Question:  Are all of my pictures and my iTunes slowing my computer down?

Answer:  Maybe.  (Don’t you just love that answer?)  Actually, it really depends on your computer.  The pictures and music aren’t actually slowing the computer down, but if you’ve collected so many that it’s filled up the hard drive on your computer, then it definitely could be slowing you down.

So how do you check?

 From your PC, click START or look on your main screen / desktop and find  MY COMPUTER  or COMPUTER depending on what version you have and open it up so that you can see the different drives in your computer.  Look for the section that says “Local Drives” or “Hard Disk Drives.”  You will probably see one that says “(C:)”  By default, this is where most everyone stores their pictures and music (unless you know for a fact that yours is stored differently).  This is also where your MY DOCUMENTS are stored as well as the files that run Windows and all the other programs that you have.

Now, put your pointer on the picture of the drive and RIGHT CLICK the drive.  When the menu pops up, LEFT CLICK the word “PROPERTIES.”

If you did this correctly, you should see a pie chart show up that is pink & blue.

Simple rule:  Pink is GOOD, Blue is BAD (Blue = Bad). 

Now, it really isn’t “bad” so much as that the blue is how much of your C: drive is being used.  Here’s the important fact:  Computers need space on the C: to “think” and be able to run the programs you run.  If there isn’t enough space, the PC gets slow, kind of like living in an apartment that is WAY too small.  So how much space does the computer need?

You want there to be more Pink than Blue if possible.  If that isn’t possible, the computer needs there to be at least 15% Pink. 

Once you get below 15%, you’re starting to ask for trouble.  The computer isn’t going to have enough space to work and it’s going to start getting slower.  Also, this is when your computer can start creating errors and begin messing up and crashing.  So again, it’s best for Pink to win this battle.  But, please be careful about cleaning up your C: Drive.  If you move or delete the wrong files / folders, your day could get a lot worse very quickly.

 Also, we don’t recommend using Disk Cleanup unless again you know what you are deleting.  There are a couple choices in this tool that can actually make your computer slower if you choose them. 

So what if Pink is winning, but your computer is still slow?

Well, that’s a topic for another article, but you can know that moving all your music or pictures to another drive isn’t going to make it any better at this point.  If Pink is winning, something else is causing your computer to be slow, and you need to have someone take a look at it.

Often, like a car, it might just need a tune up, and at Trinity Solutions, Inc., we are great at PC computer tune-ups.  We can do it onsite at your house or business, or we can possibly do it remotely while you do something else other than entertain a guest or visitor.  Our prices start at $49.95 and it takes about an hour to complete.  Oh, and if we can’t make it run better, you don’t pay a thing.

Call our PC Tune-up Specialist, Jose Meza, at 336-443-0002 to schedule a time to tune up your PC.  It will be the best money you’ve spent on your computer in a long while.