6.1 Why Isn't My Computer Working the Way I Want it to?

Why Isn't My Computer Working the Way I Want it to?

Introduction

As technology increases faster and faster, new things become obsolete at the same rate as well. A computer's usual lifetime can run between 2 to 5 years. Between those 2 to 5 years your computer may start to crash, freezing, and even not work at ALL! Here we will teach you from basic stuff on how to keep up your pc healthy as well as what to do when you're a victim of a virus, etc. Also as a part of this section, we will teach you about hardware upgrades and suggest a few tips when picking them up.

Bulletproof Your Computer

Even before you start using a new computer it is a good idea to try and protect it from any future dangers. basic measures can be used to protect your important data if something were happen to the hard drive. simple measures like partitioning your data to keeping a back up hard drive can save you a lot of stress in the future. Even before you start trying to fix stuff in your computer, you should bulletproof it before it happens. Windows has the basic stuff to keep your computer running, but you should also download some 3rd party applications off the Internet that are free and VERY useful.

Disk Clean Up

Disk clean up is an application that comes with Windows that cleans your PC's Hard-Drive. It is located under Start>All Programs/Programs>Accessories>System Tools. The program will start by asking you for the drive you want to clean, the default one should be C://, if not don’t worry, just run it with the default drive. When the scan is done, you have the option to delete the files, click on them to read the description and see if you want to delete those files or not. After clicking OK, the program could take from 2 seconds to 30 minutes to finish its task, it depends on how recent the same task was done. After it’s done, we're now ready for Disk Defragmenter.

Disk Defragmenter

Disk Defragmenter is an application that increases access speed, as well as in some cases increases Hard-Drive Space by relocating the files in your Hard-Drive. There are 3rd party Applications that do the same thing with additional features, but that's up to you to get(google always works miracles, use it). Disk Defragmenter is located under System Tools, like Disk Clean up Is. The Program will start by an interface showing the available drives, ready to defrag[1]. Select a Drive, and click on defragment, this process could take from 15 minutes, to maybe over 2 hours, it all depends how often you perform it, and how clustered is your Hard-Drive.

Spybot-Search&Destroy

This is a 3rd party application that is free, and you can download it off their website. Spybot S&D[2]This program protects your computer from Spyware, as well as help you clean it. Installation of the software should not be hard, and rather simple, so we will not go through how installing it. You should by now get a screen displaying Spybot as the following screen [3] First things first, update the program, after which you should consider to "Search&Destroy" or scan your PC for malware/spyware. after finishing the scan you have the option to deleting the found programs, or keep them. Like before, click on them to see a description of what they do, and if you don’t like it, select it and click "Fix Selected Problems" After The scan, it is recommended you Immunize your PC from future infections, it works by placing a harmless clone of the spyware/malware, fooling spyware into thinking that you already have it, and no need for its installation, sort of what a vaccine works like.

Hardware Problems

If an uncontrollable error happens and you suspect hardware or software problems you can usually fix it. A lot of computer users experience hardware and/or software problems during the computers lifespan. It could be as simple as changing the power cord or getting rid of a nasty virus.

Replace your Hardware

If your computer ever crashes than something is wrong with the hardware or software. Before you do anything else you first need to identify the problem. luckily some things are easy to replace but they may be kind of expansive. You could buy a new hard drive and install your operating system on there if you know what you are doing. If you are trying upgrade operating systems than you must get more ram to make to run.

Upgrading

Eventually you will come to the point where a hardware upgrade is necessary, whether its to run the latest video game or to process loads of information. Usually the 4 most upgraded hardware components are the CPU, Memory, GPU(Video Card), and if you're running low on HD Space a Hard Drive. It is mostly up to the user to determine when is a good time to upgrade, however when it comes to the point were its taking up more than 20 seconds to start up a program, some action needs to be taken.

Memory

Upgrading the memory is probably the cheapest upgrade you can get. Memory Sticks come in different sizes currently ranging from 128Mb-4Gigs Sticks. The biggest advantage to a memory upgrade is that you would be able to run more programs simultaneously, and they would also start up significantly faster. In terms of video games you would probably notice load times are significantly faster, as well maybe crank some settings up. A memory upgrade usually runs from $20 dollars to $500, however if you're smart and shop around you will find good deals. Usual upgrade runs about $80.

VGA

The Video Card in a computer is strictly used to render visuals, ranging from the 2D graphics you see on your monitor to the 3D objects you might see in videogames as well as rendering programs such as AutoCAD,etc. Upgrading your Video Card may increase visual settings, and also if you're a gamer increase loading times as well as visual effects. One important thing to know is that if you have an integrated Video Card(Onboard if you will) it uses a percent of your CPU's processing power as well as take away some memory from your Computer's System RAM, so it is recommend to at least get a crappy stand alone Video Card. Video Cards usually range from $20 Buget Cards to Extreme Rendering Video Cards that cost up to $1500. When picking out a Video Card you have to keep in mind one thing, what Interface does your Motherboard support. The three interfaces used today are; PCI which is old but still used, AGP, which is currently being replaced by the new PCI-Express(Arranged from Slowest to Fastest).

CPU

The CPU or Central Processing Unit is basically the brain of the computer, and handles all the computations that are put into the computer. Upgrading this speeds up time for applications to run. It is not recommended you upgrade your CPU unless you work on CPU intensive programs/games. Otherwise you wont notice much difference compared to memory/VGA card upgrades. A CPU upgrade could run between $150 to around $500 (even $1500)

Hard Drive

Usually people upgrade Hard Drives for their reading speed, rather than the extra storage. As newer hard drives come along, reading speeds increase as well as the Noise related to it. Upgrading your hard drive and putting the OS on a different hard drive may increase reading speeds, making loading times much faster. hard drives run from 20 to 90 dollars.