Computers and Technology

Your desktop might have started to run very slowly lately and if so then you will be thinking that it is the right time for a tune up. There are a number of things that you can do which could speed up your desktop computer and as well as saving you some time, these things could also prolong the life of your computer. If you want to know how to speed up your desktop, then the tips below will help

- It is vital that you run a defrag on the hard drive of your computer; you should aim to do this regularly. The more data that is added to your hard drive the more things get messed up on it. When this happens, your computer needs to work much harder in order to find the data. So when you run the defrag, all the data on the hard drive gets organized so that it becomes easier for the computer to find things and means it does not have to work so hard. The defrag option is found under properties when you right click on the hard drive you want to run it on if you are using Windows.

- Viruses and malware are things that can affect computers and cause them to run slowly. Make sure that you are scanning your computer regularly with good anti-virus protection software. If you are using Windows make sure to get all the updates.

- You might need to do a registry repair because this could be the source of your computer running slowly. The registry is where a lot of the information about your computer is kept and if there are any problems with this it will confuse the computer.

So if you want to make your desktop run quicker again, then the tips above should help.

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There is no doubt that adware popup ads are annoying; the appearance of just a couple of them is enough for you to get distracted from whatever it is that you are meant to be doing. In fact, quite often it can lead to you using your computer less because you can not be bothered with the hassle of dealing with the popups. It does not have to be like that though, as there are ways of making your computer popup ad free.

You do not really have to be a computer expert to learn how to block adware popups – you can easily learn how to do this. All you have to do is change your privacy settings so that your computer can block popups.

Just go to your Control Panel, which can be accessed from the Start Menu. Then, double click on the Internet Options icon, and follow that up by clicking on the tab that says Privacy. You should be able to see a little box next to text that says ‘Turn On Popup Blocker’ – simply check that box.

Two additional measures are to increase the privacy levels on your computer, which can also be done via Internet Options in Control Panel, and to download the Google Toolbar to increase the security and protection of your web browser.

However, though the above steps work for standard popup ad problems, they may not be effective if your computer has been severely hit by adware and spyware attacks. You will know if this is the case if you still see popups ads despite having specifically turned them off, upped your privacy levels, and downloaded the Google Toolbar.

If you think there is a likelihood that adware or spyware has installed itself on your computer then it is essential that you set about removing it. To do so, first delete any unfamiliar programs by using the Add or Remove Programs tool in your Control Panel, and then run an anti adware program, which can be downloaded for free, to remove anything that you may missed.

If you still have problems, and can’t figure out what to do, then it might be best to seek professional help.

Continue : How To Block Adware Popups

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The main point of a computer is to be able to do tasks quicker than you would otherwise be able to do them. Therefore, the speed at which your computer runs is important, and when it slows down due to errors and problems, it is something that must be resolved.

There are plenty of simple and easy to do things that can be done to increase the speed of your computer, such as…

– Run a disk cleanup
– Remove any programs or software that you no longer use
– Defragment the drive

These first steps will almost certainly improve the boot up speed of your computer and the loading time of applications.

Stopping programs from auto-running is the next step, and you can do this by typing ‘msconfig’ at the command prompt, which is accessed by clicking the Start Menu and then clicking on Run.

You will then be shown a list of all the programs which are automatically loaded when you turn on your computer. Some will stand out as being unnecessary and these are the ones that you should target. Remember, to still let system components and your anti-virus program auto-run though.

Cleaning up your computer’s registry is the next thing that you should do. You can do that manually, but a safer and quicker approach is to use a registry cleaning program. Once your registry has been reviewed and streamlined, more hard disk space will be freed up and Windows will run faster.

Clearing your computer of any viruses, worms, trojan horses, adware and spyware is another important step to take. Any one of these can significantly hinder the performance of your computer and, should be unfortunate enough to have a combination of them, then you are running a great risk of your computer soon becoming unusable.

If your computer is still slow, it might be time to reformat the hard drive, and reinstall the applications. Another option is to upgrade your hard drive, which may seem extreme, but the storage capacity of the hard disk can hinder the performance of any computer and, over time, magnetic disks also degrade.

Now Try : How To Make Your Computer

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When most people consider doing an upgrade to their existing PC buying a new graphics cards often seems the way to go but there are some considerations you need to take into account.

How Old Is Your Games Collection

One of the first things that you’ll need to do is a take a close look at what you use your computer for and at the collection of games that you’ve got. Do you have an older collection of games or are you looking to buy the latest releases?

If the majority are older titles then you simply will not need a high end high memory card and will be better suited with a budget card especially in an older system. One thing to be on the lookout for is the power of your CPU as this may cause issues. Do your homework before purchasing. Getting the latest upgrade when you’ve got an older chip in your computer will be a waste since the two won’t be compatible.

Does Your Motherboard Support The Card Type?

You need to keep in mind as well these cards are not universal. That means not all of the ones you buy will be compatible with your system.

