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We all know the
importance of taking our car in for tune ups or performing the tune up
ourselves. But what about our computer? Computers need tune ups too!
As you surf the net,
add and remove software, visit WEB Sites or just plain use the computer,
files build up. Some of these files never leave. Kinda’ like sludge
building up in your engine from old, unchanged oil. One computer that came
through our shop had 197 thousand plus, ‘Temporary Internet Files’
(TIF’s) on board. These TIF’s, along with ‘Cookies’ and ‘Temp’
files all tend to slow your computer down. Regular tune ups will get rid
of this excess luggage and help speed up the computer.
Other
items standard in tune ups include ‘scan disk’, checking your hard
drive for errors and bad sectors and repairing them or marking them
‘Bad’ so information is not written to them and then lost and
‘Defrag’, defragmenting your hard drive. As you use your computer,
everything you do, from keystrokes to saving data or installing software
is saved to your hard drive. Your hard drive has a habit of placing this
information where ever it finds room. Often in between other information.
So over time, these files and data become ‘fragmented’. By
‘defragmenting’ your hard drive, all the files are moved together so
they form one continuous stream. Now your hard drive doesn’t have to
look all over the place for your data and consequently runs faster.
Last but
not least are checking all fans for operation. Especially the Central
Processing Unit (CPU) cooling fan. These fans are so quiet that you
don’t notice when they fail, which is often! A stopped cooling fan will
let your CPU overheat. First slowing it down and finally shutting it down
and/or damaging it permanently.
If you’re
a computer guru or geek, you probably know about and can perform a tune up
your self. If not, take it in to your local computer repair center and
have it done. For most usage, once a year is fine. More often if you use
it continuously in a small business or home office.
Remember,
your car runs better and longer with regular tune ups. So will your
computer.
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