I don’t know about you guys, but slow computers can really affect my whole day. I have too many things going on to wait for the box under my desk to chug along (plus low patience levels don’t help my mood).
I found this great article written by Miguel Leiva-Gomez that has some pretty useful suggestions given by Eric Townsend, SMB & MSP Director at Intel Corporation. I have tried out a couple and have actually seen a change for the better!
- Schedule your stuff at off-hours –Schedule things like software updates at times you won’t be using your computer, like the weekend or at night.
- Update/Install antivirus programs - It is very important to have security installed on your computer. It keeps your information safe and stops viruses that slow down your computer. Townsend says, “Malware has a tendency to slow down computers and abuse their resources thoroughly. Want to know a secret? They use up resources more often because they’re poorly coded in a makeshift manner, not because they intentionally want to make your computer slow.”
- Create a power schedule - Just like you can tell your computer when to update or install new software, you can also make a schedule of when the computer should turn on and off. Give your computer enough time, usually about three hours, to complete all updates and run backups, then tell the computer when to turn off. “In fact, you can take this a little further and have employee computers boot about 20 minutes before the work day begins. This makes them more productive, since they don’t have to sit around waiting for a PC to start up,” shares Townsend.
- Consider laptops with long battery life – If you use laptops in your company, buy ones with longer battery lives. It will make their uptime more efficient.
To read more of Townsend’s tips and Leiva-Gomez’s entire article on how to beat your slow computer, click here.