CompuClever Blog

Spring PC Cleaning

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It’s spring time. What a wonderful time of the year. We tend to feel energized from a restful winter season and it’s time to take on chores that were neglected or “to do” items that set the stage for our busy endeavors ahead. One of these tasks is cleaning your PC so that it runs efficiently. Believe it or not this process does not have to be equivalent to tearing one’s hair out and it can be very fast using the right tools. In the end you may have two important chores accomplished – a better organization of personal files and dead weight that we can refer to as “clutter” is removed.

We’re going to start off with some information on clutter and how to assess how much free space you may have on your PC. Keep in mind that you may have plenty of free space and still have plenty of clutter on your PC. Assessing the situation can help in determining how your PC is performing and how well it responds to some clean up!

Clutter – Time to Clean

By “cleaning” we are not talking about throwing away things that may have some importance. We are referring to removing what can be considered clutter and organizing files we want to keep. Continue reading...

Looking back and moving forward

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During the year 2013 we covered a wide range of topics and moving forward we think there are many suggestions and recommendations that can be used in dealing with PC issues you may be facing right now.  So, we embark on a two-part adventure: to review the best of our articles and to highlight what PC tips and tricks you can take advantage of immediately.  What better way to step up to the plate when asked: What is your New Year’s resolution?  We hope it’s to take charge of your computing needs so that your PC works for you! This summary of our top PC stories for us is a celebration of a year’s correspondences to you our readership.

The following topics include our top stories that we find will give you an upper edge on PC good practices and regular use:

Security & Privacy

Digital security – updates and trends
Edward Snowden hit the news this past year and opened up a whole can of worms in relation to surveillance and the reams of digital information that is readily available.  Our information article broached the subject of the digital universe and our level of exposure to surveillance.  We have become participants and are increasingly more involved in the creation of digital information that can be accessed from online means.  Continue reading...

Surf Faster with Internet Explorer

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When surfing the net we rely on our browser. In this article we focus on how to address Internet Explorer performance issues. This is a frustrating experience common to many computer users. We will look at potential causes and attempt to rule out anything that may be less likely but needs to be examined. We then focus on what is a common experience for those that have run IE for some time and have collected a few “add-ons” during their surfing adventures.

Getting to the Source

There are several potential causes for a slow browsing experience.  The plan is to identify the symptoms and then to systematically go through potential causes.  We will attempt to rule out the ones less likely to be crippling your IE browser experience but are potential culprits all the same.

What are the symptoms?  It could be you have been facing a number of IE browser symptoms that indicate poor Internet browsing health.  These could range from: slow startup, slow downloading of pages, crashes, and more.  We can go through these one at a time.

Internet speed:  A slow connection to the Internet means slow browsing speeds.  But is it the Internet connection or the result of the browser?  Continue reading...

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...