The type of card you need for a newer motherboard will vary compared to an older motherboard so you need to choose the right one, the different types are; AGP – Pci, and Pci-e

Is There Enough Memory In Your Computer?

Quite often upgrading a graphics card will also mean a Ram upgrade too!

Graphic Cards have their own GPU which is another name for a processing unit. With a faster GPU it has lots of memory, and if your computer only has a pretty small amount of onboard memory then you are bound to have issues as there will be insufficient memory to allocate to your system hardware and the card will either not install or your pc will become vary slow.

Is Your Power Supply Good Enough?

Bigger cards draw more power from your computer so you need to take this into account as well, earlier power supplies tended to be much smaller and may only be around 300w or there abouts, so depending on if you have already added additional hardware to your system, this may lead to excessive power drain which can cause system instability. Also take note thatmany a majority of the newer cards may need an alterantive direct power connection so open your case and make sure that a spare connector is not only available, but is also long enough to reach the card.

Is My Case Suitable?

This is one aspect that is often totally forgotten about but some cases will be quite small or the motherboard configuration may be such that a newer card will simply not fit!

Typically newer cards are much longer and much deeper than older less powerful cards. With newer cards working a lot harder they tend to generate a lot more heat so onboard cooling has been increase. This tends to lead to a thicker card as well so you may need to move other Pci cards to accommodate a larger graphics card.

A graphics card upgrade is worthwhile but does need some planning, but if you are after the ultimate gaming experience and your computer is over 3-4 years old you may be better off just buying a new one.

For computer help visit the Dorchester Laptop Repairs website.

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Have you managed to delete important data from your hard drive?  There should be no reason to worry as there are many data recovery solutions on the market capable of recovering your lost data for you, the key, when using software to recover your files is to follow a process that prevents any further harm coming to your data.

There are some important rules to adhere to when using data recovery software for recovering lost files:

Firstly and a big mistake many people make is not to install the software on the same computer you have been using, why? If you have deleted the file when you install any further software or save anything back to the disk, as the operating system will use what it considers free space to load the program you could end up overwriting the document or part of the document you are trying to recover.

Secondly, has your drive been making any strange sounds recently, if the answer is yes your hard drive may be failing so a recovery company would be better suited to recover your data to be on the safe side.

Thirdly whilst in all probability your prime focus will be to get your data back as soon as possible avoid the temptation to suddenly dive right in and purchase some software straight away. Most file recovery software will offer a free trial so at the very least you can do a scan to see if the document is actually still recognisable on your hard disk or even recoverable for that matter.

Assuming your drive is exhibiting no signs of failure and having used the software you have managed to find the file (intact) and it is recoverable you’ll now need to save the data somewhere. Under no circumstances save it back to the same drive as you may end up saving the data on back to the same area that the data is being recovered from resulting in a corrupted file.

If the recovery software has already reserved a disk area to write files back to some of the data can get overwritten especially if the drive is heavily fragmented.

Of course before embarking on a DIY data recovery project ascertain the value of your data because if the data loss would be job threatening, costly to your business or simply un-replaceable then don’t take the risk.

The cost of data recovery is nowhere near (or shouldn’t be ) the cost it used to be due to advances in technology and often you will find that once you deduct the cost of any software purchase and deduct the time to learn what you are trying to do the extra cost of having your data recovered by a professional is not too bad at all.

And lastly, if you choose to use a data recovery company, it is always worth ascertaining what will happen if the drive fails during a recovery process, will they be able to fix it themselves in a proper clean room environment or will they need to send it away to another data recovery company?

If they do not have the facilities for hard drive recovery and repair and there is any sign of mechanical failure then a main data recovery company will be your best option.

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It is very easy to forget how long we can all spend working on an important university or business document or PowerPoint presentation, if you were to add it all up it could amount to days and on occasions weeks but what do you do when you suddenly find the file has simply vanished from your computer.

The first thing to do is to do a search of your folders to make sure you have not saved it in the incorrect folder and if this does not fine the elusive file you can also try having a look in the recycle bin to make sure you have not accidently deleted it. If the file can still not be found then this may be indicative that you are suffering from a degraded drive.

It would be nice to think that your hard drive will remain reliable for ever until the day you renew your computer but like most things mechanical drive failures do occur it would seem far more often than you would expect especially given the manufacturers mean time between failure specifications that come with a new hard drive or can be found on the manufacturers website.

Unfortunately life isn’t always that straight forward!

A question often asked is how long should a hard drive be expected to last before requiring replacement?

This is one of those wide open questions that will have experts arguing until the cows come home because there are a wide variety of factors that come into play.

The first major aspect is of course the use that a computer is put through during its lifespan. Many home users only use their Pc very occasionally and store relatively small numbers of files or photos. In this scenario it would be nice to expect a drive to last over 5 years (don’t assume this though).

