OK so I am a self taught nerd. I know some certain ins and outs of computers that some people simply don't know. So I have a few tips for you if your laptop or desktop computer is running slow or doing what mine was doing, turning off when it was using too much RAM, letting in obscene popups, and simply taking forever to load the next web page. The simplest way to put the problem I had is this, each time my computer needed to use more power for something like a game or a web page with animation it would overheat and shut off. So here are some simple things you can do to try and fix your computer without spending an arm and a leg taking it to a repair shop. I use a Windows operating system so these steps have been used for Windows only. I have not tried using them on a Mac so I don't know if they are the same or not.
The first thing you should do is go into your control panel and remove any programs that you are not using, do not recognize or are unnecessary. If you are unsure of what programs are important you can simply google them to find out what they are and what they are for. I removed 14 programs from my computer yesterday and they were junk that was hidden within other files that I had downloaded. These files/programs can be very harmful and contain viruses so remove them while you can.
The next step is to do a disk cleanup, and you can simply do this by opening the Start menu and typing disk cleanup in the search bar. When it pops up open the program and click on all the boxes to remove all the unnecessary files. It gives you a description of what you are deleting so if you want to keep some you can but if you are having computer problems its best to do a clean sweep.
After that you should do a disk defragment, this is done the same way as the last step just open the start menu, type disk defragment and open the program. Run the defragment and let it do its thing. It will start and finish automatically. I will admit I only have minimal knowledge on what this does, I just know it is a good thing to do to help keep things running smoothly, but if you want to know what it does exactly read it here.
Once your finished defragmenting you should go through your files and folders like documents, and pictures and delete and tidy anything you don't need anymore or save them to a USB. If you don't have a USB you can simply attach the file to an email and send it to yourself. This is good if you have an external email program like hotmail, kind of pointless if it is internal like outlook. You would simply be moving it from one destination on your computer to another.
Now you need to run a virus scan using your anti virus program. If you don't have an anti virus program I recommend downloading AVG Free you can get that here. I use it on all my computers. It works well and costs nothing.
The next step is to see if your computer is up to date. You can do that by opening the start menu and typing in updates. When you type it in you may have a list of different programs that can be updated on your computer. The one you are looking for is Windows Updates open it up and it will tell you if there are any updates you need, they also offer some optional updates. I always download the optional ones as well just to be sure everything is up to date. But you don't have to.
One of my most annoying problems was the horrible popups that kept interrupting my work. Also my kids use my computer to play games on Disney Junior so that was something I couldn't have happen. To fix this you need to go into your Internet settings. If you don't know how to find it just google" where are my Internet settings located in Internet explorer or mozilla etc." Go into the content tab and see if your popup blocker is turned on. Mine was turned on but it was only set at the medium setting still allowing some popups, which I did not want. So if you are sick of popups set it to the highest setting to block them all.
The last step is to make sure your fans are working correctly to cool your computer. If they aren't you will need to see a laptop technician to repair it. If they are working correctly you will want to clean them to make sure they stay running. You can do this by simply vacuuming the back of your computer, if it is a desktop. If you have a laptop you should turn it off, flip it over, take out the battery and go over the entire bottom of your computer very slowly to get as much dust particles as possible. Now my laptop kept overheating still after being cleaned and it was super easy to fix. It was not circulating enough air still so I had to find a way to prob it up and let it breathe. You can buy laptop cooling thing but I just found an old shelf bracket and placed it between the computer and the desk. It worked perfectly, was nice and balanced and hasn't given me a single problem since.
I hope these tips can help save you money in computer repairs. They sure helped me.
Daily Impact Day 3:
I began saving all my egg shells under my sink for garden today, and I also decided to start taking all the coffee left in my little K cups and saving it to put in my garden. Both of these are helping produce less waste, and help my garden.
I also found a recipe for a super yummy crumb cake, you can get the recipe here.
