Posts Tagged ‘Hardware’

Reclaiming Your Precious Hard Drive Space with Free Tools

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Hey, everyone, Josh from Computer Fitness back with another award-winning article to help you with your computer woes.

Hard Drive space is a precious resource. If you’re like me, you have tons of movies, pictures, and music taking space there. At the same time, if you let it get away from you, files that just build up over time will rob you of the gigabytes you need to keep all of the stuff you want. Fortunately, there are some ways to make sure that you get back your hard drive.

Defragment

We’ve gone over this before, but Defragging is incredibly important. As you open and close files at random, bits and pieces of files and programs get left around. They build up and you lose space. On top of losing storage space, you also have increased load times for your data. Defragging helps to clear up a lot of this.

Check your Installed Programs

Now, be careful in here. The Add/Remove Programs link at the top of your Windows Explorer takes you to a list of all the programs installed on your machine. This includes the good and the bad. Take some time and look through what’s installed here. DO NOT uninstall things without checking first. IT professionals have a better idea of what’s going on here, but it is good to take a look for programs you remember installing and don’t use anymore. I know, for me, it’s usually old games.

Clear Temporary Files

In the “My Computer” window, if you right click on your hard drive (C:), you’ll see a link to clean up your hard drive. You’ll then see an option to delete Temporary Files. This is a good way to clean up any data left over from installations or web browsing that you won’t need anymore.

-Josh
Computer Fitness

Offering Technical Support for your business computer systems with Onsite & Remote Tech Support in and around Baltimore, Maryland.

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Posted in Desktop - Workstation, PC, PC Maintenance | No Comments »

Hardware Overview: Solid State Hard Drives VS Traditional Drives

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Hello and welcome to Computer Fitness’ Blog! My name is Josh.  Computer Fitness is a tech support firm for small and medium businesses in Reisterstown, MD. Our areas of expertise run the gamut from workstation repair to server maintenance.

If you’re looking to get a new hard drive or computer, one of the first things you’ll likely look at is the size of the drive. You’ll try to figure out how much space you use now and how much you think you’ll use in the future. All of that is great, but a growing option for the hard drive is now the choice of a traditional drive, which utilizes spinning plates to hold data, or a solid state drive, which is very similar to the memory cards used in cameras, iPods, etc. This may not seem important at first, aside from the price. However, take a close look at three things to consider when buying a new hard drive.

1) Solid State Drives Have No Moving Parts

This is a winner for all you laptop owners out there who keep dropping your machine. Since there are no moving parts, falling won’t damage any delicate equipment located on the inside of the drive. A traditional drive might crash if dropped. Solid State drives win here. However, if you are getting a desktop, don’t even worry about this part.

2) Traditional Hard Drives Last Longer

Not too long ago, solid-state drives were said to have a lifespan of about two years. They’ve doubled that since then, but the fact of the matter is that a traditional drive was last longer. If you’re a techie who is always upgrading, this may not be a concern for you. However, it is something to consider.

3) Solid State Drives are VERY Expensive

If it just comes down to money for you, a solid-state drive is not your choice. They are much more expensive. This is due to the newness of the technology, combined with what it takes to make them. If you are looking for crash protection for a laptop, it might be worth the money. Otherwise, go with the traditional drive.

That’s all for this week. Check back again for more computer fitness tips!

-Josh
Computer Fitness
Onsite and Remote Tech Support

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Posted in Hardware Overview | No Comments »

Potentially Problematic Interactions: Why You Need to Carefully Consider Wireless Technology Choices

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

wi-fi overlapHello and welcome to Computer Fitness’ Blog! My name is Josh. You may know me from the Internet Beacon. We have a pretty cool blog over there. If you’re new to our sites, do check it out; there’s plenty more awesome over there. Computer Fitness is a tech support firm in Finksburg, MD. Our areas of expertise run the gamut from desktop repair to server maintenance.

Certainly a wireless world makes things a lot easier. Think about all the wireless technology you own. It could be a lot or just a cordless phone for your landline. If it’s just the phone, maybe grab some new stuff. That’s just me. We tech folks tend to push for the latest and greatest. However, there are times when you need to carefully consider which technologies you employ.

In this case, wireless technologies often operates on the same frequency. That frequency is the 2.4ghz range. This frequency is the standard for wireless devices and, as such, can be a bit problematic on occasion. Think about your cordless phone, wireless router (Wireless A/B/G 802.11), wireless mouse, etc. all talking on the same line. It can be troublesome.

The best way to avoid this is to make sure there is enough space between the devices. I know this may sound like a simple solution, but it has proven to be the best one. For example, many people have their desktop computers right next to their routers. Not everyone, but a lot. If you have a wireless mouse broadcasting on the same frequency as the router, you may notice your mouse being a bit jumpy or unresponsive at random times. This is because two different data streams are broadcasting on the same frequency in close proximity. In this case, it might be best to just switch to a wired mouse. This is just one example of a potentially problematic interaction.

In the end, just make sure that you give your devices enough space to function properly. And, if it means being mildly inconvenienced to ensure they all play nice together, it’s worth it. That’s all for this week. Come back again for more Computer Fitness tips.

-Josh
Computer Fitness
Onsite and Remote Tech Support

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Posted in Hardware Overview | 3 Comments »