Please, tell me I am not the only person who gets just a little frustrated when I turn on a computer and have to wait for what seems like…an eternity for it to completely load and be considered useful? Literally, this is the case with my mother’s computer. I can turn the computer on, walk into the kitchen, fix one of my elaborate bologna sandwiches, take a couple of bites, contemplate the meaning of life, power nap for a bit, wake up, stretch, walk back to the computer desk and it’s still loading.
So a couple of months ago, I took my mother’s computer to Geek squad to have it checked out by the “pros”. Do you know what they told me? Buy a new computer. Thanks boys in the black and white Volkswagen. However, what they did not tell me and what I had to investigate on my own was that I needed to try defragging my hard drive.
You see, this is what financially impaired people do when we can’t afford a new computer… or new car… or new body for that matter. When the professionals give us too-little guidance, we research the answers and Do-It-Ourselves!
Now, from what I understand, if a computer is running slow, one of its causes is likely due to the over load of files stored on a hard drive. In my mind, I see unfolded laundry overflowing from a laundry basket… Yes, I see laundry. Defragging would be like, folding all of those clothes and putting them where they belong to make room for more clothes or at least make it seem like there’s more room because clothes (files) are being stored away in an organized fashion; like items with like items.
Now instead of “dumpster diving” through a pile of clothes on your bed or floor that’s possibly mixed with other dirty clothes you missed, you can go to your well organized dresser drawer and find your favorite SpongeBob boxers Grammy gave you for Christmas last year. Thank you, Grammy!
The other great thing about defragging that I love is that I don’t have to spend a cent to get an electronic cleansing for my mother’s pc. Just imagine the money I could have saved if I defragged regularly!? What do they say, “A vitamin a day keeps the doctor away”? Well, a defrag -a-day may be a little over the top but most operating systems come with special apparatus under the System Tools section where you can receive updates on the next necessary defrag.
The awesome thing about defragging is afterwards, you should be able to access files a lot faster and more proficiently. When it comes to my mother’s computer, defragging helped tons but it helped even more too just uninstall all of her Sims2 games for the pc. She keeps asking me, “where’s my Sims game!?” This woman is serious about her Sims. But her computer works much better now because of the defragging. I would advise that anyone add defragging to their regular computer maintenance to ensure better quality in retrieval speed or increase its life span.
Don’t be a clown, practice safe defragging on your own.
