Wouldn't it be nice if your computer still ran like it didback when you first got it? Before you go and buy a newcomputer try this key maintenance step you can use to putlife back into the computer you've already got.
Imagine that you start up your pc just to find yourselfstaring at a blue screen with white writing, termed "theblue screen of death" by those at Microsoft.
So you push the power button to shut it down, and when youbringit back up it just crawls. Within a few minutes it goesback to theblue screen of death.
This happened to a friend of mine. When she asked me whatshe could do, I asked her if she had ever defragmented herpc.
She got that "deer in the headlight" look, so I knew shehadn't. Defragmenting her pc, after 3 years of never doingso, took about 14 hours to complete.
One of the main reasons that computers slow down is poormaintenance practices.
Unfortunately, when you buy a new computer you don't usuallyget much instruction on how to maintain it. Poor or nomaintenance allows your hard drive to become more and morefragmented which will slow it down over time.
To best explain hard drive fragmentation think of your harddrive as a file cabinet. In this cabinet there are folderswith documents (files) in them.
When you need to work on something you open the foldercontaining the necessary file, pull out what you need andput the folder back. The files go on your desk so you canwork on them.
Over time certain files don't get put back, or they get putback in the wrong places.
When this happens on the hard drive it leads tofragmentation. Think of defragmenting as going through allof the files on your desk, and in the cabinet, and puttingthem all back in order in the correct folders.
Just as staying in this state of disorganization would leadto a significant loss in your own productivity, the samething happens to your computer.
Eventually this even causes crashes because of how scatteredall of the information gets.
Disk fragmentation can even shorten the lifespan of yourcomputer because your hard drive works so hard that it wearsout faster.
So the one step solution for this part of computermaintenance, run the defragmenting tool that comes withwindows at least once every couple of weeks.
Do this by clicking Start, click All Programs, clickAccessories, click System Tools, then click DiskDefragmenter. Choose the disk you want to defragment andclick the defragment button.
Alternatively you can get software that will automaticallykeep your disk defragmented, like Diskeeper by ExecutiveSoftware.
Take care of your pc maintenance and you will continue toenjoy the speed you experienced when you first made thatinvestment!
(C) Chuck Moorefield - All Rights Reserved
