Post by chris on Nov 25, 2012 10:41:17 GMT -5
good tip in todays "Ask Nick"
Question: Why do computers slow down as they get older? If cars were like computers, at five years old they would have a top speed of 40 mph.
— Ron, Rochester
Answer: There are a lot of reasons. Hard drives, as they get older, can wear out, but that's the only mechanical thing that would have any impact on speed. Most of the cruft that slows a computer down has to do with the Registry (well, at least on Windows computers).
When you add and remove programs from the Registry, they don't actually get removed. They get “deactivated.” That means, over time, as you add and remove more and more programs, the Registry just keeps growing and growing.
As time goes on, searching through it takes longer and longer. And, because most programs grab stuff from their section of the Registry regularly, your system gets slower. Using a program like Revo Uninstaller (revouninstaller.com) can help, particularly if you install it first on a brand new system.
On every type of system, the more icons you have on your desktop, the more permanent memory they take, and the less memory you have for programs. Keeping your desktop clear of icons will give you more memory for programs.
Clean out your temp files for the same reason you clean out your Registry, the longer it takes to search that directory, the slower your programs can be. The same is true for your Internet history, cookies, auto complete history, and a zillion other things. Use CCleaner (piriform.com/ccleaner) on a Windows system to clean all that cruft out of your system, no matter what browser you use.
Linux and Mac machines don't have the Registry issues, of course, but they have similar issues with too many icons on the desktop and too many temp files clogging things up.
Also, all computers have memory leaks.
A memory leak is when a program doesn't give back quite as much memory as it took when you started it. That little bit of leftover memory is called a memory leak. Start and stop enough programs, and you have quite a bit of memory that's unusable by any other programs.
(Page 2 of 2)
The best way to clear that out is to periodically restart your computer.
But that’s not everything. Newer programs don't always run well on older operating systems.
Windows XP people know that pain all too well, but so do Mac users running old versions of the Mac OS or older versions of OS X. Generally, Linux users upgrade regularly, so they're almost always running the latest version. They also typically run the latest versions of all their software. Updates are generally comprehensive, easy and free.
The best thing to do is to start out with Revo Uninstaller on a Windows machine, and always uninstall programs with it.
For all your machines, keeping the desktop clean, clearing out temp files, making sure you're running the latest of everything; all of that takes time and effort. But it's what's needed to make sure your computer keeps running like it did when it was new. And, of course, run The Security Tango (securitytango.com/) when you suspect you've got a virus.
Question: Why do computers slow down as they get older? If cars were like computers, at five years old they would have a top speed of 40 mph.
— Ron, Rochester
Answer: There are a lot of reasons. Hard drives, as they get older, can wear out, but that's the only mechanical thing that would have any impact on speed. Most of the cruft that slows a computer down has to do with the Registry (well, at least on Windows computers).
When you add and remove programs from the Registry, they don't actually get removed. They get “deactivated.” That means, over time, as you add and remove more and more programs, the Registry just keeps growing and growing.
As time goes on, searching through it takes longer and longer. And, because most programs grab stuff from their section of the Registry regularly, your system gets slower. Using a program like Revo Uninstaller (revouninstaller.com) can help, particularly if you install it first on a brand new system.
On every type of system, the more icons you have on your desktop, the more permanent memory they take, and the less memory you have for programs. Keeping your desktop clear of icons will give you more memory for programs.
Clean out your temp files for the same reason you clean out your Registry, the longer it takes to search that directory, the slower your programs can be. The same is true for your Internet history, cookies, auto complete history, and a zillion other things. Use CCleaner (piriform.com/ccleaner) on a Windows system to clean all that cruft out of your system, no matter what browser you use.
Linux and Mac machines don't have the Registry issues, of course, but they have similar issues with too many icons on the desktop and too many temp files clogging things up.
Also, all computers have memory leaks.
A memory leak is when a program doesn't give back quite as much memory as it took when you started it. That little bit of leftover memory is called a memory leak. Start and stop enough programs, and you have quite a bit of memory that's unusable by any other programs.
(Page 2 of 2)
The best way to clear that out is to periodically restart your computer.
But that’s not everything. Newer programs don't always run well on older operating systems.
Windows XP people know that pain all too well, but so do Mac users running old versions of the Mac OS or older versions of OS X. Generally, Linux users upgrade regularly, so they're almost always running the latest version. They also typically run the latest versions of all their software. Updates are generally comprehensive, easy and free.
The best thing to do is to start out with Revo Uninstaller on a Windows machine, and always uninstall programs with it.
For all your machines, keeping the desktop clean, clearing out temp files, making sure you're running the latest of everything; all of that takes time and effort. But it's what's needed to make sure your computer keeps running like it did when it was new. And, of course, run The Security Tango (securitytango.com/) when you suspect you've got a virus.
