J. A. Powell, Jr.
Are you thinking about getting a new computer because your old one seems to be getting slower and slower every day? Before you give up on old Betsy try these handy little cures for slow computers.
First, check your hard drive for errors. This is easy once you find the disk repair tools. Finding the tools is the hard part. If you are using Windows, double click on the "My Computer" icon. Look for the "Local Drive (C:)" and right click on the icon. A menu will pop up. On the menu click on "Properties." A dialog box will appear. Click on the "Tools" tab at the top. Finally, we have arrived at the tool location.
Click on the button labeled "Check now." Check the "Automatically Fix System Errors" box. Now click the "Start" button. Sometimes, the computer will ask if you want to run the repair after you reboot. Click "Yes" and reboot the computer. The errors will be fixed automatically.
The next cure is to defrag the hard drive. Hard drives' files get fragmented as they are used. I will not explain why here but the effect is similar to a library where the pages of the books are scattered all over the room. Checking out a book becomes a slow process. If the pages of the book are reassembled, that check out becomes much quicker. Defraging the hard drive puts the file pieces back together so that when the computer asks for the file, it is retrieved quickly.
On the same menu that we finally found above, click on the "Defragment Now..." button. Starting the defragmentation varies depending on the version of Windows you are running. Look for a button labeled "Start" or something similar.
The final cure requires spending a little money but gives the best performance increase. Right now is a great time to add memory because prices have dropped through the floor. Most computers bought in the last two or three years will have only 32 or 64 megabytes of memory. This is close to the minimum Windows needs to run at all.
Adding memory is not hard but does require the opening of the computer case. If that is too much of a job, then have a repair person add the memory. A 256 megabyte memory stick costs about $35. Look in the computer manual and find out what type of memory it uses. Most will take SDRam that can be bought at Office Depot, Best Buys, etc. Take the cover off and look for a socket that is about three inches long with two movable handles on each end. Snap the memory stick in the slot and put the cover back on.
If you still are pining for that new computer, wait until October when Windows XP is released. Make sure that the new computer is loaded with Windows XP and not Windows ME. I have been using a beta release of Windows XP for a couple of months and I think it is the best operating system Microsoft ever produced. It has the stability of Windows 2000 with the compatibility of Windows 98.