XP Problems
It always seems funny how when you start out with your new computer, everything works fast and there are no problems. Then after a few months (or years if you are lucky) the computer starts to slow down and little glitchs occur on a more regular basis.Why ?
Well when its new, there is just the basic operating system and its sub-systems running. Even Internet Explorer and Outlook Express are part of the OS and are fully intergrated with it.
After owning the computer for a while, you have probably added a few extra things to it: printer, scanner, web cam, speaker system, wireless mouse and keyboard, and a dvd burner. Then you may have added virus protection, firewall, games, office suites, graphics and various other software programs.
All these extra's can soon slow down or even nearly stop your computer from running. So you may then add more software to help speed up your computer, which most of the time only adds more bloat to the system.
The real trick is to only get what you need to start when the computer boots up by stopping extra process's from starting. That and adding extra RAM are probably the two most important things to get your computer back up running quicker and smoother.
In our computer classes, we run through how to keep your system up to speed and maintain it. So have a look in the "Tutorials" pages for more information on this.
Problem Areas:
Software
Hardware
Note:
Before making any changes to your Operating System always perform a "System Backup" or "System Restore" to ensure that you can always take a step back in case there are any problems.
It is always advisable to do a backup or system restore point before installing any new software. It doesn't take very long to perform and can be a real lifesaver when things go wrong.