We have all been there. Your computer is slowing down, is old(ish) and you are thinking about changing it for a new model. Do you really need to spend hundred of pounds on a new shiny model or is there a cheaper way to reclaim your computers lost performance?
So before you go spending all that money lets try to refresh your PC. Because most people run some form of Windows we will concentrate on that.
1. Run a complete virus and spyware scan. I can recommend Avast Free (antivirus) and Spybot -Search and Destroy (spyware) for this. This area is of course personal choice but I would recommend these to any of my clients.
2. Get rid of any old programs you have installed but hardly use. Word of warning here – only get rid of programs that you have installed and you know what they do. If you don’t know what a specific program does then my advice is to leave it alone or you could mess up your system.
3. Use disk clean up. This is a tool within Windows that helps you to free up hard disk space by deleting unnecessary files. It can be found by right clicking on the icon for your computers hard disk. The tool itself is safe but there are three items you need to be wary of – Office Setup files, compress old files and Hibernation File Cleaner. Personally I would leave these items well alone just incase. Read the rest of this entry »