For IBM PC/Pentium repairs
done right the first time, call/mail Ray's PC. Good prices, no
bull, no ripoffs. Does Internet or your online service run too
slow? Does Win95/98 misbehave? WE CAN HELP. You don't have to
live with glitches and lockups, slowpoke performance or inferior
components. Don't let a techno wanna-be do you wrong. No
nerds here, just professional tell-it-like-it-is service. Ray's
PC, call or email today. We
treat you right, and do our very best to start with, so you don't
have to worry later.
(See Top Ten PC Slowdowns
below).
Ray's Top Ten Reasons
your PC Runs too slow
brought to you by:
Ray's Top Ten Computer Slowdown List
1. Wasn't properly set up from
the factory. Computers can't run as
fast as possible if the manufacturer or vendor doesn't
optimize from the start. Many techs simply run the setup
defaults option, and load typical program options when
initially setting up your machine. As a result, your new
Pentium 233 or x86 doesn't run as fast as it should.
Compare this to a new car that has a bad fuel injector.
Looks great, but when you try to get down on the
accelerator, it spits and sputters. Point is, it takes
more time to do it RIGHT to begin with.
2. Too many startup items
loading at boot. To check this one out, press
control/alt/delete ONCE to see which programs are running
in the background if any. Apps like MS Office 97, Iomega
Jaz Tools, Scanner and Printer Utilities and others will
sometimes place unneeded icons in the Start folder. No
matter how much memory you have these will bog your PC
down. I just set up four new Pentium MMX 233 machines and
each had over fourteen items in the start boot sequence.
Both ran slow until I optimized each by removing
unnecessary items. By the way each had 64 mb RAM.
3. Device conflicts not
reported or corrected on setup. Have you ever
seen a computer run fine for awhile then for no apparent
reason start locking up after an upgrade of hardware or
software? If so, an interrupt or resource conflict is
possibly the culprit. This amounts to two or more devices
fighting for the same piece of real estate, or
technically, each is trying to use the same memory
address or interrupt request (IRQ). This happens mostly
upon upgrade or initial setup due to improper
configuration, oversights by someone in too big of a
hurry etc. Interrupt problems can be troublesome, but
they are workable and are not that hard to fix if a tech
takes his/her time.
4. Improper device drivers. Sometimes Win3.1 drivers will seem to
work under Win95, but Win3.1 is 16 bit, where Win95/ 98
are both 32 bit. This means older hardware drivers made
for Windows 3.1 should never be used for Win95/98, yet
just last week I saw a friend of mine try to use an older
3.1 driver for a 95 Plug N Play Network Card. If he'd
only stopped for a moment he could have seen the problem
immediately, since he is good with computers himself.
Typically, on a setup diskette or CD Rom there are two
folders called Win3.1 and Win95/NT. Not always though.
And finding the right driver can take awhile if you are
unfamiliar with a new piece of hardware.
5. Old
device drivers. Old
device drivers need upgrading from time to time to keep
up with new applications and hardware. For example, a
56kFlex modem with old drivers will run ok, but get the
new driver for it from the Rockwell site, and it will run
much better. 99% of all device driver upgrades are free,
yet most do not have the time to download and install
them.
6. TLC/Housekeeping. A computer is just like any other piece
of machinery. It needs care from time to time to keep it
going, and some folks simply do not realize this. Every
website visited leaves junk; image files, link files and
history files that need to be emptied. A full hard disk
drive, no matter how much memory or how big it is will
not run efficiently. Furthermore, software installations
sometimes leave .tmp files behind, .cab files and other
junk like readme.txt files, and according to a Windows
Magazine article a few
months back, you really should completely back up and
reinstall Windows 95 at least once a year if you are a
heavy user. Win95 is not perfect, and you have to
"change the oil" and spark plugs once in awhile
so to speak. For good performance, run Scandisk &
Defrag often, and download Regclean (free) from
Microsoft.
7. Com
Ports & Internet Bottlenecks.. This one is common, more common than I
initally realized. A lot of computers are not properly
configured for the Internet. I use AOL as my primary ISP
and I rarely get kicked off, I rarely have trouble
signing on, and in general it runs really good for me.
Why? I use the newest AOL 4.0 software to begin with, and
I optimize my modem with MTU
Speed ($10 donorware). I
use correct drivers for my K56Flex modem. And I use the
highest baud rate allowable for my modem, 115,200, with
com port maxed out to 115,200. I live about three miles
from the telephone company, which helps, but my initial
signon takes place somewhere in Virginia. I have a 586
Intel Pentium board with an AMD K5 133 processor and 32
MB RAM and 512 cache. My machine runs really nice. Even a
386 can run ok on the net if properly
configured.
8. Power,
Thunderstorms & Crashes-Surge protectors and grounding are
essential to good computer operation. A surge can knock
out your power supply, and a sudden power off conditon
can mess up your hard drive data, although unlikely. Many
times I have seen a computer that was just a nightmare,
broken shortcuts, apps that wouldn't run, or lockups that
had no apparent reason and nothing seemed to be out of
place. This can be caused by improper shutdowns, where
the computer is left on all the time and the power goes
off. My advice is to turn your PC off when not in use. If
this is not practical, get a backUPS power supply. These
have a battery that will keep the board and drive running
long enough for you to catch it. If you aren't there, the
battery will eventually die, if the power doesn't come
back up. (I think some of the backUPS now have software
automation that shuts down for you in the event of power
failure or brownout). Lightning storms are frequent in MS
, and I never leave my modem or computer plugged in if
bad weather is iminent.
9.User not qualified to repair machine. Quite often, I see cases where a person
has installed a piece of software and something went
wrong, and he/she attempted to "fix" the
problem, while having no idea how to do
this the right way. As a result, the molehill becomes a
mountain. Now, this is how I learned to fix machines, (I
pray a lot too, I am serious, Jesus is the best tech I
know) and experimentation is encouraged in my camp. Yet a
machine that is the backbone of your business or company,
or mainstay of your communications hub should NEVER be
serviced or "repaired" by a novice. That is
paramount to throwing money away. As I have heard said,
installing Win95 doesn't make you a tech, just as owning
a plane doesn't make you a pilot.
10. The
Glitch Factor.;Sometimes,
for no known reason a problem will simply occur, and
disappear. I call this the glitch factor, due to the fact
that it is a ghost problem, or unknown bug. All
mechanics, appliance techs, electronics techs and others
can tell you what I mean. I have a good example of this.
The version of Internet Explorer 4.0 that ships with
Windows 95 upgrade always fails during initial
installation to automatically restart my machine, and
gives me a page fault when it gets to that point. (IE 5.0
has this problem too).I figured this one out though. It
is a bug, plain and simple. If you select some but not
all options on install, a relatively harmless Invalid
page fault will occur. But, choose to install all
options, including Active Desktop, and it will restart
automatically. Other glitches: First Aid 98 is NOT
compatible with Internet Explorer 4.0 until you download
the upgrade files from Cybermedia.
That's it for the top ten. Thanks for
visiting my site. Before you leave, check out some of the tech
links I have listed below. I have chosen the best of the best. I
use all of these sites frequently, and they are top notch.
