Simple Steps to Improve a Slow Computer. Part 2
by Wolfdave
Dealing with Pictures, Music and Files.
Many slow computers which I regularly get in for repair are not slow at all. They are just so full of clutter. I have heard of some PC repair shops charging a fortune to fix slow computers. They install more memory and a faster CPU and sometimes they even persuade the owner that they need a new hard drive. How much would all that cost! When all that is really needed is a little basic maintenance, and some good house keeping. More memory is always a good idea to improve your computers performance. But first, you should try to ‘take a load off’ your computer with these few simple steps.
Following on from dealing with your desktop in part 1. I would recommend you give some care and attention to all those pictures stored on your PC. I get a lot of computers in with literally hundreds of pictures scattered all over the place. It used to be that all pictures were stored in the My Pictures folder, but nowadays, you quite often find pictures also stored in the My Documents folder, eBay pics folder, and My Music folder and on Memory Sticks and CD’s. What concerns me most about all these treasured memories, is the fact that a great many people only have these pictures stored on their computers they have no other copies. If a disaster happened, like a hard drive failure or, heaven forbid, a fire or flood in their house, those memories would be lost forever.
Lots of pictures use system resources, particularly if those pictures are ‘Open’ and not in folders. So your computer will allocate resources to any pictures not in folders. It assumes, if a picture or file is not in a folder, you will be going to access that file or picture and makes some memory available, just in case. On the other hand, if all your pictures and files are neatly stored inside a folder, then your computer will ignore the folder and not allocate any memory to it, until you click to open it. Ok so the amount of memory for each picture is quite small, but add those small chunks up over a couple of hundred pictures and you may begin to realize how much resources can be easily wasted.
So the first step is to move any open pictures into folders. Preferably in your My Pictures, but even a folder in My Documents if you need to have some there is better than not being in any folder. Open My Pictures, right click anywhere blank in the window, then choose New, and then Folder. Give the folder a name and press Enter. Move any relevant open pictures into this folder, and then repeat this process for all your other pictures. Use this same procedure for any or all of your documents and music flies. Music files can also use up a lot of system resources, plain text documents much less so.
Once all your pictures are neatly stored in their relevant folders it makes the back-up process a lot easier. I would highly recommend backing up your pictures to an external media. Then if a disaster where to happen, then at least all those special moments and memories that you have captured would not be lost. All you do is click once on the folder of your choice, then look in the left hand column for Copy to CD. Make at least two copies for safety, keep one in your own home and give the second to a close friend or relative for safe keeping. You can use Memory Sticks as an alternative, but do remember; Memory Sticks have a limited life and should not be used as a long term storage solution. There are now many on-line vendors offering to store your pictures for you and they make the process very simple to use. For me, I much prefer to have hard CD copies of my pictures close to hand and under my control.
Having safely stored your pictures in folders and made several CD copies, you can now consider taking a load of your computer by deleting all saved pictures, music and personal files. This will save valuable system resources and also free up hard drive space.
If your computer is slow in general, there are utilities which can check the health of your system. For more information on one of these, click HERE