Clients often contact me because their computer is running slowly.
Working out what is causing this is a process of elimination.
I have a check list of things that I look for to help improve the performance of a computer.
Often a computer 's performance will have slowed down over a long period of time and the reduction in performance will be due to a combination of factors.
Sometimes a computer's performance will have been so compromised that the easiest and quickest answer is to back-up all of your data and reinstall the operating system.
This will leave you with a clean system, but you will have to reinstall all your data, along with all your programs and drivers.
If you are not confident to do this you will have to pay a professional to help you.
Before you reach this stage though, work your way through my checklist to see if you can improve the performance of your computer.
1) Start by ensuring that your anti-virus software is up to date and that you are using effective antispy software.
Malware ( a generic term referring to most things that you don't want to find on your computer) is written at the rate of around 1000 items a month.
Manually update your antivirus and antispyware software and run scans to ensure that there is no malware present on your computer.
If running these scans finds and remove malware, this may instantly improve the performance of your computer.
I still find new clients who don't have antivirus software, or whose antivirus software licence expired months or even years ago.
Your antivirus and antispy software are useless if they are not updating regularly.
If you use a paid for internet security suite, the small cost of keeping your subscription active far outweighs the cost intime, frustration and professional fees of cleaning up an infected computer.
Once you have antivirus and antispy software installed it is vital to ensure that your computer is scanned regularly.
Many of these programs are proactive and will run a daily scan automatically.
If your software is not proactive it is worth considering replacing them with software that is.
It is easy to forget to run manual scans and leaves your computer vulnerable to infection.
Once you are sure that your computer security is effective there are other measures you can take to improve performance.
2) Defrag your hard disc.
The disc defragmenter is started differently in each version of Windows.
Click on Start and then go to Help.
Type in disc defragmenter to find out how to defrag your version of Windows.
If you use Windows Vista, then disc defragmenter runs automatically to a preset schedule.
With older versions of Windows you have to manually start disc defragmentation.
Defragging tidies up all the files on your hard disc and can dramatically improve performance if it hasn't been done for a while.
3) Look to see how full your hard disc is.
If your hard disc is more than about two thirds full it wont perform as fast as it should.
Use the add/remove programs (or programs and features if you use Vista) feature in the Control Panel to remove unwanted software.
If you are a keen photographer or music/video downloader, consider using an external hard drive to boost storage capacity, or move the ones you no longer use to DVD.
4)Your computer might need a memory upgrade.
The antivirus and antispyware programs on your computer are essential but are memory hungry.
Each time your virus database updates itself it increases the amount of working memory (RAM) that is by these programs to keepyour computer protected.
Boosting your computer's RAM can be an instant performance enhancer and transform your computer.
To see how much RAM your computer has, RIGHT click on the My Computer or Computericon on your desktop.
Select properties from the menu that appears.
Some older computers only came with 256Mb of RAM and this simply isn't enough to run current antivirus software and maintain your computer's performance.
5) If you are feeling confident you can use registry cleaning software.
Before downloading any registry cleaning software make sure you do a comprehensive internet search.
There are lots of scam cleaners around that simply install spyware and make your computer worse.
NEVER purchase anything from a pop-up advert that tries to scare you by telling you that your computer is infected.
These are all scams.
6) Or maybe this should have been number one?Make sure you do regular back-ups.
Then if your computer becomes infected or grinds to a halt and has to have its hard drive reformated, at least your data is safe.
Many a computer user has learnt the hard way and lost everything.
Don't be one of them.
Working out what is causing this is a process of elimination.
I have a check list of things that I look for to help improve the performance of a computer.
Often a computer 's performance will have slowed down over a long period of time and the reduction in performance will be due to a combination of factors.
Sometimes a computer's performance will have been so compromised that the easiest and quickest answer is to back-up all of your data and reinstall the operating system.
This will leave you with a clean system, but you will have to reinstall all your data, along with all your programs and drivers.
If you are not confident to do this you will have to pay a professional to help you.
Before you reach this stage though, work your way through my checklist to see if you can improve the performance of your computer.
1) Start by ensuring that your anti-virus software is up to date and that you are using effective antispy software.
Malware ( a generic term referring to most things that you don't want to find on your computer) is written at the rate of around 1000 items a month.
Manually update your antivirus and antispyware software and run scans to ensure that there is no malware present on your computer.
If running these scans finds and remove malware, this may instantly improve the performance of your computer.
I still find new clients who don't have antivirus software, or whose antivirus software licence expired months or even years ago.
Your antivirus and antispy software are useless if they are not updating regularly.
If you use a paid for internet security suite, the small cost of keeping your subscription active far outweighs the cost intime, frustration and professional fees of cleaning up an infected computer.
Once you have antivirus and antispy software installed it is vital to ensure that your computer is scanned regularly.
Many of these programs are proactive and will run a daily scan automatically.
If your software is not proactive it is worth considering replacing them with software that is.
It is easy to forget to run manual scans and leaves your computer vulnerable to infection.
Once you are sure that your computer security is effective there are other measures you can take to improve performance.
2) Defrag your hard disc.
The disc defragmenter is started differently in each version of Windows.
Click on Start and then go to Help.
Type in disc defragmenter to find out how to defrag your version of Windows.
If you use Windows Vista, then disc defragmenter runs automatically to a preset schedule.
With older versions of Windows you have to manually start disc defragmentation.
Defragging tidies up all the files on your hard disc and can dramatically improve performance if it hasn't been done for a while.
3) Look to see how full your hard disc is.
If your hard disc is more than about two thirds full it wont perform as fast as it should.
Use the add/remove programs (or programs and features if you use Vista) feature in the Control Panel to remove unwanted software.
If you are a keen photographer or music/video downloader, consider using an external hard drive to boost storage capacity, or move the ones you no longer use to DVD.
4)Your computer might need a memory upgrade.
The antivirus and antispyware programs on your computer are essential but are memory hungry.
Each time your virus database updates itself it increases the amount of working memory (RAM) that is by these programs to keepyour computer protected.
Boosting your computer's RAM can be an instant performance enhancer and transform your computer.
To see how much RAM your computer has, RIGHT click on the My Computer or Computericon on your desktop.
Select properties from the menu that appears.
Some older computers only came with 256Mb of RAM and this simply isn't enough to run current antivirus software and maintain your computer's performance.
5) If you are feeling confident you can use registry cleaning software.
Before downloading any registry cleaning software make sure you do a comprehensive internet search.
There are lots of scam cleaners around that simply install spyware and make your computer worse.
NEVER purchase anything from a pop-up advert that tries to scare you by telling you that your computer is infected.
These are all scams.
6) Or maybe this should have been number one?Make sure you do regular back-ups.
Then if your computer becomes infected or grinds to a halt and has to have its hard drive reformated, at least your data is safe.
Many a computer user has learnt the hard way and lost everything.
Don't be one of them.