Newsletter Archives

January, 2006

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PC Tips & Tricks #1
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This month, we'll explain how to start your PC's new year off right by doing a bit of basic maintenance that's most likely overdue. We hope you find our newsletter useful.

1) Scan your hard drive for errors. Open a Windows Explorer window*, right click on your C: drive, and click Properties. At the top of the new window, select the Tools tab. Click the Check Now button in the Error-checking section. We'd recommend you select both checkboxes (fix file system errors and recover bad sectors). Then simply click Start and sit back and wait while Windows scans your PC's hard drive for errors which could be hindering it.

2) Defrag your hard drive. Windows isn't very efficient at storing your files and over time, they will become fragmented**. Defragmenting your drive will improve it's efficiency and thus, it's speed. We'd recommend you defrag regularly (i.e. once a month for the average user).

To defrag your drive, open a Windows Explorer window*, right click on your C: drive, and click Properties. At the top of the new window, select the Tools tab. Click the Defragment Now button in the Defragmentation section. In the list of drives, select your C: drive by clicking on it once and then click on the Defragment window. Sit back and grab a cup of your favourite drink as it will generally take a while to defrag your whole drive.

* Windows Explorer shortcut - Right click the Start button and then (left) click Explore.
** Fragmented files are files that are broken up across your hard drive. That is, part of the same file is stored in various locations around your hard drive. The more fragmented files are, the longer it will take Windows to open, update and close them.

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