How Do I Fix My Slow Computer?

It happens to all computers. When you buy them they're amazingly quick, but with time they start to slow down. Eventually it gets to the point that you decide you have to do something, but what? Here are the first things I recommend trying when you notice your computer getting slow, in the order I recommend trying them:

1. Restart- The first is easy. Restart your computer. When was the last time your computer was turned off? While computers are getting much better about going for extended periods of time without needing to be restarted (also known as "rebooted") letting it rest even for the couple seconds it takes to restart will often do wonders for a sluggish computer- especially a new one.

2. Clean Things Out- (WARNING!- Before deleting things from your computer, make sure you have a current backup of your computer. If you don't know how to backup your data, read this.) It's possible that your computer could be slowing down because it has so much information in it. The analogy here being that if you load up your car with a bunch of stuff, it slows down and you have to push the gas more to get it to go the same speed. I generally recommend people keep at least 10% of their hard drive empty for daily use. For example, if you have a 500 GB hard drive (click here if you don't know what "GB" means) you should have at least 50 GB left free to help prevent computer slow down.

3) Reinstall- Now things are getting serious. If you've tried both restarting and cleaning your computer, reinstalling your computer's operating system would be the next recommended step. (This article helps explain what an operating system is.) This is a bit more extreme as it involves removing everything from your computer and then putting it all back on. This is generally done to ensure that problem causing the computer to slow down isn't part of the computer's underpinnings. Sometimes, especially as the computer ages and sees more use, things simply get mucked up and need to be replaced. Think of this as shaking the proverbial Etcha-sketch on your computer. Because of this, I again urge you have a backup and to consult with your technology advisor for more help.

4) Add RAM- So you've restarted, cleaned things out, reinstalled your operating system and things still aren't as snappy you'd like them to be. Now we look at doing hardware upgrades. RAM is your computer's short term memory, and the easiest thing a consumer can physically change about their computer to speed it up. (Click here for a primer on what RAM is.) How the RAM is changed in your particular computer is variable, so it's important to have the owner's manual or your technology consultant handy. If you don't feel comfortable opening up your computer, don't worry, this is a simple operation and most computer technicians won't charge an arm and a leg to do it. (Find a new tech if they try and tell you it will take more than an hour to do the upgrade!)

Here's a photo example of RAM from Office Max.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Defragment- This would be located between steps 1 and 2 if you're using a Windows computer, but since I'm trying to write this in an operating system neutral way, I thought this would be the better place for it. Defragment- or "defrag" for short- is the process a Windows computer uses to put data back where it belongs. Computers are like preschoolers when it comes to putting things away when they're done with them; They don't. If you have a Windows computer, you can run a defrag to tell the computer to "clean up its room" in a sense. In some versions of Windows, you can even set a schedule to tell it to do it on a regular basis.

If you have a Mac, the computer defrags any files it views as "highly fragmented" when you go to open the file. This happens automatically unless you have less than 10% of your hard drive available. This is why step 2 is so important!

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What's the Difference Between Storage and Backup?

Frequently, when asked for recommendations on backup plans, the question of storage vs. backup comes up. These two words are similar, and can mean different things in different context, but in this instance, we'll look at what it means to put your information (like photos or music) in storage instead of backing them up.

If you're like me or a lot of people nowadays, you probably have a large photo collection. So large in fact that you're probably running out of storage space on your computer. Instead of going out and getting a new computer entirely, what more people are doing is getting an external hard drive and storing all of their photos on there instead of on the computer. This can be done in a number of different ways that I won't be going into now, but almost inevitably, the person asks why they would want to store their photos off their computer and have a backup.

The reason is that when you're simply storing your photos, you can still access them easily. Think of this like when they're on your computer. You can still open them, edit them, share them, etc. If you have them backed up though- especially with a backup program- they're often times not in a format [read: version] that you can easily open and make changes to. Think of this as having your real photo albums in the attic instead of in your closet. It's much easier to get something out of the closet and use it than it is to get it out of the attic.

