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The
HARD DRIVE is not the computer itself, it is small
device inside the computer that holds your operating system,
applications,
games and personal files, photos and music. You can replace it or
add extra hard drives in your computer for more storage space.
RAM is not the animal in bothering your ewes. It stands for
"Random Access Memory," and is an integral part of your machine's
functionality. RAM is temporary storage space in your computer. Programs are loaded into RAM temporarily while
you use them and when you turn off the power to the computer, everything in RAM
"disappears." The more RAM in a PC the better it can perform.
Your hard drive can be thought of as the filing cabinet, and
RAM as a “virtual” filing cabinet.
CLEANING
Once a year you should open the computer's case and vacuum
out the crud. If this is worrisome, let a tech do it. Use an old (but soft and
clean) paint brush to loosen the accumulated dust from corners, fans, the
mother board, etc. And make sure the computer turned off but plugged in before you crack the
case! Computers and static electricity do not like each other!
Clean the keyboard by turning it upside down and blowing the
dust out from between the keys with canned air.
Clean
the LCD screen with a soft cloth (old t-shirts are great) and a mixture
of 50% water and 50% isopropol alcohol (available from your chemist).
Spray onto the cloth NOT the screen, and wipe gently. Do not use glass
cleaners or any scratchy materials.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Oftentimes you'll see the "hourglass" cursor on
your screen for longer than usual. There are a lot of reasons why Windows is
busy behind the scenes - perhaps one of your programs is updating itself,
perhaps a program is having some problem loading.
Pressing the keys CTRL, ALT and DEL
together will bring up a window called Task Manager.
Are there any applications shown that say Not Responding?
Then the program has had a problem. Select it with your mouse and click END
TASK.
If there is nothing obvious showing, click the TAB that says
Processes. Note which one(s) show a high CPU usage number. If nothing is happening System Idle should be
the one showing 98% or so.
If another process is showing a high number, that is the one
causing the delay, if you are certain what it is and do not want it to
continue, END TASK it. Be careful, ending the wrong process may crash Windows.
If in doubt contact your tech.
HARDWARE PROBLEMS
Power supplies - you should be aware of several problems
that can occur. Smoke is an obvious red flag; if you see it or smell it, turn
the thing off right away and call your tech. Cheap generic power supplies
should be avoided.
Never ever unplug a peripheral (printer, monitor, whatever)
while the computer is on, never shut off your PC without exiting Windows, never open
a file you've just downloaded unless your anti-malware programs are running and
in auto-scan mode; never smoke near your computer (the smoke is highly
corrosive to the electronic components) and try to keep it away from coal-fires which are also corrosive.
WINDOWS
One
of the simplest ways to ensure the most stable operation
of your Windows PC is to install as little software as possible on the
beastie.
You'll reduce the number of software conflicts, make the system easier
to
manage, and save disk space. (Yes, yes, I know you want all those
applications and games installed.......uninstall old ones you don't use
anymore).
Technically savvy users periodically flush and reinstall
their operating system as often as once or twice a year. It significantly
improves performance and reliability. So, when your computer crashes and you
have to scrub the whole thing, tell yourself that it's a good thing in the long
run.
WHY YOUR PC SLOWS DOWN OVER TIME
1) Not enough RAM, Win XP needs a minimum of 512mb to run properly, Vista
should have at least 1GB
2) Spyware
3) Windows Bloat
The longer you use Windows, the more disordered your
registry can become, especially if you regularly install and uninstall
software.
Also the NTFS file
system which is how data is organised on your hard drive contains a file called the master file table (MFT). There is at least
one entry in the MFT for every file on an NTFS volume, including the MFT
itself. All information about a file, including its size, time and date stamps,
permissions, and data content is either stored in MFT entries or in space
external to the MFT but described by the MFT entries.
As files are added to an NTFS volume, more entries are added to the MFT and so
the MFT increases in size. When files are deleted from an NTFS volume, their
MFT entries are marked as free and may be reused, but the MFT does not shrink.
This means it takes longer and longer for Windows to load at start and for applications to load when you click on them.
The only cure for
bloat is to format (wipe) the PC and do a fresh install of Windows and all your programs from scratch.
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