Computer Maintenance

First Steps for Troubleshooting Computer Errors

A computer system primarily comprises hardware and software components. This is the reason why most of the computer errors are caused due to hardware or software problems. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the first troubleshooting steps that you may perform to identify the cause of these error messages and resolve them.

What is Defragmentation and How to Do It?

One of the important computer maintenance steps is Defragmentation and it is also the most neglected. Either because you don’t know about its usefulness or simply don’t know how to do it. And if you are not bothered, then probably you are wasting your time reading this!

What is Defragmentation?

Let’s say you have stored a movie file (.avi) in a folder on your root drive (usually C:). For all practical purposes, the file is stored in one and only one location (C:\folder\movie.avi) unless you have a copy of it somewhere else. But on the surface of the hard-disk, the file isn’t stored contiguously at one location. Instead bits of it are spread over the space in the hard-disk. This is because a hard-disk has to store many files and this is an easier way to store rather than storing everything together. So the files are fragmented.

But there is a drawback to this method of storage. Whenever you will access the above movie file, the system will have to find every pieces of the scattered file before presenting it to you. That can slow the process drastically depending on the size and fragmentation of the file. So the obvious thing to do is defragment!

10 Must Softwares for a Freshly Setup Windows Computer

Think back to the time when you got yourself a new computer. Remember that feeling of pride about its breakneck speed and the amount of free space on the hard-disk.

But eventually, as time passes, the computer is no longer an apple of your eye as it loses speed, deteriorates in functionality and reaches a stage where throwing it out of the window seems to be the best option. You are left with no option but to reformat and give it a fresh breath.

One of the causes is trying thousand softwares. Instead, here is a list of 10 Must Have softwares that should start your computing on a different plane; the Zen plane, which will help your computer address most of the issues that arise in a new computer. So here goes…

Formatting and Partitioning a Hard Disk

Photo by Kaptain Kobold

From the day that I laid my hands on a computer, formatting and partitioning are two important processes that I had to do innumerable times. There’s a notion amongst most computer users that these are administrative tasks meant for administrators and pros only. But in reality it is a very easy and simple process to accomplish. Learning to partition a disk can help you organize your content in an easy manner and whenever you want.

In this article, I will elaborate the concepts of formatting and partitioning in a non-technical way (I am no technical expert)!

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