Saturday, April 1, 2017

Avoiding Slow Performance



Quite often I hear from customers “my device is now so slow I think its time to change it”. Before you dump a device it might be worth giving this article a scan to see if your device is suffering from avoidable slowdown issues.

Laptop/Desktops  Performance Issues
The most common causes for poor performance in laptops/desktops are:

#1 Defective or failing hard disk drive
#2 Full or nearly full hard disk drive (not as common as you might imagine)
#3 Overloading the device with too many memory resident apps.
#4 Not enough Ram (memory installed)
#5 Virus/Spyware infections
#6 Non Functioning or Poor Performing Anti-Virus
#7 Defective or slow broadband connection
#8 Operating system upgrades that were not viable (Windows 7 to Windows 10)

#1 Defective or Failing hard disk Drive
On laptops and desktop the hard drive is one of the few moving parts in the device. The only other devices that physically move are the cd/dvd drive and the fans used to cool the device or the parts installed therein. Thus hard drives do wear out over time and contributory factors that shorten the length of time they last include most of the items listed 2 to 8 above. A failing hard drive will cripple your system and it is surprising the new leash of life you will receive when a new drive is installed to replace it.

Failing hard drives were never a huge cause for concern with technicians up until recently as , unless you had a catastrophic failure, with the right equipment and software all of the contents could be retrieved. This era unfortunately is ending due to the introduction of solid state hard drives into laptops and in some cases desktop computers.

Solid State Drives
You are all, unwittingly, familiar with solid state technology. If you operate/own a tablet or smartphone that’s the technology that enables you to store all those precious apps and photos filling your phone. Fast and efficient solid state technology is memory which when the device is powered off does not lose its contents. There are no moving parts and you would think this is a panacea for desktop/laptop computers. The truth is a little less palatable as that truth is that when the solid state fails it fails spectacularly and usually all data resident there on is lost forever.

Next Month, God willing, I will continue on this and the other topics listed.

Oliver Reidy is a computer technician and has been in the industry since 1981.You can contact him via email at help.desk@reidyonline.com or at the telephone numbers listed on this page. This article, and all previous articles, are available to view online at http://reidyonline.blogspot.ie/ or www.reidyonline.com/blogspot.htm