Software Recommendations

Computers are constantly being made better and better and similar to when you buy a car, your computer loses it’s value very quickly. Within months after you buy a new computer, the store you bought it from can stop carrying it, replacing it with the latest and greatest.

Buying a brand new computer will obviously solve the problem, but a better idea is to ensure your computer is cleaned out, running efficiently, and upgraded. Local computer repair companies call these services “tune-ups” and they are actually very effective. In this list we will discuss 6 easy ways to increase your computers speed and push back your new computer purchase by a long ways.

Hey you may even be able to dust off that old system (literally) and use it as a second computer for picture storage, kid’s homework, or maybe just another PC around the house to browse the internet with.

1. Dust it Off – Especially Laptops!

This simple task can work wonders. The reason why is because dust blocks air-flow which means
your computer heats up very quickly and cannot be cooled efficiently. Overheated components slow your computer down considerably, and can even lead to system crashes and hardware failures.

Open your tower or laptop and blow the dust away with a can of compressed air that can be purchased at any big box retail store, or you can use a shop-vac with a blow feature. You’ll be surprised at how much dust your system has built up over the years. We recommend doing your dusting outside…

2. Clean it Out

If your computer is old, chances are your hard-drive has a relatively low capacity… Which also means that it’s probably pretty full… Full or nearly full hard-drives increase boot-up times, seek times, load times, heck just about ANY time it takes to do anything! The reason why is simple – the more on your drive, the more it has to search to find what it’s looking for.I tell my customers to keep their hard-drive under 50% capacity for best results.

• Uninstall old games
• Uninstall old programs you don’t use
• Delete duplicate photos – Users often upload the same set of photos off your camera every time you plug it in (this happens a lot)
• Transfer photos & videos to an external hard-drive, flash-drive or even CDs
• Run a third-party program like AVG PC Tune-Up to remove unnecessary files
• Install a new, or another hard-drive (see #5)

3. You Don’t NEED Toolbars

Almost everyone has them, whether it’s a search toolbar, a coupon toolbar, or a special recipe toolbar, and nobody needs them. They are the supposedly “helpful” sections that get added to your browser right below the address bar. Toolbars in your browser are almost always useless and almost always slow down your browser load times.

Delete them! First delete them trough Windows Control Panel and if they aren’t listed there, find the programs in your hard-drive and destroy them yourself.

4. Scan for Viruses/Malware

It may not look like you have one but there is always a possibility you have some kind of virus or malware, spyware, adware, etc. that hinders your computer’s performance, especially online.

Do a simple virus scan after you update your virus software to eliminate any potential issues. We recommend AVG Anti-Virus 2013. We also recommend using Spybot Search and Destroy to get rid of any adware or spyware that may be hindering your system performance.

5. Upgrade, Upgrade, Upgrade!

Yes, upgrade! Upgrade that old thing! It’s never very expensive and the results can be pretty potent. Start with memory, then try the hard-drive, and even your video card if you play games or watch videos.

Try doubling your system memory and you will be very impressed at how much faster your system is and how much smoother you can multitask. You CAN have 2 hard-drives and no, it’s not complicated. Install a second 250GB or better drive and you’ll never need another place to store photos, videos, music, etc. A video card is a great idea if the computer is used for watching videos or playing 3D games.

If you don’t feel comfortable completing hardware upgrades yourself, a local computer repair company can do the work for you for a modest charge.

6. Improve Your Boot-Up Time… Drastically

There are some programs on your computer, perhaps many, that are set to automatically start when you boot up WIndows. This is the leading cause of slow bootup on systems we see.

To edit the programs that are allowed to run immediately at startup, take the following steps:

Windows XP:

• Open your Start Menu
• Click Run…
• Type “msconfig” and hit OK
• Click the tab labeled “startup”
• This window displays a list of programs that run when your computer starts. Begin un-checking programs you don’t need started immediately, which is usually most – if not all.
• Restart your system and behold!

Windows 7/Vista:

• Open your Start Menu
• Type “msconfig” and hit Enter. (You should be typing into the search box at the bottom of the Start Menu.)
• Click the tab labeled “startup”
• This window displays a list of programs that run when your computer starts. Begin un-checking programs you don’t need started immediately, which is usually most – if not all.
• Restart your system and behold!

We hope you saw some improvements using these tips and we will continue to provide more tips and tricks on maintaining your PC and keeping things run smoothly.

If you live in the Temecula area and are interested in any hardware upgrades or a system tune-up, please contact us with any questions or to set up an appointment.