Over the past few months I’ve seen slow slow computers and laptops. Here are five easy ways to speed up your PC / laptop. If you are in in your city give me a tinkle and I can lend a hand.
1. Add more RAM (memory) it’s cheap!
Back in the dark ages of IT computer memory was very expensive. This has now changed and if you have an aging computer the single best solution is to add in extra RAM. If you have an older machine the software that came with that machine was designed to run with the memory installed. However over the past few years software has been gaining the need for more RAM. So if you’ve recently installed a new bit of software in an old machine there is a very good chance that it’s slowing the machine down a lot.
You can tell how much RAM is in your machine by right clicking the my computer icon and choosing properties from the menu. If you have 256MB RAM, you should be ashamed of yourself, upgrade now! For £10 you can double that to 512MB RAM. If you have 512MB RAM, your doing okay however 1GB RAM is ideal, the cost around £20. To upgrade your computer in in your city give me a call.
2. Defrag your hard disk.
Windows likes to spread data around your hard drive like butter on toast however hard drives work faster when the data is all together, like one big clump. Defragging a hard disc orders the data on your hard drive so windows can access it faster, this in turn will speed up the running of your hard drive. Download, install and run ultra defrag this is far better than the defrag utility in windows and is free!
3. Uninstall Norton, Macafee and AVG anti virus!
Am i nuts, uninstall your anti virus? Well Fixing computers in in your city has led me to the conclusion that these 3 are bad for your computer. AVG never used to be so bad but since version 8 (released May ’08) It is now up with Norton and Macafee as processor hogs of the computer. Don’t believe me? Google “Norton is a virus” or click here for some reasons that make my statement ring true.
Okay I have removed Norton/Macfee/AVG now what? Well congratulations firstly, I know how difficult it is to remove Norton from a system. There are plenty of alternatives to the big three. I recommend Avast Free edition and Super Anti Spyware. However there are others that I also recommend, give me a all if you need a virus removed or an anti virus removed in in your city 
4. Speed Up your Internet
Some people think the more expensive the computer or the newer the computer the faster it will be, wrong! Nowadays most people use their computer to surf the web. That means that your broadband connection has much more of a role in system performance compared to the actual performance of your computer.
Here is how to speed up your broadband in in your city, or anywhere else for that matter!
Plug your router into the master socket in your house. Do not run your router or modem off an extension in your house. If the master socket is somewhere that the computer can’t go I can help with this, either via a wireless network or a home plug network (Internet gets sent around your electricity supply!) Having a hardwired connection is always better, wireless sucks most of the time, especially with the granite walls in in your city.
Remove the ring wire from your master socket. This is usually an orange wire, if you don’t feel comfortable doing this then you know who to call at this point. The ring wire used to be used on old telephone systems and made the telephone “ring”. It is no longer used and actually causes interference with the broadband signal, slowing down your connection.
Get a new ISP, maybe, if you’re with a big ISP like BT, Virgin, AOL, Tiscali then this is probably one of the main factors why you have slow Internet. Because they are big they have more customers, more customers means more people using the same connection to their servers. This spells disaster for the power user. A general rule of thumb, the smaller the ISP the better the service. I use an outfit called ADSL24, there are others. You’ll also find with the bigger ISP they’ll throlle/restrict usage to the Internet at certain times of the day, mainly between 4pm-9pm.
5. Re-install windowzzzz
Windows is great but over time it will slow down and get cluttered up. I’m not going to go into the detail on how to do this as there are a few steps and it take a good 3 hours to get it all running again. However the is probably one of the best tips, if you need a windows reinstall in in your city give me a call. Or look further down this blog where I outline the process.