Looking at some of the infographics of this year, it came to my attention that most people still don’t understand how to keep their computers in top shape. It’s not always about the hardware, it’s how people use their computers and understand what harms it in the long run. Here is a list of the ten most common reason why your computer might act slow:
1. Ever Heard Of Defragmenting?
Perhaps you’ve had the computer for quite a while now (a year or so) and you still haven’t tried defragmenting the hard disks. You don’t need to install any third-party software or fancy defrag tools to do so, the Windows Defragmentation Tool is the best there is. Try it, it’s going to take a while but it’ll make sure your computer can easily identify the files it needs to read from. Defragmentation basically reorganizes your files, think of it this way, you have an office with a lot of folders which are not organized according to letters or numbers, it’ll take you a while to find every single file, you need to do some sorting out in order to get them faster, that’s what defragmentation is for a computer. DO IT!
2. Too Afraid To Use An Antivirus
Please understand that at today’s day and age, no computer is safe from the “Evil clutches” of the hackers. Install a good antivirus program to make sure your computer is protected, but DON’T OVERDO IT. Install one of the recommended programs and you’ll be alright.
3. Too Many Icons, Not Pretty Bro
It always starts with one desktop shortcut which slowly becomes the motherload of all shortcuts. The lesser icons you have in your desktop the better, delete all unnecessary icons ASAP.
4. Installed Every Software Known To Man
This has been a personal experience of mine when I turned on a friend’s computer to find a slew of useless software installed all over that poor helpless computer. Only install programs that you will DEFINITIVELY use! Have some mercy on yours RAMs.
5. No Idea What Windows Update Is
Most people avoid updating Windows, I agree with them to a certain extent. I don’t update Windows fully, because I don’t NEED every single Windows software to be updated, I only make sure the critical updates and the security patches are always installed as soon as they are released, DO THAT!
6. Mediocre PC, Heavy Games
Some people still try playing the next-gen games on their old-arse computers. It won’t work, buy a souped up PC that matches the requirements of the new games or buy a console if money is an issue.
7. Not Aware Of Bad Websites
Yes, bad websites do exist – a LOT of ‘em too. Make sure your browser and antivirus are fully updated and avoid visiting the obviously malicious websites.
8. Never Used Scandisk Before
Scandisk or “chkdsk” is a Windows utility which is vital to keep your disks safe and healthy. If your PC has ever been abruptly shut down due to power outage or otherwise, be sure to perform Scandisk on all of your partitions.
9. Torrents
This is actually one of the most increasing causes of PC threats and infections. Most people aren’t aware of how safe a torrent is and continue downloading it, not aware that the 900 mb file they just downloaded is actually a virus. Avoid downloading obviously malicious looking torrents.
10. YOUR FRIEND’S USB IS YOUR WORST ENEMY!
NEVER, and I mean NEVER, take your friend’s USB and use it before properly scanning it. 99% of the time, they’re infected and will leave the infamous “AUTORUN.INF” in your computer.
So there you have it folks. Share your worst experience below. To make your PC stronger, follow a little guide I wrote a few months ago here. If you liked the article, share it. Peace.