Saturday 10 September 2011

Information Jam

Recently a mate of mine had a stroke. A heart attack if you like. The cause
was a blocked artery. The solution for the problem was for a stent to be inserted to allow blood to flow. A contracted or blocked artery can bring the whole show to an abrupt end.

A very similar situation occurs in computers when information is trying to pass through, lets call them arteries, usually called buses to transfer all those zeros and ones. A computer is a finely constructed machine. The use of parts like incompatible RAM can cause problems with bus speeds and cause a computer to crash. A virus can also be designed to overwork a processor to the point where a computer will simply come to a stand still. Incorrectly assembled hardware can also affect the transfer of the information. A short for example will seriously hamper the performance of a computer and if connected to an internal speaker will produce a series of annoying beeps.

So the best thing for a healthy life style for your computer is maintenance. Adopt the use of  protection software, there are many on the market all vying for their market share. Having one is better than having none. Download a free version and pay to upgrade to the next level if it works well.

Here is a list of things that should be regularly checked to maintain a speedy computer.

1. Firstly, don't expect an old computer to keep with the pace of modern programs. Update the whole machine to prevent getting  bogged down in a mass of information.

2.When a machine accumulates information it stores it on the hard drive, not always in an organised fashion. Hence the need for de-fragmenting the hard drive. It reorganises the information to make retrieval faster.

3. If the hard drive is becoming close to capacity and maintenance has not been performed regularly the disk will have to spin much longer to reach all the information.

4. Don't mix RAM modules. Use the ones that are meant for those slot. More expensive faster RAM that works does not always make a machine run faster. The whole machine is designed to run at a certain speed. So opening up an "artery"  by using faster RAM will be met by a smaller bus throughout the rest of the system, forcing the RAM to run slower.
RAM upgrade

5. Occasionally certain system files become outdated or corrupted. Ask the system manufacturer for advise on updating software such as BIOS and other system drivers that are crucial in running the computer.
Computer Crash

Conclusion

All systems require maintenance, whether human electric or mechanical. It is with the right treatment that the life of those systems can be extended and bring an improved quality of life.

The Healthy PC: Preventive Care, Home Remedies, and Green Computing, 2nd Edition           Stronger After Stroke: Your Roadmap to Recovery

1 comment:

Test and Tag Computers

Beepingcomputer offers  Test  and  Tag  services  for  the domestic  and  commercial  areas  in  the  Illawarra  region  of  NSW.  We also  ...

Save the EARTH !

Surf the net, Surf the Waves