Cleaning up the mud
Familiarity breeds contempt. It also fosters the myth that your personal computer is really slow. In fact, given the number of complaints that I receive in any given day, there are nothing but well-known computers trying to turn back time.
Actually, the average computer user could do things to speed up their personal machine. Or, speed up the perception until budgets improve. Let’s take as a test case the laptop user that stopped me in the corridor yesterday afternoon. Her life was coming undone, due to the time spent waiting for programs to open, close or act on an important document. I’ve heard the story before (from this user); we actually upgraded the machine with additional memory a few weeks back.
Let’s examine things with a critical eye. Even though antivirus software may be running, the usual case is that the all-important signature files are out of date. Upgrade, and run a full scan. Here we go: several traces of minor trojans, now deleted. Out to an explorer window, and a quick check for things that just don’t work right. Trying to open a folder leads to a request for “what program should be used”. I’ve seen this one a lot in the last few weeks, so I know the routine; drop to DOS, and hunt for a hidden system readonly file called “autorun.inf” in the root folder. (Hint, use ATTRIB -R -S -H AUTORUN.INF).
The file contains an invalid call to a shell replacement. Delete and continue the search.
Most users never get around to deleting the junk that accumulates. Use the Disk Cleaner provided with Windows, and delete the recycle bin, temporary internet files and a bunch of other fluff.
Worse, most people have forgotten (or never learned) the value of defragmentation. I don’t find the program that comes with Windows to be very effective, so I’ve taken to using an freeware replacement called DEFRAGGLER. Install and run.
Just these simple steps will put some bounce back in your virtual footsteps.
