Last week we were talking about why you shouldn’t be afraid to press the delete button on your data when required, and it got me thinking. One of the things that I harped on was the fact that you can keep your computer going faster if you keep your recycle bin clear, so the question becomes; What else can you do to keep you’re computer running quickly?
1) NEVER save to your hard drive – I’ve talked about how Random Access Memory (Or RAM) is used for storing data and for running programs, but the more you save, the less there is to run the programs. What matters is that you stick to the idea that you never save directly to the hard drive. There is no reason whatsoever to save documents on your hard drive. I fully understand why you’d want to be able to see some documents on your desktop (Keeping important projects top of mind is one of them), but even that doesn’t need to exist on your hard drive. If you create a shortcut for your desktop to wherever the document is located, then you will still be able to access just as easily as if it were actually on your desktop.
2) Only open what’s necessary – Now that we’ve established that you shouldn’t keep any files on your computer so that the RAM can be used for the programs, let’s talk for a minute about how many applications are open on your computer. I had a buddy a year or so ago tell me that he was going to buy himself a new computer. “This is too slow; I can’t get anything done!” He was a fellow writer, so I felt like I should go over to his house and assess the situation. Sure enough, he had a dozen or so e-mails opened up, 57 (I’m not kidding) browser windows open, about 20 PDFs open, he was running iTunes, and he was telling me that his writing program didn’t work. I advised that he shut down half the stuff he had open, and after a small amount of protest, he did it, and his writing program started working again. He was in shock! I was not. If you have too many things open at one time, you’ll be using too much ram to run them all correctly. Eventually, something will have to give, and your programs across the board will stop working correctly, if at all. Making sure that you only have open the things you need is an easy way to cut down on your overall RAM usage.
3) SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER!!!!! – I can’t tell you how much of a difference that doing a full and proper shut down of your computer can make to your computer’s performance. I was having this debate with a coworker a few weeks ago. The person has asked me for help with the speed of their machine, I instructed them to do a full shut down (and not just a restart) and when they did they saw a noticeable difference in the speed of their machine. The analogy I’ve used before when talking to people about the difference between restarts and shutdowns is like a human getting rest. Imagine pulling a 24 hours shift at work, getting a 20-minute catnap, and then being asked to do another 24-hour shift. This is what restarting does for a computer. If you had to do this, you’d be sluggish too! Doing a full shut down and then turning the computer back on again is the human equivalent of a good 8 hours of sleep. Shutting down makes sense if you want your computer to run better for longer.
If your end goal is to be able to keep your computer running for longer and as quickly as possible, there are some basic steps you have to take. Limiting your RAM usage by not opening too many programs and windows, not saving things to your hard drive and doing regular shutdowns as some basic steps that you can take, which will prolong the life and speed of your computer. These steps, along with keeping your Recycle Bin clear (as per Last week), are a great way to ensure the speed of your information system. If you only do one or two of these things, you will probably be fine for a while. If you want to get everything you can out of your computer, doing all of the things that I’m recommending here is the way to go.
How much do you want to get out of your system?
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