Optimizing your computer's memory and performance is similar in nature to tuning up your car after it reaches a certain point in mileage. In this sense, it is a necessary maintenance operation just as changing spark plugs and oil is for your vehicle. Think about the Internet as a highway and your computer is constantly traveling it. Add to that the trips your computer makes when working with applications that are not internet based, and you can rack up some considerable mileage that can result in computer problems if you don't tune it up a bit every now and again.
In the dawn of the computer age, the proverbial geek took care of the necessary operations to help maintain a computer. Of course back then, by default, only geeks had computers. They were not household items in those days and only those who understood them better than they understood other humans had them. These geeks tweaked and optimized those early computers in an almost secretive manner-only because there was little contact outside of geek and computer relationship.
However, times have changed. Computers are in almost every home, in schools, and in the workplace. There isn't a large enough geek population to assign a personal one for each computer to come and optimize yours when it needs a tune up. The need for keeping up with maintenance hasn't evaporated though, and ignoring your computer's need for optimization can result in noticeably slower running times or a computer that may refuse to work at all.
Since your computer didn't come with its own personal geek, let's learn a little about optimizing your electronic friend. First, start with creating a restore point. There is always the chance that something can go wrong and you could accidentally lose more data than you intend to if you don't have a backup point. Many computers have this application included just in case you forget to do it. Some computers even create restore points periodically so that you have a way to undo whatever mistake you made even if you had no clue that your action would create a problem.
Create a backup of any documents you don't want to lose on the same precautionary basis as the restore point serves. It never hurts to have a couple of ways to ensure that you can undo what you did if you need it. You can do this by simply burning the documents onto a storage disk such as a CD or a DVD.
Now, run a defragmentation on your computer. This can take a while if you haven't done one regularly. It should be an option in the optimization options on your computer. Once it is done, take a click over to your antivirus software. Many of these have tools to help you optimize your computer. I know my antivirus program automatically tunes up my computer once per week. It keeps my system running as well as it did right out of the box.
Finally, delete any documents or programs that you don't need. Just as keeping trash in your apartment takes up space, so do these documents on your computer's memory. Don't forget to empty your recycle bin after you've finished as nothing is deleted fully and no memory is freed up until that is done. This just opens up more room for your computer to do its thing.
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