Computer Cleaning: Clearing the Hard Drive and Staying Up-to-date

Computers need to be maintained just like any other device. When working with a computer for various lengths of time the computer stores temporary files and uses up various resources, which need to be replenished. One aspect of this process, which is crucial, is restarting the computer from time to time. On a weekly basis the computer should be restarted at least twice when in heavy use. I'm not saying you have to shut your pc down over night or anything. But the computer must be restarted in order to refresh itself. The RAM or random access memory serves like a try for the computer. All data goes onto the tray so that it can be easily accessed; however when the tray gets full the computer slows down. Likewise when the computer is turned off or restarted the tray is emptied and thus ready for more tasks and data. All programs use some of the RAM and so regardless of the tasks being preformed (anything from gaming to accounting) the computer must be restarted in order for the RAM to be refreshed.

Previously I mentioned temporary files. Your computer places many items in a temporary files folder in case you desire to access them again quickly. Web pages are one of the most common types of temporary files. The first time you load a web page your computer saves part of the coding for that web page so that the next time you load it, the time required and energy used to load the page will be less. This tends to be a fairly effective method of surfing, however the temporary Internet files (the files your computer saves for ease of access) must be deleted on a regular basis in order to ensure proper use of your computers resources. You can delete such temporary files by going into your browser options and cleaning them out. In Fire Fox the option is to "Clear private data" and is found under the "tools" section. In Internet Explorer the option for deleting such files is found likewise under the tools section under "Internet options"