Pretty much the same could be said for a mid usage machine as well for example a pc used for office  work or accounts perhaps. So you may never experience drive degradation or drive failure.

But if your system is used for extreme gaming, computer aided design, Digital content creation or virtual prototyping then the hard disk will be working massively harder than in the previous two scenario’s so it would only be expected that true life expectancy would be a lot shorter.

To combat the increased risk of failure and to protect essential data well informed IT departments will make sure that the machines are renewed far more often than office PC’s in this scenario. Another consideration for this is also business productivity for example shorter design time or time to market.

For business critical applications extended use sees a ramp up of hard disk degradation and also an increase in mechanical drive failures.

During challenging economic times, business computer refresh programs are often put of to protect working capital which on the face of it can be seen as a sound business decision but there can be a large bite to this policy if an essential drive or server fails with a resultant loss of business critical data.

Computer repair and IT support companies advising businesses that are intending to stretch there refresh policies would be advised to ensure they have adequate desktop or online data backup protocols in place to be on the safe side.

Other factors affecting hard disk lifespan are the environment the computer is running in and basic system maintenance for example a poorly maintained Pc can become literally clogged with dust and get very hot. Heat is a major factor of drive failure as is hard disk fragmentation, so proper system maintenance is conducive to reliable disk performance.

You should be able to recover a deleted file or a lost file provided you have not overwritten the sector with additional data, so if the file is really important try not to write anything else to the drive, and avoid the temptation to use data recovery software for important files.

Your local data recovery services will be able to help with all your data recovery and file recovery
needs and will do there utmost to ensure the original data integrity is maintained.

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If you have been around for more than a few years then undoubtedly you will remember the frustratingly painful floppy drives that used to be the only way to effectively transfer files between computers. Frustrating of course because often the floppy would not write or even more frustratingly would not read on the donor machine.

USB 1.0 which was first introduced in 1996 was still an emerging standard so if we had a larger file we had to span the data across many floppies which I remember was a real pain at the time.

But as files grew larger the floppy simply did not make the grade, but as time passed the CD writer came of age which could hold a hefty 500mb of data, still a little more than most people required and media was originally quite dear as well.

USB was making rapid gains fortunately and manufacturers were coming up with many new uses for this very user friendly (operating system permitting) plug and play capability, and the pen drive was borne not a moment to soon in my opinion. Mobile data transfer capacity rocketed upwards from a humble 2mb and it did not seem too long until the capacity of USB pen drives surpassed that of the CD.

The computer repair and IT industries where some of the first serious adopters of pen drives primarily due to the fact that system tools could be easily carried on a flash drive and with the larger capacities reduced the need to carry around a number of CD disks used for diagnostics or computer maintenance utilities.

As capacities grew though faster data transfer speeds were needed and this led to the emergence of the second generation of USB …USB 2.0.

The emergence of USB 2.0 and hi speed USB was a bit of a debacle for many consumers however as many USB pen drives and PCI cards were sold at the time claiming to be USB 2.0 but it was not made clear that the devices still only had the transfer speeds of 12mbps as opposed to 480 mbps.The problem was so widespread that many countries trading standards bodies were involved due to consumer lobbying for clearer packaging.

The USB interface and standard is now nicely matured and USB interfaces are common across a range of consumer devices from phones to cameras and even video players although it was and still is to a degree questionable as to whether USB or Firewire would win the day as the dominant data transfer protocol.

The humble and originally very expensive thumb drive really took the market by storm and capacities rose to become greater than some people still have on their old computers, and it is now estimated than in excess of 150 million flash drives will be sold a year which of course is only the tip of the iceberg when you consider the estimated 6 billion plus USB interfaced devices in circulation which is growing at a rate of 2 billion per year.

Increases in drive capacities has raised a number of issues across many industry sectors including the data recovery industry, which has had to evolve new USB memory recovery techniques for recovering data from these flash based devices.

It is so easy to transfer and store data on these devices that many users are really taking them for granted and not saving their data elsewhere, which is all well and good until your drive breaks or gets damaged, or perhaps the memory controller fails.

Some Data recovery companies have of course stepped up the mark and the USB memory recovery industry is now alive and well.

Another problem area with plug and play devices is that of data security and the sheer ease of file transfer has given many business and government bodies severe data security headaches resulting in extreme cases to the USB interface being disabled on computers, Pc’s and laptops in security sensitive environments.

As it seems with all technology every development brings us even greater speed and the new USB 3.0 standard is no exception promising data transfer speed 10x greater than current specs which will give us transfer speeds around 5Gbps.

This very fast transfer speed may of course signal the end of the older firewire standard which has been falling behind more recently.

USB 3.0 standards have been ratified and the first devices are expected to be available towards the end of the year and it will also be interesting to see if Windows 7 ready boost feature will be able to increase the operating systems performance far greater than is apparent in Windows Vista.

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