Stop freezing, crashing and computer error screens
Computer running slow, freezing, crashing, computer error screens... If you had a computer for at least 2-3 years, then most likely you have had these problems at least once. And I know exactly how frustrating it is to have these problems on your computer, especially if you use it frequently for school or work.
Throughout almost a decade of using the same Windows computer, I have tried numerous things to fix the most common computer problems, such as freezes, crashes, virus and spyware infections, blue error screens, etc. Now, I'm not an expert in computer fixes and such, but I have read a great amount of websites, blogs and forums about the computer problems similar to what I had over the years to try to fix them myself. This is why I want share with you these important steps that have always worked for me to improve the performance of my computer. You don't need to be a professional or possess great computer skills to follow these steps, and I will try to throughouly explain them.
(Note: These steps work for almost any computer, but I will mostly focus on Windows XP because that's the computer that I have a lot of experience with).
1. Delete Cookies. These are the files that websites put in your computer to track your behavior online. The easiest way to delete them is to go to Start - Run - type "cookies" (without quotation marks) - OK and delete the files in the Cookies folder. You can also do this through any internet browser.
2. Perform Disk Cleanup at least twice a week. Go to Start - All programs - Accesories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup. I recommend selecting Temporary Internet Files, Offline Webpages and Compress Old Files because these are unnecessary files and they negatively impact the overall computer performance. You can select other options, but if you don't know what you are doing, then don't select them.
3. Perform Disk Defragmentation at least once a week. Go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmenter. Defragment the main local disk (depends on how many hard drives you have/use). Defragmentation works by neatly placing all the files in the right and convenient location on the drive to relocate them faster when they are needed. This step is one of the most essential steps to increase computer performance. If you do this for the first time, it might take a few hours to scan and record the locations of the files, but next time you use it, it will be much faster. If you don't like the default defragmenter, you can download a different disk defragmenter online. That's up to you.
4. Run a Disk Check at least once every 2-3 months. Go to Start - My Computer - Right click on Local Disk (C
- Properties - Tools - Error Checking - Check now - Check Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. It will run the program on the system startup (It might take a few hours). The use of Disk Check is to ensure that you have no corrupted sectors in your hard drive, so if you think that you don't have any bad sectors or corrupted system files, you can skip this step or do it less frequently.To complete steps <<< Complete steps here >>>
