Click Start. Get a cup of java (oh, black, thank you) and Wait !
9. Defrag Computer (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter - window opens - Select 'C' Drive, Click Defragment). Pop a top and Wait !
The last two steps (8 and 9) can take awhile if they have not been done recently. I complete this entire routine on my computer just before I stop work for the day everyday and the entire sequence takes no longer than 20 minutes and often much less.
You can download it from HERE.