Practical Tip of the Day:
An increasing trend is for people to get an external hard drive (like the one pictured above) and partition it. This means that they change the hard drive so instead of acting like one large space, it acts like two smaller spaces. This allows people to store files on one side and backup their files on another. Now, keep in mind, if you use this method you want to backup the files stored on the storage side another way. Why? If that external hard drive fails, you don't want to loose where the files were stored and backed up.

What's the Best Way to Back Up My Data?

This is quite a common question. It seems almost everyone knows they should back up the information on their computer, but few know how to and even fewer actually do. Flash drives? CDs? Cloud? The tech world doesn't make it easy to pick a way to back up your information, but there are a few ideas to keep in mind when picking a backup solution.

1. Cost
2. Ease of Use
3. Security

Finding the perfect balance of these three things for you will give you the backup plan you desire, but to start things off, what does "backing up" mean and why is it important? Backing up simply means to make a copy of your computer's information onto a source outside of your computer. Why? What happens if your computer dies? Stolen, hard drive failure, struck by lightning, etc. Having a backup means not loosing all your important files and documents in case of such an untimely end of your computer.

I tell people to first consider the ease of use of their backup plan. How much time do you want to dedicate to this? Do you want something that you just set up once and it automatically runs after that or do you prefer to have a more hands-on approach? There are a plethora of automatic backup programs out there for people like me who know they won't remember to sit down and manually run a backup program on a regular basis. Ask your technology advisor, friends or family for recommendations.

Secondly, cost. Where are you going to put your backup? Is it going to go on an external hard drive or will you be burning CDs? In this example, an external hard drive will cost more up front, but will last you significantly longer with no additional costs. CDs on the other hand will have a smaller start-up cost, but you'll need to buy more as time goes on. Cost also ties into ease of use as backup programs will range from free (like Apple's Time Machine) to expensive (like a corporate backup program) and everywhere in between.

Lastly, security means how safe is your data once it's backed up? Here's where I get on my soap-box: Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy! If it's worth putting in one place, it's worth putting in another place. For example, let's say you have a laptop and you backup your photos on an external hard drive. What happens though, if your house catches on fire and your computer and hard drive are gone? That's the allure of online backup programs like Carbonite. These programs back up your computer's information to a remote location (yes, the "Cloud") so even in a worse case scenario, your data is safe and you don't have to worry about loosing it all.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Need a place to store information and a place to back it up too? External hard drives can be formatted in such a way as to make them act as is they are really two distinct devices. This means you can use half of it for storage (things you need to be able to access regularly), and the other half for backup (your "in case of emergency break glass" backup plan). More on the difference between storage and backup next time.

How Can I Protect My Laptop from Theft?

Have a new laptop or planning on getting one in the new future? While laptop computers can be great for the extra portability, that can also pose problems if your laptop "walks away" from you. Whether you're a college student, traveling professional, or somewhere in between, there are three basic ways to help prevent laptop theft.

The first is laptop locks. These are very much like bike locks in that it's a durable cable that you wrap around something that can't be moved and then lock into your computer. The one pictured here is from Kensington and uses a combination. There are locks that use keys, but I usually recommend combination locks since you can't loose a combination. Also note that it's plugged directly into the computer. Most laptop computers nowadays have a slot specifically for use with laptop locks. Check the specifics of your computer to verify whether you have one or not.

Another step against laptop theft is anti-theft software. Companies like LoJack (the car anti-theft company) are starting to branch out into the computer field, but there are also new start-ups and even free anti-theft software out on the market now. They all work slightly differently, so be sure to read carefully before you get any of them, but my personal favorite for Mac laptops is called Undercover by a company called Orbicule that specializes in technology security.

Lastly, and most effectively, if you don't want your laptop to get stolen, don't leave it laying around! Far too often I've heard college students crying because their laptop with all their finals got stolen at the library when the student got up to get a book. Leaving your laptop on your table while you use the bathroom at Starbucks? Just as bad. Having a house party where you don't personally know everyone in attendance? Put the computer away in a room people won't go into.

