E-Spring Cleaning!

Ah yes, the sweet scent of the New Year is here, which means it’s time to clean up your workspace and make way for a new mess!

Seeing how the bulk of your daily tasks is done on your computer, an often overlooked aspect of spring cleaning is the device right in front of you. Ever wondered why it’s not as fast as it used to be? First, it’s loaded with apps and files you don’t need taking up too much of your PC’s memory.

Then, here are three things according to #teamGRADUAN’s Tech Team that you need to do to speed up your computer to get work done without the stress of waiting FOREVER for it to start (by forever we mean anything more than five minutes).

Too many startup applications
You know when you turn your computer on and a bunch of apps immediately pop up, like Skype and Microsoft Teams? Not only do you not use them much or at all, these apps slow down your PC unnecessarily.

FIX: Initiate Task Manager (press ctrl+alt+delete) and under the ‘More Details’ tab, click ‘Startup’. Click on the apps you don’t use often and disable them. Thank me later.

Too many apps on your desktop
There’s nothing wrong with having hundreds of apps on your PC (as long as the memory can support them) but it becomes an issue when you place all your downloads and apps on your desktop. When you start your computer, the first thing it’ll need to do is get those apps on the desktop ready. So if you have a hundred apps, it’s going to need to get a hundred things ready.

FIX: Group your apps and documents into folders. Don’t overflood your desktop with unnecessary files. Group apps you don’t use often into a folder and move to a different hard disk.

What’s your RAM?
Tried the fixes above but your PC acting up? The problem could actually be your computer’s memory storage (or RAM). A typical laptop should have 4GB RAM but can go up to 16GB. Not sure what your RAM size is? Press the start button and search for ‘About Your PC’.

FIX: If you’re using an older device, it’s probably time to update your RAM. Apart from increasing your RAM size, you can also upgrade your typical Hard Disk Drive (HDD) storage to Solid State Drive (SSD). The difference? SSD stores memory in microchips whereas HDD uses a mechanical arm to move around and read information. Oh and it’s FIVE times faster than the traditional HDD.