CompuClever Blog

How to Reset Internet Explorer

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Over time and frequent use, Internet Explorer can accumulate extra “add-ons” and can experience changes that result in slow performance.   There are instances where settings are adjusted by add-ons, browser extensions, and toolbars without your knowledge or approval.  What most users experience when installing items to their computer are software additions that are part of the package.  In other words, you begin installing some item and it includes browser add-ons that are intended to give you quick access to websites (via shortcuts) or additional functionality such as search fields.

Slow Performance:  The result of unwanted add-ons can be slower times when opening IE, slow browsing speed (it takes longer to view the pages you browse to), and unexpected behaviours such as crashes and program freezes.  Even worse, there are those additional items that can be malicious.  They function in such a way as to include links to sites that threaten the security of your online banking / financial information, they can lower your security settings making you vulnerable to further malicious attacks, or they can also result in annoying pop-ups that you can’t stop from appearing.  A good indication that you need to reset your IE to its original “factory-installed” state. Continue reading...

Hard Disk Drive Basics

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An effective disk defragmenter is a vital utility for all PC users who take an active role in improving system performance. We have created two informational articles to cover this important topic thoroughly but in terminology that all computer users can understand. This article examines Hard Disk Drives and how they become fragmented. The follow up article will detail how fragmentation can impact system performance and how defragmentation and best practices can restore PC performance.

The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is the main storage device for your PC; it is the mechanism that writes and reads data on the hard disk.  The HDD components consist of one or more drive platters sealed within a casing.  These drives connect to the motherboard of the computer through the use of internal data transfer and power cables.

The components within the drive include:

  • Head Actuator: controls the actuator arm.
  • Read/Write Actuator Arm: is similar to the arm of a record player; as the platter is spinning the arm locates and accesses the data needed so it can be read, written (edited), and deleted.
  • Read/Write Head: this is the device at the end of the actuator arm and is used to write or read the data on the platter.
Continue reading...

Defragmentation and Optimization

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An effective disk defragmenter is a vital utility for all PC users who take an active role in improving system performance. The previous article on this topic examined how Hard Disk Drives become fragmented. With this general knowledge we can now describe how fragmentation can impact system performance and how defragmentation and best practices can restore PC performance.

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) performance is measured in the following manners:

  • Seek time:  This is the time from when the processor (CPU) makes its request to when the data is first delivered.  Common seek time rates fall between 10 to 20 milliseconds.
  • Data rate:  This is the rate at which data can be delivered to the CPU.  Data rate times typically range from 5 to 40 MB per second.

The size (capacity) of the drive and the amount of free space is another key factor with respect to HDD performance.

The performance of the HDD can be a bottleneck for your PC even if you have plenty of RAM and are using a very high-end processor (CPU).  This is especially true and perhaps noticeable when you have to open and use data files that are very large such as movies, database files, .ISO Continue reading...

How Defrag Hard Drives to Speed Up Your PC

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One of the most effective ways of speeding up your PC is to defrag your hard drive. This article contains a full layout of how to dramatically improve the health and performance of your PC by using the PC TuneUp Maestro Defrag Disk utility. We will cover, in brief, preparing your PC by removing unwanted files. Next we will lay out step-by-step instructions for using the Disk Defrag tool. To wrap up, we will cover some additional tips and features such as frequency of defragmentation and automation of the Defrag tool. So, let’s begin.

Download free defrag tool

You can get lots of information on the subject of defragmentation in the following articles:

Best Practices

There are a few best practice recommendations to outline from the start.

Clean Up: Before you can organize, it is always best to do a quick clean up.  This is also true with your Hard Disk Drive (HDD).  If you stop to think about it, the defragment process works to organize scattered data caused from installing, modifying, and deleting files and software.  Before doing a defrag is the best time to do a quick removal of junk items including files in the recycle bin, temp files (unwanted items that are created as temporary storage), outdated cache items, log files, and more.  Continue reading...

How to speed up your Internet connection

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Thanks to an increasing reliance on Internet to do everything from stream movies to facilitate Skype video calling, most of us wish we had a faster Internet connection.

In fact, as more and more people in our homes (such as teenagers!) are using more and more Internet-connected devices, including iPads and smartphones, and even Internet-connected televisions, we have to squeeze more speed out of home Internet connections that are often slowed down by bandwidth restrictions imposed by ISP’s.

Get faster Internet by upgrading hardware

Changing your ISP to get better Internet connection is usually not an option – most ISP’s have the same bandwidth restrictions, and they’re not interested in helping you get faster Internet. However, one way to get faster Internet is to upgrade your hardware – you can upgrade from ADSL to a cable broadband modem, for example.

You can also invest in a newer wireless router. If you’re experiencing slow internet speeds and you’re using a wireless home network to connect to the Internet, it’s also a good idea to see how many other wireless networks you are competing with.

Why?

The more wireless networks, the slower your Internet. A great tool to check out how many wireless networks are close by and potentially interfering with your wireless signal is inSSIDer. Continue reading...