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For our readers in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is winding down, vacations are over, and our work pace tends to pick up - or we're headed back to school. It's a great time to take stock of many things in our life - including our PCs. And if you're in the Southern Hemisphere - there's no time like the present!
Let's make sure your PCs are as clean and efficient as possible, and you're getting the most out of them. Put off that computer upgrade and save Vista for another time!
Start with some good ol' fashion physical work - vacuum! Power your PC off, remove the cover and put your vacuum to work. Chances are, you'll find a lot of dust - probably in good-sized clumps. Also vacuum around the fans so they run as smoothly as possible.
Next, defrag your system to make sure you can access and write files as quickly as possible. If you use a program such as PerfectDisk or PerfectDisk Rx Suite, you'll get the added benefit of optimizing your drive as well. Add some new RAM, delete duplicate files, and clean up your registry to further boost your computer's performance.
You may also be able to help your PC start up faster by reducing the number of programs that load during Startup. By eliminating unnecessary programs from the startup, you'll recapture wasted resources for better performance.
To do this, click Start --> Run and type "msconfig" in the dialog box.
Click on the Startup tab and deselect any program that does not need to be running at startup time. Just make sure you don't disable any critical services. If you don't know what something is, keep it!
Now face the fall or new school year with a refreshed outlook - and a fresh PC. And if you live Down Under, get ready for summer!
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