How to easily boost your computer, laptop or server

A common complaint we hear from many computer users is in relation to the speed of their computer. Some will come to work in the morning, turn on their computer and then go and make a coffee whilst it starts up and gets itself going (much like coffee drinkers).

There could be many reasons why the computer takes a long time to start up, to shut down or is very slow whilst being used for routine day to day tasks.

Here are some of the problems and recommendations that are common:

Not enough RAM or Memory

Stick with us here, we aren't going to get that technical. Every computer has RAM, which is also know as memory. This shouldn't be mistaken with hard drive space. The more memory (not hard drive space) you have, the quicker your computer will run.

If you’re running Windows XP, you should have at least 1GB of memory. If you’re running Windows Vista you should have at least 2GB. With the cost of memory being cheap and if you can afford it, we recommend you go for 4GB. When it comes to servers, it all depends on what it's being used for and how many users you have, but you should really have at least 4GB.

There is a limit to how much memory you can put into your computer, so be sure to check with a professional before you go out and buy your upgrade. You should also be careful installing memory, it is sensitive to static shocks so anti static procedures should be used.

The registry is part of Windows Operating System which contains information about how programs run, how your computer operates and what configuration to use. When you install and remove programs, this can become cluttered with old settings which aren't actually required any more.

If your registry is cleaned out, it can significantly boost your overall performance.

However, cleaning out the registry needs to be done properly, with the right tools. If you are unsure what you are doing, you could do more harm than good. Our recommendation is to have a chat with an IT Professional first.

This might come as a surprise to some people but changing your Anti Virus software can improve your overall speed. This is because some Anti Virus software can eat up your computers resources and slow everything else down. Some are better than others, but the ones that we think slow your computers performance down are products from Norton, Symantec and McAfee. The ones to look at as a replacement are Kaspersky for business users and Avira for home users

Whichever product you go for, you should configure it in such a way so that it doesn't interrupt your day to day use. You should schedule your full computer scan for a time of day when you aren't heavily using the computer. The most obvious thing to go for here is to set it to run during the night. Products such as Kaspersky will only scan changed files next time the scan runs which will again boost scan performance.

Defragging your computers hard drive can speed up the time it takes to load frequently used files. It does this by putting the frequently used files on a part of the hard drive which is the quickest to access. It then moves the less used files to the slower parts of the drive. We recommend that you run a defrag of your hard drive at least once a month.

If you would like further advice on how to boost your system, contact us using our contact form or give us a call on 01527 908646.