The year 2000 had only just started. I was happy fiddling with my 3 month old computer. I was a gaming freak at that time. One night, I played some games till late and then switched off my computer. Then next morning, what do I see? Crash! Boom! Bang! The computer doesn’t want to boot up. I was clueless! Being a novice at computers at that time, I tried everything I could. I looked up a Windows manual and tried everything there was in that book. Nothing! Damn! I’m a gone case! I called up my computerwalla, explained the problem to him, and was scared and thinking… oh god! What have I done? The computerwalla comes to my home, tries out everything he knows and then declares… Anuj, I have no choice but to reformat your computer. I hear him say no choice? And then I go like, Ok, no problems computer wale bhai sahib… pls format it and bring it back to me tomorrow. The damage… Rs. 300 paid to him for his usual visiting charges! The next day, when the computer is returned to me, I am happy to see it boot up the normal way, but then came the rude shock… I lost all of my personal files! Sob! Sob!
Lesson # 1: Always backup your personal and important data.
Cut to… year 2005. I consider myself Mr. Bigshot with regards to computers. I seem to have done nearly everything except assembling my own computer. I boast of having an answer to every question. I wanted to reformat my computer. I know how to how to do that and I think, “Reformatting with XP is peanuts for me hehe!” So I learn the first lesson and back up all my data, transferring some files to my Yahoo! Briefcase, and burning some pictures and important files worth 250MBs on to a CD. But then comes the second rude shock! The installation of XP fails midway. And I am left wondering… Anuj, you are still a gone case. Because this time, I don’t know any computerwalla. So I look up the local magazines and locate a small-time computerwalla, I call him up, explain my problem, pay him 200 bucks worth of visiting charges and get my computer redone.
Lesson # 2: Always have a proper AMC for your computer.
Okay, now my computer is up and running. Big deal? Yes, it is a big deal! Because I have to load Oracle 9i database server on it. What’s so big deal about it? The biggest catch about my computer is that even though it boasts of a Celeron 1.7GHz processor with a 40GB Hard disk, it still runs on a poor, really poor 128MB of RAM. Cynics may say that this is way too less for Oracle 9i, because in an ideal scenario, Oracle 9i will need 512MB RAM although it will work reasonably well with 256MBs too. So I finally manage to load the entire Oracle 9i database on my computer after an arduously long wait of 3 hours! Now what’s the big deal? The big deal is that Oracle has eaten up the entire RAM and my computer is crawling slower than a tortoise. And if I happen to open a MS-Word document while an Oracle session is running, it would take ages to open up and meanwhile I can even take a short nap.
Lesson # 3: The RAM is the crux of a variety of problems. Be a good doctor and take good care of the RAM of your computer.
And yet, I never really get the dreaded virtual memory low error. How have I managed to achieve this? Okay, I will explain…
The RAM is like the study of economics. You have to work with as much as you can in as less as you have. By this I mean that the RAM resources are limited and you have to use it as efficiently as you can. When it comes to RAM management, XP is only a few shades better than its ancestor Windows 98. Look at your system tray, how many icons do you see? Three? Five? More? Well, the more the number of icons in the system tray, the more the background programs you are running(most of them unnecessarily), and the more they are eating up the available RAM. The solution? Simple: Start~ Run~ msconfig~ startup. Try to disable as many programs as you can, reboot and voila, your computer boots up faster! A word of caution here: you need to be in knowledge of what programs you need to startup necessarily; otherwise you may need to open them manually.
Lesson # 4: Keep your system tray clean, by not starting up unnecessary programs.
So you are an animation expert. Then what are you doing with a copy of Visual Studio in your computer? Visual Studio doesn’t help you make great studio work art! And you know that you have no intentions of using it in the near or distant future, so what’s the use of keeping it in your system? Uninstall it dude! If you keep a large program installed and you don’t use it, it will clutter up your hard drive, registry and system folders. It is better to throw it out of your system, consider it trash, of course its place doesn’t reside in the Recycle Bin.
Lesson # 5: Don’t keep large programs in your computer unless necessary.
You’ve taken all my advice till now and yet your computer is running slow! Damn! What’s the problem now? Has Anuj gone nuts again? Anuj’s reply is: No man! Wait till you scandisk and defragment your hard drive. It is going to boost your system performance only to a small extent, but the overall impact on the programs will be much higher. Scandisk will correct any errors in the data stored on your hard disk and defragmentation will make the programs run faster. How do you do it? Simple, for scandisk: Open Windows Explorer select the disk drive you want to scan, right click it, select Properties~ tools~ Error checking~ Check Now. For defragging, select the same path, and select Defragment Now. Do this at least once every month, it won’t take more than a few hours.
Lesson # 6: Use tools like Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter to keep your hard drives in tip-top condition!
So you had a virus attack recently, and you went berserk! Why? Haven’t you updated your anti-virus engine? What? Don’t tell me that you don’t have anti-virus software installed! Don’t you realize that it is a must? I used to weather virus attacks even in the days when Internet was in it’s infancy in India, just imagine what a virus laden email can do to your computer today.
Lesson # 7: Keep your anti-virus software updated.
Moral of the story: Seek an expert’s advice before you do anything to your computer. Join some forums on the Internet which provide useful tips for self-help. Above all, think twice(or maybe even thrice) before playing computer-doctor!
Phew! So many things to write, so less space here! That’s because this topic can easily open a Pandora’s Box of discussions hehe. Let’s discuss it all in the comments! FOR SOME MORE TIPS, LOOK AT THE COMMENTS PAGE
Until then, Cheers!