Achieving Speed - is it more memory or just the basics……
Achieving Speed – is it more memory or just the basics…..
There is a common myth being perpetrated on us all. And that myth is that adding memory to your computer is going to magically give you all the speed you need. While it is true that adding memory helps with speed, it is not the cure all to end all. With that said this article will not be the cure all to end all either. Rather, Pete Teague, Sales and Marketing Manager at Bob Johnson’s suggests some first step actions that may help improve your computers speed and hopefully saving you some money by not buying memory that you may not need.
Pete says when you buy a new computer; it has certain factory pre-set defaults and is optimized to run suitably as is. These settings do not account for the software, games and other stuff you may add. As you add or remove such stuff the computer moves further away from these optimal settings. It’s analogous to adding a dishwasher to your house. Think of your water heater as your computer. When you add a dishwasher your water heater now has to provide hot water to it. Just like your computer when you add stuff to it, that water heater is going to have less capacity to service other things like the shower head. Shut the dishwasher off and your back to having the original volume of hot water for showers – or volume/speed the computer pre-set functions were intended to provide. Turn the dishwasher back on and oops, less hot water for your showers. It’s the same with your computer; add software and other stuff and the computer is now supporting resources that it originally wasn’t pre-set to support as is. Remove the software and stuff and the computer runs faster (shut the dishwasher off and the water heater provides more hot water for showers). Pretty simple huh? Not really. You see when you shut the dishwasher off the water heater does not know the dishwasher is still there, so it’s not trying to service it. With a computer even after you remove stuff, the computer’s resources are still being used because some form of the removed software is still running in the background. That background support is slowing your computer down. Yes, you can buy a larger water heater to solve the dishwasher/shower capacity problem, just like you can add memory to your computer to solve the speed problem. But here’s the rub: While the water heater’s delivery of hot water is only impacted when you run the dishwasher, your computer is running or supporting some form the removed or old software all the time and that is slowing the computer down.
So with that backdrop: If you want to make your computer faster you can spend money on memory and get some short term gratification. On the other hand, you can do the following first and see if that helps. If you’re a windows user try some basic maintenance (you should do this at least once a month anyway). This includes: Running up to date anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. Emptying your “temp files” and cleaning up your cache, making sure you empty the recycle bin and running the disk defragmenter program, all of these at a minimum. But where do you find the tools to do these things? Chances are your computer has these tools on it already. If not, visit http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/optimize.mspx and follow the instructions – its pretty simple stuff and easy to do. Following these steps will help to optimize your computers performance and most likely save you some money in terms of not buying memory that you probably don’t need. Now, if you’re an Apple user and I’ll admit I am not real familiar with Apple, the steps are probably much the same. I would first do an all around cleanup of the internet logging files. Then do a virus scan and registry check. If these actions do not help then I suggest you try reinstalling your programs. Who knows, it could be that you really do need more memory but at least you will have made sure all the options to spending your cash were exhausted first.
You see, at Bob Johnson’s we don’t want to sell you something you might not need. So if speed is your need, try the ideas suggested here first. If that does not satisfy your need contact us at 877-202-7788 or www.bobjohnson.com our techs might have other ideas. Alternatively, we can do the optimization work for you at a nominal cost. Worst case, we’ll sell you some memory but only if that is what you really need – we don’t like to sell stuff that might not be in your or your wallets best interest. (And, oh by the way, a new dishwasher or water heater may not be a bid idea anyway and the money we save you could help pay for it!) Happy computing!
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Tags: computers, refurbished, used laptops