How to Make Windows 8 Go Faster: 8 Tips For Improving Performance
Whatever you think of Windows 8 (at MakeUseOf, our opinions are mixed), it’s certainly speedy. Windows 8 boots faster than previous versions of Windows, has lower memory usage, and has a desktop that feels nice and snappy. Like all versions of Windows, Windows 8 has a variety of settings you can tweak to speed things up and make it even faster. Some of the tips here also apply to previous versions of Windows, but Windows 8 has some new tricks up its sleeve.
Xinorbis Is A Free & Portable Disk Analyzer For The Windows File System
Understanding where your disk space is being allocated is information that can help you accomplish many things in improving your PC's performance. Though there are plenty of solutions to accomplishing this, such as DiskSavvy, Xinorbis is very effective and has been around for a while. Xinorbis is available as a hard installation or an archive that can be extracted on your desktop, in a Dropbox folder, or on a flash drive.
4 Steps To Completely Remove Troublesome Or Bad Software [Windows]
We’ve all had that one program that no matter what we’ve tried, it wouldn’t go away. Or perhaps you didn’t even know what to try and thought you were simply stuck with this annoying program (or programs, if you’re really unlucky) for the life of your computer. Well, worry no longer – there’s hope. And it is fairly easy to achieve as well.
Kill Windows Viruses With an Ubuntu Live CD
Today's anti-virus solutions are pretty reliable, protecting you from most of the common threats out there in the world. With safe browsing habits, there's a rare chance that you'd ever get infected with malware. However, there's never a guarantee that you'll be completely safe if you are simply careful and run your anti-virus software. Especially when it comes to zero-day threats, sometimes things just happen to you that you can't blame on yourself.
Keep Log & Temp Files Under Control With This Windows Script
I've spent a lot of time helping out friends and family with their computer issues, and I have to say that above all other problems, the one issue that I see come up again and again are temp files and log files eating up shrinking disk space and eventually bogging down the system. The temporary Internet files folder is a common culprit, but that's one that has an easily solution.
Why You Need To Backup Now And 6 Reasons Why You Haven't Done So Already
How else can I say this? Actually, there is no other way more straightforward than this: you need to backup now. The risks involved with not doing so are simply not worth it. There’s no really no reason to not be backing up your computer. That said, you likely feel you do have a legitimate reason. And in some cases you might, but there is always a way.
How To Make Windows Boot Faster Than Ever Before
One… two… three… how many minutes does it take your computer to start up? Hopefully not more than three, but it wouldn’t surprise me if you said it surpassed that time. The thing is, our computers have a lot to do when starting up and I think it’s something we often forget about and take for granted. That said, how can we blame our computers when we’re bogging it down with a bunch of junk?
3 Simple Steps To Fixing Your Computer Issues
Every day dozens of tech questions cross the desktops of editors and contributors on MakeUseOf Answers. Many of them are easy to answer and have actually been asked and solved previously. Looking at other Q&A forums, the same scenario unfolds. It seems that many people don't understand how to use the Internet. Or maybe they are overwhelmed by the amount of information presented.
Why You Should Never Ask Friends or Family to Fix Your Computer [Opinion]
There seems to be this huge misunderstanding that anyone who knows something about computers is a geek and can fix them, regardless of what is broken. In reality, when it comes to complex issues, most geeks simply know how to use Google and aren't afraid to try and follow instructions they found online. The thing is, this is an amateurish approach, which is fine when playing with your own computer. It becomes a problem with other peoples computers.
Slimming Down On Your Windows Security Regiment: It Could Help
Though they're almost essential, some of the worst offenders in bogging down your Windows machine are actually the applications made to keep your computer safer and faster: those made for security. If you're a MakeUseOf reader, I trust that you use some form of anti-virus or anti-malware. As operating systems progress, it's practically being forced upon you. But do you have to?
Rid Your PC Of Outdated Bookmarks, Duplicate Files, Broken Shortcuts & Empty Folders [Windows]
Collecting is part of human nature. Over the course of a life, we collect a lot of things. For a few decades, this has been including digital data. With every backup you make, you are not only duplicating files and folders, but you are also manifesting small errors - empty folders, duplicate files, outdated bookmarks, and broken shortcuts that don't lead anywhere anymore. Whenever you restore your data from a backup or copy them to a new computer, you carry over those imperfections.
Should You Upgrade Or Repair Your Computer?
Computers age rapidly. In one year they mature, in three years they become elderly and after five they are ready for retirement. Both geeks and casual users have become accustomed to – or annoyed by – the quick replacement cycle. Part of the annoyance is the uncertainty of replacement. When do you upgrade or repair a computer, and when do you just give up and build or buy a new one?
Can't Stand The Slowness? The Top 10 Reasons for Poor PC Performance
Has your computer loaded this webpage yet? If it has, you’ll be halfway toward working out just why it seems to be running so slowly. There are many reasons for desktop and laptops to chug along at their own, slow pace, defying the system specs and performing more like a relic from the 1990s. Where you’re browsing the web, word processing or gaming, poor performance will cause problems.
2 Lesser-Known & Portable Alternatives To CCleaner [Windows]
If your argument is that CCleaner is the best resource to cleaning out Windows' junk and temporary files, then I won't be the guy to argue with you. I've even made a post in the past complimenting and appreciating all of the Piriform applications, as I believe they are some of the best on the entire web. That being said, there are those of you out there who have no interest in using CCleaner.
GeekUninstaller Will Uninstall Programs You Thought You Couldn't [Windows]
When it comes to third-party uninstallation software, everyone knows of Revo. It's often considered to be the top of that class. However, many alternatives exists and it's great to offer the MUO audience a choice. After all, you can never have too many ways of removing things you don't want. None of us like bloatware.
Do You Need To Protect Your Computer From Magnets?
Magnets are kind of magic. Okay, not really – but to the layman they a bit bewildering. The magnetic field they emit is entirely undetectable by human senses. One can only imagine the confusion our ancestors must have felt when they first discovered them. Today we have an understanding of how magnets work, but that doesn’t mean they no longer trouble us. A magnet has the potential to cause all sorts of issues for electronic devices.
How to Organize Windows Files Using Both an SSD and HDD
Here's how to use an SSD and HDD together for best results with a Windows PC, especially if your SSD doesn't have a lot of space.
3 Excellent Defrag Utilities & Why You Still Need to Defragment In 2012
Accessing files from the hard drive is a speed limiting step in operating a computer. Hard drives used to be a major bottle neck and fragmentation of data slowed them down even further. With the New Technology File System (NTFS), terabyte sized hard drives, and solid state drives setting new standards, fragmentation has become a non-issue and defrag utilities are almost obsolete. Almost!
What Water Cooling Is & Should You Use It? [MakeUseOf Explains]
Water is a great coolant. It’s plentiful, cheap and can be easily moved via pumps. The need for specialized hardware has often made this solution too expensive and too complex for mainstream users, however. That has finally changed. Several companies now offer retail water cooling options that are no more difficult to install than any PC air cooler.
Keep Your PC Running Smoothly With Glary Utilities Pro
There are quite a few PC maintenance utilities that make it a matter of routine. And keeping one’s computer in good running health should be a matter of routine. So, today we are going to pick up just such a tool for our review and see if it can help us save a few hair splits. Glary Utilities Pro is a well-reviewed and well-championed name in utility tools. If you are looking for an all-rounder to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC, this is worth a trial by fire.