Are you feeling frustrated? Is your PC slowing down? Every once in a while I like to post some tips to improve the performance of your PC. I don’t want people to think that their PC is old and needs to be replaced when a few housekeeping items to get you back in shape. A PC needs regular maintenance just like any other electronic device. Let’s go through a few items.
- Clean up your desktop. Have you ever really gone through all the stuff on your desktop? I bet half of it you don’t even need anymore. Anything that is important could go into a One Drive or Dropbox folder for safe keeping. The less clutter, the easier it is for you to find things and the better performance you PC will get. Before you go on a deleting spree, sort out the files and folders on your desktop to know what you need to keep. An easy way to do this is to right-click on an empty area of your desktop and select Auto arrange icons. This will organize your icons into a grid format that makes it easier for you to view all the icons on it. Then, right-click on the empty space and hover your mouse over “Sort by” and select Date modified to arrange the icons by the date they were last opened, with the latest on top.
- Be brave! Do not be afraid of decluttering! Just like with anything else, don’t be afraid you are going to need it later. If you do, we will put it in a safe place where you can retrieve it later. Just delete the things you know for sure that you no longer need. If you haven’t used a file or folder in the past two months or so, you should seriously consider getting rid of it. Uninstall programs you no longer use, delete images you no longer want or need, move unimportant files elsewhere, and place the rest in relevant folders. Once completed, take a look at your browser to see where it stores downloaded files. If your browser downloads files to your desktop by default, go to Settings and change the target location to the Downloads folder.
- Pick a better wallpaper -An interesting way to minimize clutter is to pick a wallpaper that you like, which could be your favorite picture or slogan. Frame the image so the focus is in the center of your desktop. Then, place your icons around the image in a way that allows you to still see the image. If you can’t see the image, that means you have too many icons and it’s time to get rid of a few. Having a wallpaper that you like can serve as a reminder to keep icons to a minimum.If you are looking to learn more about using optimizing your Windows PC, contact us today for more tips and tricks from office IT experts.
These little tips will help you with performance and hopefully keep you from running out and purchasing a new PC when all you really needed was a little cleanup!