Maintain your System

Let's start from the ground and work our way up. See that beige box sitting in front of you? The one that's breaking at the seams and groaning like a 65 year old after a 5 minute workout. Do you know that it is probably the least maintained part of the Internet? Have you considered that, before you jump down your ISP's throat about slow connections, you should be investigating your own part of the download equation? If you don't take care of your box, then there's nothing you, or your ISP, can do that is going to make your Internet experience more pleasant.

You don't have to have a degree in computer science, or kitchen appliance repair, to maximize your computer's performance and properly integrate a software package that will make you the envy of every propeller head on the block.

When you're considering your need for massive amounts of memory, remember that your software does not run from your disk drive. Everything, software and data alike, must first be loaded into memory before the computer can use it. You'll probably want to go for more memory, you need about 512MB or if you're a power user 1000MB.

If you haven't stuffed your hard disk with junk, then 40gig should suffice, or if you want to be modest 80gig is enough. Anymore is a waste, unless you really have a lot of games, photos, or music files.

Schedule Regular Tune Ups

The quality of your Internet connection is influenced by four main factors; the speed of your modem and line, the amount of noise on your line, the amount of traffic between you and the site to which you are connected, and your PC. This list can, of course be extended to include a fifth element if you wish to include lifestyle and the quality of your beer is an important element in your Net using experience.

The first three factors are beyond your influence once they have physically established themselves. The fourth, your PC, is the one element that can be tweaked, redefined, tuned and totally mucked up under your direct control. Ask any technician to define the most important part of their work and if they're at all worth their salt, they'll say, ‘Preventative maintenance'.

You see, the professionals have this little secret. If you don't let something break, you'll never have to fix it. A brilliant and cunning plan, yet one that 99% of the world seems to have missed when it comes to maintaining their PC. The car gets it, the roof gets it. Even the lawnmower gets it. But the PC is expected to live on forever without a lick of attention. This is not surprising when you consider that most computer users are men and this is pretty much the same performance expectation we have of our wives and girlfriends.

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