Part one of
this article can be found at the blog links at the bottom of this page.
Laptop/Desktops
Performance Issues
#2 Full or nearly full hard disk drive (not as
common as you might imagine)
One of the
common myths floating about computers is the “full” hard drive problem.
I rarely
see this problem apart from those customers who are movie download junkies and
insist on keeping all 6 series of “The Walking Dead” on their hard drive. (not
sure if there were more but anyway). Modern computers, excluding brand new
models, were equipped with large hard drives and if you are getting messages
about your hard drive been full it should be investigated but it is rarely a
case of the drive being full. More common for me to find is that the customer
has downloaded one of the total rubbish “speedup” apps that are epidemic on the
internet. If I had a euro for every time I came across one of those apps I’d
not be writing this article from Bettystown.
I love good
apps that help keep your system in tune and organized but I can assure you it
is unlikely you know the names of them as they are not bandied about on every
site you browse. If you suspect you actually have this hard drive full issue
seek professional assistance from a real flesh and blood qualified technician
and avoid so called “free” system cleanup apps. You might also want to avoid
wannabe experts although I am shooting myself in the foot telling you that as
the aforementioned “experts” generate a good deal of work for me fixing their
repairs.
#3 Overloading the device with too many memory
resident apps.
This
particular problem is very, very common and is usually not the fault of
computer users. In case you are in any doubt the aim of some many apps is to
always be active on your computer and where possible to drive or direct you to
specific web pages when you do some browsing. Commonly called junkware or
spyware they are not produced by some random teenage computer whiz but by
corporations in the business of generating advertising revenue from their
sponsors. They are paid on the number of visitors visiting their clients
websites and you may be a victim of this apps.
Other
offenders in this category include Microsoft and Google both of home produce
apps that stay resident for somewhat legitimate reasons but in reality could be
a lot less memory hungry. Promising benefits to you in return for eating your
precious memory resources I personally find the trade off not worth it. Amongst
the specific apps are Google desktop and Microsoft Skype. How often do you
actually get an unscheduled call on Skype? For me it’s rare so I shut it down
most of the time. Whatsapp and other voice apps on smartphones have mostly
superseded Skype in most cases so consider getting rid of it if you don’t use
it.
