• Have a Computer Maintenance day

    by + • August 10, 2012 • Startups • 1 Comment

    I am not trying to spring up some new fun day or joy time at office, this is serious, and the reason is, even today, i hear people complaning about pc slow, hang issues, “the application on my pc works slow”, “the database on my pc runs slow”. I am not inclding Mac users in this post, as i never heard mac users with such complaints, i am talking about windows and linux users. Wherein, most windows users, stating that pc may have got affected by some virus and linux users blaming some or the other installed application or low memory or CPU for the slowness.

    Startups, you can’t afford these nuisances, you need to fix it. The computer is your workhorse and if there’s issue with it, your employees tend to pop up with complaints every now and then.

    Have a computer maintenance day, just once every 3 or 6 months, depending upon the number of complaints. don’t do it on a weekday, as this will be done once in 3 or 6 months, plan and gather on a weekend or do it on friday 2nd half. The common issues, PC hang or working slow, take the basic steps, cleaning the desktop, move the files and folders to some other location. organize them properly so can be accessed when ever required. This is for both windows and Linux users.

    Remove any unwanted software, especially the games which are installed by default by the OS. windows users, disable the network and run the anti-virus scan, linux users, check which application is consuming more memory, check the internet, can you tweak it or upgrade the memory.

    If there are any hardware requirements, keyboard or mouse not working, replace it, CPU, motherboard or memory needs to be upgraded, or replaced, do it soon.

    Surf the internet, find out the tweaks and fixes that can be applied to the applications used regularly, like the browsers, editors and email clients, so they are optimized and speeded up.

    Also, the maintenance day is not only for the employees computers but also for the in house local servers. check them out, are they working fine or performing slow. The in house servers are equally important. Similiarly, check the hub and routers, especially the router for security.

    This should not be a big deal. These are minor little works, that you and your team should carry out. You make the computer perform well, it automatically adds up to the productivity.

    If you have some more suggestions or advice to add to this thought, please do share it in comments.

    photo source: getzschman

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    About +

    Startup helper, Linux sys admin, Python programmer, Blogger, Content Writer.

    • http://www.facebook.com/malcolm.carvalho.5 Malcolm Carvalho

      Nice post. Thanks for the tips. I’d like to add a few.

      Sometimes, the RAM is the biggest culprit in hindering performance. So? You guessed it right, upgrade your RAM. This is a small cost that will pay rich dividends.

      Defragment drives regularly, maybe once a month. Not only would this speed up applications, it would also identify bad sectors on disks.

      If possible, upgrade your machines as well. This could be a major cost, so perhaps a machine switch every 2/3 years would be good.

      Disclaimer: This tip is not really about improving computer performance, but I’ll add it anyway. Those who want to get their nose a wee bit ahead on the speedway can try using an automation software for running applications. A few keystrokes v/s cumbersome mouse clicks could save considerable time over the course of a day.