In computing, we will have articles on problem solving, tips and tricks, general info guides, best women sites links.
Having said that I'm not completely organised on this page yet so, here's a few tips to be going on with.
Speed Up Your Computing Experience
Ten Top Tips
1. Don't Run Too Many Programs at Once
It's sometimes easy to forget how many programs you have open. If you find that your PC is becoming sluggish, check the
Windows Task Bar to see which programs are running. To speed things up, simply right click those programs you are not using and click Close.
2. Restart More Quickly
When restarting your PC hold down the Shift key at the same time. This will launch Windows much more quickly.
3. Lower the Screen Resolution
This is easy and simple to do. Right click on the Desktop and select Properties. Then click Settings in the Properties window and move the pointer in Screen Area to the left to lower the screen resolution. It's easy to change the resolution back afterwards. See how it's done
4. Turn Off Active Desktop
In theory, having a favourite web site sit directly on your desktop is cool. In reality it is a huge hog on your PC's resources, so turn it off and feel the difference. You can always make that Web site your Home Page anyway!
5. Don't Stretch That Wallpaper
Stretching wallpaper to fit the Desktop can actually slow down your PC, especially when you move icons around. And if your PC has limited memory it's better to choose fairly simple wallpaper - for example, black and white photos rather than colour.
6. Don't Have Too Many Fonts
Windows loads every font you have in the Fonts folder when it starts up. The more you have, the longer it takes. So take a look in your Fonts folder and keep only those you really like and use. However, be careful not to remove fonts that have a red letter icon as these are System fonts.
7. Use Disk Clean Up
Windows has a built-in tool called Disk Cleanup, which is a bit like your own personal Windows housekeeper. To find it go to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories and then Disk Cleanup. It will then ask you which drive you wish to clean up - usually the C drive. Once open it will analyse your hard disk and tell you how much space can be saved on the disk by safely deleting old files. The less cluttered your hard disk, the faster the PC will run.
8. Back Up Your Data
Another simple way to lose clutter and speed things up is to transfer old data and files to an external storage device such as a Zip Drive or even good old fashioned floppies. This also has the advantage of safeguarding your data if your PC breaks down.
9. Use the Defragmenter Tool
As you use your PC, loading programs and creating files, Windows tends to be a bit lazy as to where it puts stuff after you have finished. In other words, files get fragmented and it takes longer for the PC to find the files you need the next time.
To clean things up, locate the Windows Disk Defragmenter Tool from the Program/Accessories tab on the Start menu. Open the Disk Defragmenter and let it automatically put all the files and programs back in proper order. Afterwards, you should notice a significant increase in the speed of your PC.
10. Clean Up Your Desktop
It's tempting to use your desktop as a general dumping ground for downloads, often used files and programs. However having too much on there not only makes it hard to find but can slow things down. Instead spend a few minutes each week tidying up and deleting files that you are not using. Put those files you need into a special folder on your hard drive and leave only a minimum. You will also be able to see that nice wallpaper you downloaded more clearly!
Backing up your files on the hard drive is the act of creating a duplicate copy of the files for safety reasons. Since disk drives are nothing more than an arrangement of magnetized particles that store your programs and data, they are subject to the forces of other magnetic fields like static electricity, and even to the forces of nature such as humidity and temperature. If any one of these forces become too extreme, damage can result to your data.
To avoid the frustrations of losing valuable work, normal backups should be performed, especially on crucial files.
There are several ways that you can backup your system. You can just copy files to a diskette, use the DOS Backup command (or Microsoft's Backup Utility included with Windows 3.11 and Windows 95), use a third party backup and restore utility, or compress files to an archive and move them to a different disk for safe keeping.
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