Are you a not-so-proud owner of a slow computer? Too often our computers slow down to a crawl so that we feel like giving up and just getting a new one. But that’s not the way to go. Most likely it’s still possible to revive your PC without spending a single cent. Here is what you need to do:
1. Fix hard drive errors
Every time your programs crash, your computer freezes up and requires a hard reboot, or there is a power cut, your hard drive may experience errors and create bad sectors. These errors can accumulate over time and slow down your computer. That’s why your should run a tool called Check Disk at least once a month to fix all minor errors and prevent hard drive failure. To run Check Disk, do the following:
1. Click on the Start button and go to (My) Computer
2. Right-click on the hard drive you want to check and go to Properties
3. Go to the Tools tab, navigate to Error-checking and click Check now. Don’t forget to select the Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. Otherwise the tool will simply report problems without fixing them.
4. Click Start to run the tool.
Remember that Check Disk can take quite a while to fix errors. That’s why you need to dedicate about 40 min. for it to do the job.
2. Delete temporary files
Temporary files are created every day when you browse the Web and open files and programs. As a result your computer starts losing out on hard drive space. Lack of free disk space can grind your PC to a halt and make some tasks impossible to process.
You can cleanup temporary files with the help of Windows built-in Disk Cleanup utility. To access it, click on the Start button, go to Programs – Accessories. Launch the Disk Cleanup tool, let it analyze your disk and then let it clean up temporary files and the contents of your Recycle Bin.
3. Defrag and optimize system files placement
Whenever you save a new file or update an existing one, Windows breaks it up into small fragments and fits these fragments into bits of available free space. Over time too many of your files become fragmented, which means that your computer needs more time to find the fragments and open the files. So if your Word documents, photos, and software take ages to open, disk fragmentation might be responsible for that.
Windows has its own defragmentation utility that can be found under Programs – Accessories, but it’s better to use a more advanced program, such as the free Auslogics Disk Defrag, to defragment files, free space, and optimize system files placement. That way you will speed up file access, prevent further fragmentation and make your computer start faster.
Guest post by Andrew Breen. Andrew Breen is the Marketing Director at Auslogics Software. Auslogics makes software to speed up and clean up your slow computer.
Revive Your PC: How to Optimize a Slow Computer
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