Keeping Clutter Free

How to keep your computer running smoothly

Anyone who has bought a new PC knows that they tend to slow down with use if they are not regularly maintained. This article gives you a few essential tips on how to reduce the build up of clutter and how to make things run a little smoother.

There are several utilities built into Windows that allow you to maintain your essential files and configuration settings. Most systems are set up to run 'Cleanup Wizards' automaticaly when the level of clutter may become too high. Unfortunatley these wizards often just tidy up your shorcuts or remove a few unused files, which may help keep things tidy but it does little to improve the running of your PC.

Ideally you should manually check your computer for disused programs and files on a regular basis. Utilities such as 'Add/Remove Programs' in the control panel can be used find and remove most programs. It can even list your programs in the order they are most used. Some programs you install may not appear in the 'Add/Remove Programs' list, but they usualy come with an uninstall shortcut where the program was installed. Other programs can have no uninstall function at all so you can only manually delete the files. This can cause problems as some files may be stored outside the main program directory, which will not be removed. These remaining files are typically not harmfull, but they may build up over time wasting your disk space.

Many programs you install will automatically start when your switch on your computer. Each program that loads uses up some of your system resources, leaving your computer running with less than optimal performance levels. You can obviously remove these programs entirley, but if you want to keep the programs but not have them load every time, then you can disable them from the startup sequence. This is covered in the next article 'Performance Tweaks'

Check our PC Repair section if you would like us to improve the performance of your PC.

Perfomance Tweaks

Learn how to improve the performance of your PC by making minor adjustments to your software settings

We would all like to get a little more from our computers, but not all of us want to buy the latest processor every time a new one is released. This article deals with methods of speeding up your computer without the need to buy additional hardware.

As mentioned in the previous article, many programs will automaticaly load each time your computer is started. The more programs that start, the less system resources are available to other programs that you may be using. Most programs that start with Windows will have an option in their settings or preferences menu, allowing you do disable the program from startup. If you have a lot of icons in the task bar near the clock, try opening them and looking for an option to disable it on startup.

Some programs that start automatically may be neccesary, such as anti-virus or spyware protection programs. These programs can protect your PC from harmful elements like viruses but they do so at the expense of system performance. For these programs to work they must be running in the background constantly. A typical anti-virus program will check a file every time your computer writes a file to disk. This can cause your system to slow down each time the hard disk is used.

The most popular anti-virus programs such as Norton are suprisigly some of the worst culprits for system slow downs. This, because they tend to 'take over' your system and install litlle bits and features everywhere. These extra features will most certainly improve the level of protection on your system from viruses and other threats, but it will be at further expense of your system resources.

We suggest using a more lightweight antivirus product such as Avira Antivir or Microsoft Security Essentials. Both of these can be dowloaded free, or you can pay to upgrade to the full version of Avira Antivir. We highly reccomend the Avira software as it will not slow down your PC like Norton or McAfee does.

Check our PC Repair section if you you would like us to get your pc running up to speed.