Registry Smart

To ensure you can always remember what you need to do to keep your computer running the smoothest possible this little check list will help you stay in tiptop shape with the fewest computer problems possible.

Step 1.  Run a disc scan at least once a week.  This will help ensure that your hard drive is functioning properly and alert you to any potential problems that are brewing.  While someone with very large hard drives can expect this to take quite a while, most home computer users can anticipate this task taking less than 5 minutes and worth every moment.

Step 2.  Defragment time.  Run disk defragmenter on each hard drive you have in your computer to ensure that all of your hard drives are performing at the top speed possible.  This is a process that is fairly quick and can be a huge help to ensure hat things are running as well as possible overall for your computer.

Step 3.  Run disk cleanup to delete those pesky files that are not needed.  While some information is obviously needed, there are other files that are virtually useless and can be deleted without any problems at all.  Disk cleanup will help you find a large batch of those files and get them out of your way in a single swoop.

Step 4.  Clean out those internet files.  This includes your cache and even your cookies.  Keeping information in these places that is not needed will only slow down your performance and make it take even longer before you are able to really access things.  While cookies and your cache are designed to make surfing the internet faster once these files build up to large levels if will actually slow you down, rather than speeding you up.

Step 5.  Run a full and complete virus scan.  This will likely take quite some time to do, but running this on a regular basis will help ensure that there are no problems or mistakes that you are unaware of.  You would much rather find any problems with your computer before your computer crashes and by running a virus scan at a normal interval this will ensure there are no sudden surprises as much as possible.  The good news is that while most through virus scans take a long time, most programs have an option for you to schedule your scan.  Simply schedule it for a time when you are normally sleeping or not using the computer and then the virus scan will run all on it’s own saving you valuable time and protecting your computer.

Tags: Registry Smart by Chris Wight
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Have you ever sat around for 20 minutes waiting on your computer to actually boot up?  This is not completely uncommon and people every day are trying to battle slow computer that they really do not have to deal with.  There are some simple steps that you can take that will ensure your computer boots up faster and runs faster overall.

Boot Tip #1.  Look in your Start up options under msconfig, anything that is not essential that is checked can be unchecked.  All of the items that are checked all start up when your computer boots.  This means that most likely you are looking at a good 10 or more programs trying to boot when your computer first starts up.  This can make a computer take a very long time to boot up.  Unchecking non-essential programs from the list will mean that you are able to see exactly how quickly you can get your computer starting up.  Typically, the only programs that you must leave in the msconfig box checked are your Virus programs, and anything else that you need to have start up immediately upon booting.  Most programs can wait until they are actually needed.

Boot Tip #2.  Defragment your computer.  Always ensure that you are defragmenting your computer at least once a week.  If you are not defragmenting your computer then it is going to take longer for your computer to actually boot up each time.  This means that you can experience a long delay as your computer is seeking the information that it needs.  The more you use your computer, the more often you need to defragment.

Boot Tip #3.  Under the Control Panel, run Disk Cleanup at least once a week.  This will help you clean out files that you do not need that you can safely delete without causing problems to the way your computer runs.  While some advanced users can search the computer for acceptable files to delete themselves, those who are not as advanced should always stick to using Disk Cleanup to avoid any problems with deleting something that is important and essential to keeping your computer running.

As you can see, you have three short and simple to follow tips that will keep your computer from taking 20 minutes to boot up.  Once you perform these tasks you should see a huge improvement in the overall manner in which your computer runs, and should have much better results.  Always ensure you continue maintenance to keep your computer running properly and you should be much happier with the overall results.

Tags: Registry Smart by Chris Wight
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You know how vital it is to have a computer that is in good condition that allows you to do what you need when you need to.  There is no reason why you should deal with a computer that runs at subpar levels when some quick and easy maintenance tips will help keep your computer running in tiptop shape and free of problems.

Your first step as part of Operation Clean Sweep should be going and taking a quick look around in your “temp” files.  Once a week or so you should be emptying out all of your temporary files.  These files are not needed and typically do nothing more than just slow down your computer after a couple of days.  Without clearing all of these files out on occasion, you are going to have a huge backlog of older useless files.

Next step is to make sure you use a CD-Rom cleaner at least once a month.  This will ensure that your CD drives as well as DVD drives are operating at full capacity all of the time.  This will help the drives last longer, read discs faster and overall help ensure that your drives run properly and do not overheat causing damage.

Another valuable part of the maintenance process should be taking your mouse apart and cleaning them.  Most people think that cleaning the mouse at a once a week interval is the best option.  This keeps your mouse working properly and avoids any frustration from your mouse not following what you are trying to do with the computer.

Help ensure that your computer is able to avoid overheating which can cause damage to your hard drives by ensuring that at least once a year you open up your tower.  Take a can of pressurized air and carefully clean everything out.  Do not touch anything that you do not recognize to ensure you do not damage anything.  It is very important to keep your computer clean even inside, but do not ever use cleaning products inside of your tower.  Using compressed air is a safe way to clean your computer without causing any damage.

Remember, the most important part of computer maintenance is ensuring that you always keep a regular maintenance schedule going.  If you allow the maintenance on your computer to be ignored then your computer will start to perform at slower speeds and without functioning in the proper way.  Spending as little as 10 minutes a month can ensure that your computer stays up to speed, clean and running properly.

Tags: Registry Smart by Chris Wight
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