Practical Tip of the Day:

Most frequently, people will use a combination of the three of these methods to protect their laptop. Personally, I don't frequent public places so I use an anti-theft program and keep my computer on my person when I am out and about with it. Consider your lifestyle when looking at anti-theft options, and remember that while having a complete and recent backup of your computer doesn't make the monetary loss any less, it will make it easier to start up where you left off if you end up needing a new computer.

What Size Flash Drive Should I Get?

The other day a friend of mine was mentioning that they needed to go to the store and buy a flash drive, but when they were there earlier in the week they were overwhelmed by the vast differences in style and capacity flash drives come in nowadays. (Click here if you don't know what a flash drive is.) While style is completely personal, there are a few tips that can make picking a capacity (or more commonly called "size") of flash drive easier.

The first thing to consider is what you'll be putting on the drive. Are you using it to backup photos? Transferring songs between your computers? Or are you storing important documents and PDFs on it? Different files tend to be larger or smaller than others. For example, a good average size for a word document (1-3 pages of text) is about 20-30 KB (kilobytes). Audio (music, spoken word, etc) is about 1 MB (megabyte) per minute, and photos can vary wildly depending on resolution and file type but tend to be 1 MB or less per photo. (If you don't understand "megabyte" or "kilobyte" check back on Thursday when I'll be covering that topic.)

That being said, a 4 GB flash drive will hold roughly 4,000 photos, 4,000 minutes of audio, or more word documents than any one person would probably ever have for personal use at any one time. When stated like that, most people usually lean more towards getting a smaller (again, we're talking about capacity, not physical size) flash drive. Consider though if you're storing a home video. If you have a nice HD camera, it can take up to- or sometimes surpass- 2 GB (gigabytes) per hour of video. This is because videos contain both an audio track and thousands of pictures to make up the video.

Practical Tip of the Day:
If you're planning on using a flash drive to back up your files, I recommend reconsidering and getting an external hard drive instead. Far too often I've seen clients that have a drawer filled with flash drives that have photos on them, but because of this method, they have to search through the drawer looking for the correct drive if they need it and that's if they had the forethought to label the drives as they filled them. An external hard drive gives you one place to find all of them, making it much easier to locate your files if you need to recover them.

How do computers remember things?

Computers didn't always remember things. You used to ask it a single question ("What is 23432.692 divided by 1621.22235?" for example) and it would give you a single answer. Nowadays, we don't so much as our computers questions, but ask them to complete tasks for us. We ask them to help us write a letter, look at a photo, read a web page, etc. When writing a letter for example, you often will begin writing and eventually take a break. What keeps the computer from completely forgetting about your paper in the meantime?

Computers, like people, have two different kinds of memory- long-term and short-term. Short-term memory in people is what helps us remember what we ate for breakfast, or what it is we came into a room to get. (I have problems with that last example sometimes!) For computers, the short-term memory is called RAM (Random Access Memory- don't worry if you forget that in five minutes though, I doubt anyone will be quizzing you on it.) This is where it remembers the changes to your letter before you hit the Save button for example.

The other type of memory is your hard drive. You may remember me briefly mentioning the hard drive in the article "Why do computers hum?". The hard drive is where the long-term storage happens. This is where your letter is stored even after you close the program or even turn the computer off. As many of you may remember, if you had a record playing, and the needle got bumped, it could scratch the record. If the record got scratched it was all but ruined- it never played the same again. Hard drives work similarly, but instead of a physical needle touching and reading grooves on a record, it's called a "play head" and it hovers about a hair's width above the disc reading magnetic imprints. (Stay with me! Don't glaze over quite yet!)

Ever heard of a hard drive "crashing"? Crashing usually refers to the play head actually touching the disc and scratching it. Just like your old vinyl record, if the hard drive gets scratched, it'll never work the same way again.

Practical Tip of the Day:
Because hard drives crash, and because there's usually little or no warning to when they do, most people "back up" their information. Backing up simply means making another copy of your information and putting it in a safe place. You probably already do this with your important documents (titles, birth certificates, etc.). You usually have one copy you keep locked up in a safe spot like a safe, and then a photocopy that you can take to show people if need be.

There are many different ways to back up your information, and there's no best way for everyone. Feel free to either message me or talk to your local computer specialist for help picking the method that best fits your lifestyle.