With the advent of the digital age, there are has grown a significant dependence on computers and laptops. It is no surprise then, that something like losing internet or having a failed battery can throw a serious wrench in your plans. Your day likely revolves around some kind of internet usage and you may be lost without it. It is therefore critical that you maintain your computers to keep them running in top shape. Included here are a few tips to keep them in good condition and running on overdrive.
Clean Up Your Hard Drive
Have you ever heard of spring cleaning? It is an important spring step that allows you to clean out the grime and dust of the winter to make new for a fresh summer season. Just as your home needs a freshening up on a seasonal basis, so does your computer.
You may notice that your computer has begun to get slow and react poorly to loading programs and web pages. A common source of this problem is that your hard drive is overwhelmed with programs. By taking time each season to clear out any unnecessary programs you can keep your computer functioning in top shape.
Remove Unnecessary Files
Did you know that every time you visit a web page, cookies are being stored on your computer? This means that your computer is remembering pieces of that site so that you can load it faster in the future. While, on principle, this can be a time-saving tip, all of those extra site loads can result in some serious storage on your computer.
Temporary files should be removed on a yearly basis, and if you haven’t done them recently, you could have up to 10% of your computer’s memory occupied. There are many free tutorials online to show you how to complete this, and other, tasks to free memory space.
Get Rid of Old System Restores
As a general practice, windows takes snapshots of the contents on your computer to keep them for system restores. By taking the time to remove all but the most recent snapshot, you will free up a great deal of space and get your computer running much more quickly. The fix for this problem is remarkably simple as well as you just have to click “clean up.”
Defrag
As simple as this word seems, fragmented files are actually quite complicated. Over time your disk blocks store and remove files. If you store a large file that is unable to fit in one disk block, it can become spread over several. This means each time you try to load the file, your computer must pull that file’s information from multiple disk blocks. By simply “defragging” your computer, you can compound these files into simpler storage and save your computer time, and brainpower, when you load files.