What is Computer Optimization?

Remember when your computer was new and fresh out of the box? Remember how lightning fast it was? All PC's from the most budget oriented to the overpowered gaming rigs suffer as time goes on, gradually becoming sluggish and eventually becoming lethargic or even unstable. PC/Mac optimization is the process of optimizing your computer and removing unwanted and unnecessary files and making it fast again.

Clear Bloatware

One of the biggest reasons your computer is slowing down is the presence of unnecessary/unwanted software. This is preinstalled software that most PC vendors include with systems as an additional source of revenue. 

Most bloatware is not malicious but they are inefficient and poorly optimized and take up space on your drive and hog your memory and CPU clock cycles when running. Many preinstalled programs that you never use can simply be uninstalled. If you have never used the program, you likely are never going to and a simple Google search will reveal if the program is bloatware or not.

Bloatware can come in the form of proprietary tools from your manufacturer - HP, Samsung, etc. - that are resource intensive and to be honest you have never used. These programs tend to be more difficult to remove but they are slowing your machine down. We recommend using PC Decrapifier in this case, a free tool that can remove bloatware programs. You are in complete control as it gives you step-by-step instructions on what to remove, if you so choose.

Remove Files

If your computer is sufficiently old you probably have a lot of temporary files and other unneeded system files. These files are small but they aggregate very quickly, sitting in the background eventually using tens of GB's of space on your drive.

Windows has its Disk Cleanup tool that can be accessed by searching for Disk Cleanup at the Start search bar.

Once done the utility analyses your computer for files that can be deleted: ranging from old system restore points to temporary files and even leftover files from operating system upgrades if your computer is sufficiently old.

All these files can safely be removed, in my case, I can free up almost 5GB of space!

For those who prefer more powerful tools, CCleaner is one of the most popular PC optimization tools for good reason. Offering a free tool, CCleaner will scan your PC, registry, and even your browser. All this is done with their easy to use interface.

Disk Defragmentation

When data is deleted on a PC it is not actually deleted, at least not initially. Your drive simply marks the sector on the drive that stores the data as empty and can be written over. Think about putting something in the garbage can - you might no longer be using it but the product is physically still there until the trash can is emptied. 

Eventually your drive will overwrite these partitions with new data, finally removing the data marked for deletion. This behavior leads to programs and files being stored nonsequentially on your drive. Simply put, imagine having a Lego set or a jigsaw puzzle and tossing all the pieces around a room - you still have all the pieces but it will take you some time to find them all and software can be stored in a similar way. The extra milliseconds it takes to find the data in different sections adds up and it can take an agonizingly long time for such a program to load into memory. 

Running the Windows Disk Defragmentation tool will fix this issue. It will analyze your drive and identify defragmented sectors and appropriately move them around to load faster.

Launch this app by typing Disk Defrag into the Windows search bar. Select the Defrag and Optimize option

Windows 8/8.1 referred to this as Drive Optimization but it is just another name for the same thing.

What to Remember

Slow PC's need not be slow. Very often a slow running PC can be optimized and sped up by following the simple advice listed above. All OSs have built in tools to help with this but for those who want ease of use or more professional tools then contact PC TEC RESCUERS. Our friendly techs are available 24/7 and can recommend paid PC Optimization/Antivirus solutions that can be installed on your computer to make it run like new!