PC Repair Bournemouth Easy PC Upgrade Article
As Easy as 123...
Okay, the following will give you a few ideas on how to improve your PC performance. There is a caveat - if your PC is 4 or 5 years old, or older, then the general advice would be to buy a new one (sorry to disappoint if that's not what you wanted to hear!).
PC Repair Bournemouth Easy Upgrades
If your PC is starting to creak and groan like my back in the morning, then there may be a few little things you can do that will ease the suffering! I'll list them roughly in order of how easy they are to do:
- If you're running Windows Vista, and you have a USB Memory Stick, pop it in the slot, and you'll see a window pop up with an option called 'ReadyBoost' available. Windows Vista can use up to 4GB of memory on a USB Memory Stick to help speed up your system. For more information see the Windows Ready Boost page on the Microsoft site. If you have a card reader for your digital camera, you may also be able to use this.
- Graphics card - with graphics becoming ever more complex for home PC's, and the use of games in particular, a graphics card can take a whole lot of work off your PC. To fit a graphics card is generally very simple - pop the hood on your PC, plug the card into one of the spare slots, and maybe run the CD that comes with the card (check manufacturer's instructions).
- RAM - these are the black sticks you see on the motherboard. If you've had your PC for a while, it's a sure bet that you can find a RAM upgrade that will fit in the same slot and give you a performance boost. RAM helps your PC whenever you perform an operation on your machine, such as opening programs. More, bigger and better RAM is definitely better!
- External Hard Drive. These days you can pick up a reasonably inexpensive hard drive of hundreds of Gigabytes for tens of pounds rather than hundreds. Use this to back up to, or to store large folders and files to save space on the main internal hard drive of your PC. For the benefits, see 5 below!
- Internal Hard Drive. Hard drives can get full up over time - making it hard for Windows to juggle around the files it needs to access. Most PC's will have a spare bay that you can install a second hard drive in to give you more space and help Windows to run more efficiently.
And if you get stuck on any of the above, you can always call us for advice!
*Always make sure you read the instructions provided by the manufacturer, or you risk damaging the internal components of your PC.
