Our working lives revolve around our laptops these days. Let’s face it, our personal lives are run through laptops and our smartphones too.
When the performance isn’t what it should be it can be really frustrating and affect productivity too.
If your computer is becoming slow and glitchy, here are some ways you can fix that and avoid it in the future.
Only install what you need to
Ideally, you’ll start with a clean installation of your operating system and office program. You’ll then want to add a good antivirus on there. There is a range of both free versions and more feature-rich paid-for options. Read the Panda antivirus review to get an idea of how appropriate it is for your needs.
Having an antivirus and firewall that is up to date is one of the best ways to keep your computer running smoothly, free from viruses and malware.
Most programs are cloud-based now, but be careful about installing software. The more you do, the more cluttered your system will become and the more resources you’ll use.
If you’re guilty of having a cluttered system, either start from scratch and wipe your entire system and start again, or go through everything and remove all the little programs you don’t need anymore.
Check which programs run on startup
When you switch on your computer, you want it to boot up as quickly as possible. If you have set most of your programs to start up with your laptop, then it’s going to slow everything down.
Only have vital programs boot up on the start and access others as and when you need them.
Run regular maintenance
If you’re using a Windows-based laptop PC, you have some great tools that you can use to clean up your system. These are the disk cleanup and hard drive defragmenter features. Running these on a regular basis can keep everything running in a very efficient way.
Update your system and software regularly
Software developers are always releasing updates and patches in order to keep systems secure and add new features. Rather than just cancelling these to get rid of the pop-up, keep everything up to date. This includes your operating system and anti-virus. Not only will you ensure you’re able to access the latest features but you’ll patch up any security holes too.
Back up your files to the cloud
It’s good business sense to have your important files backed up. That way, if your computer is lost or stolen, you can still access them. But it has its place from an efficiency perspective too. Filling up your hard drive to the brim isn’t a good idea to invest in a subscription to Google Drive, One Drive or Dropbox.
Key points
Keeping your laptop running well isn’t a case of waiting until something goes wrong and then trying to fix it, but getting into good habits when it comes to how you use and maintain it. By doing this, you’ll be using it for a long time to come.
