Maintaining your PC by Tony Green

If you are like me when you are working on your computer you are not working with one window using one program. In general I use multiple programs with multiple windows open. Why would I need so many windows in use at once? First of all, your email program is a must so you can keep track of any incoming messages that require your immediate attention, your Internet browser which allows you to keep up with any late breaking news, and any other programs you may be using.

Occasionally the performance of your computer slows down to where your ability to get things done without waiting for programs to respond becomes a challenge. As you would expect, this “lockup” always occurs when you are up against a time limit where something needs to get done using your personal computer (PC). More times than not this could all have been avoided by taking these simple steps.

I have found performing these five steps save a good amount of time wrestling with performance issues. The first step is the defragmentation of your hard drive. This process moves the files which are located in various locations on your hard drive to more centralized location. This makes the task files of finding any files which may be stored easier by preventing your computer from searching the entire hard drive. The next step is to from time to time perform virus scans on your computer. These programs check for viruses which can affect files, degrade the performance of the computer.

Another excellent step is to now and then clean the files on your computer. Over time many temporary files can accumulate and removing these can speed up the operation of your computer. Next backing up files every so often is very important in preventing uncommon occurrences from causing you to lose all of your data in the event of a catastrophic failure of your system. Finally, you should start only the programs you intend to use. On many occasions all of the programs that are installed on the computer are automatically launched with the computer starts up. Over time this causes your PC to boot up at a snail's pace due to the time required to start all of the installed software. Start up only the ones you need during a session. This way you prevent wasting large amount of CPU and memory using programs you are not using.

Here is a link, as an example Windows 7 TuneUp ,to a program which I believe is useful in helping me maintain the performance of my computers. Perhaps these programs may help you to increase you unit’s performance as well.