A BYTE OF KNOWLEDGE
Dear Robbyj,
We have a fairly new computer that seems to be running very slow. Especially when connecting to the internet.
Slow Poke Bob
Bob,
You computer can act slow for several reasons. One it might be busy doing something else, or it’s ability to do a certain task has overburdened it’s short term memory.
When your computer is busy doing something you can usually hear the hard drive spinning and clicking. This can be from a virus utility scanning the hard drive or some file maintenance doing some scheduled tasks. For Windows users look on your task bar, if you notice several icons next to the clock it’s time to slim some tasks down. Each little icon on the right represents a background program or special feature installed on your computer. These can include virus checkers, screen savers, and even real audio and office program shortcuts. For each one of these in your task bar, your computer is having to deal with them. This can also take up much needed ram. Right clicking on these usually can close or quit those open programs.
Tip: limit the many tasks your computer is doing at one time. It’s like a person trying to 20 things at once, each item may get done, but a few of those tasks won’t be able to wait that long.
For Mac users it’s easier, limit the many third party extensions in your extensions folder. you can do this through the extensions manager in your control panels folder.
For a slow internet connection see if you can find the speed that your modem is connecting, if you have a 56k modem and your connecting at 14k or 28k there is probably too much noise in your phone line. Also check the number you are dialing into. You might be dialing into a slow box on the other end of your modem.
Dear Robbyj,
We looking to get my grandparents on the internet so we can have her e-mail us. We want to be able to set it up so that she cannot destroy the files or mess it up.
Connected Grandkids
Kids,
My choice would be to get a new iMac with OS X and set up a special user account on the computer. You can also do this with Windows 2000 and XP professional.
Setup the user account so that the privileges are limited to a few programs and directories.
Good Luck
If you have a question e-mail me at robbyj@mac.com
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