Durban - Does your computer take ages to open programs and save files? Can you make a cup of tea in the time it takes to start up? If your computer’s on a go-slow, it could be because it’s feeling a little neglected. In fact, it may have a severe case of PMS - “Poor Maintenance Syndrome”.
Regular system maintenance is essential if you want to extract the maximum value from your computer. A few tweaks and a bit of housekeeping can deliver surprisingly good results.
Software: You’ll be amazed at how many programs are installed on the average PC. Games, free trials, special offers and duplicate or old utilities and applications are common culprits.
Only install programs you expect to use, and uninstall those you no longer need. To do this, check you have a recent backup of your data, then open “Programs and Features” in Windows Control Panel which you can access by clicking the Start Button and typing “Control Panel”. Be careful not to uninstall software you may need. If you’re not sure whether it’s safe to remove a program, try the “Should I Remove It?” utility from www.shouldiremoveit.com which scans your PC and gives you advice on whether each program it finds is required.
Unused fonts: Various programs install extra fonts, and many computers have far more than are ever used. The more fonts you have, the greater the impact on start-up and the performance of certain applications. To get rid of unwanted fonts, open the Control Panel as described above, then double click the Fonts icon. Read the guide at https://tinyurl.com/fontsguide2018 before you delete anything you’re not sure of. This guide also includes instructions to reset the system fonts to their factory state.
Wallpaper: Those photos that change every half an hour are lovely to look at, but they slow your system down. Go for a plain background with no image.
Drivers: Drivers tell your system how to operate its hardware. Hardware manufacturers typically update drivers regularly to improve performance, add support for new features, or to fix bugs. Using the latest drivers can increase system performance, but occasionally, a different driver can introduce unexpected system issues, so seek professional advice if you’re not sure how to make this sort of change. Document each step you take, in case you need to undo something later. The official Microsoft Support guide for driver updates is available at https://tinyurl.com/win10drv2018.
Disk Cleanup: Using a lot of hard drive space doesn’t necessarily impact performance. The important factor is the amount of free space. Ideally you should have at least 10% free space remaining and anything less than 5 gigabytes may cause problems. You can free up disk space by uninstalling programs as above, deleting files you don’t need and by using the built-in Windows Disk Cleanup tool. Microsoft’s guide to this tool can be found at https://tinyurl.com/w10dc2018.