I rarely use my spare computers - a Windows 7 netbook and a Vista laptop.
When I do fire them up, they run better after they've been used a bit, shut down a couple of times, and used again.
Seems to me they respond to exercise.
I'm guessing Windows may be the key here, so perhaps my question should be:
Does Windows need regular exercise to work well?
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No
Sure they do kind of self tune with use (things like pre-fetch and to cache more frequently used data, temporary internet data stored locally), so while its powered up (or suspended - or hibernated) there is "tuned" stuff in memory.
But, "the run better after they've been used a bit, shut down a couple of times, and used again"
impression? Nah. Dont need exercise. Does nothing.
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Noticed a similar phenomenon with my (XP) netbook. I doubt it's hardware but several bits of software all trying to download and install updates don't help.
The old laptop (Vista) always takes a tea brew's time to get going. Last time it was fired up, Mrs B now has a W7 machine for day 2 day use, I could have gone inot the village for the milk and teabags while it chuntered away.
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Iffy - do you have a scheduled virus check, perhaps once a week? Computer might appear to run slower until that's out of the way.
EDIT: Task Manager would show if it's running
Last edited by: Focus on Fri 28 Oct 11 at 10:38
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...Iffy - do you have a scheduled virus check, perhaps once a week? Computer might appear to run slower until that's out of the way...
No, I have MSE on one and Avast on the other, both running automatically as far as I know.
It could be that both programs have some chuntering to do after the machine has not been used for a week or two.
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First time up for a while your antivirus software is likely to be churning away in the background, and slowing things down a bit (depending on how powerful your machine is and how greedy your AV is).
Subsequent restarts same day, likely not.
Maybe.
Edit - Snap!
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Fri 28 Oct 11 at 10:40
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Do computers wear out with age?
My work computer was brand new three years ago. It was so fast I didn't know what to do with it. Now it's painfully slow and all the IT guy suggests is a defrag. Guess I'll be begging for a new computer.
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>> Do computers wear out with age?
yes
The hard drive looses bits of memory, resulting in re-reads and increased times, CPUs get thermally stressed, connections get dirty,
>> My work computer was brand new three years ago. It was so fast I didn't
>> know what to do with it. Now it's painfully slow and all the IT guy
>> suggests is a defrag. Guess I'll be begging for a new computer.
Windows, I assume, clags up with carp. Cant be stopped, and despite all these "wonder" tools will only get back to full speed like new if you reinstall windows.
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There is a lot you can do to get it back up to speed without formatting, ok maybe not 100% speed but at least 80% of the as new speed.
As soon as a hard drive develops bad sectors I recommend a new one anyway.
Thermal paste does wear and this is a major problem with laptops, it happens with desktops too but it is a much easier job to fix on a desktop and desktop CPUs have better airflow so its often not too much of problem when it does break.
RAM can also wear out and become faulty.
The capacitors in the motherboard and power supply start to leak and loose their efficiency. which can cause all sorts of hard to diagnose problems.
Most desktops will happily last 5 years though before something fairly major will go wrong with it.
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>> There is a lot you can do to get it back up to speed without
>> formatting, ok maybe not 100% speed but at least 80% of the as new speed.
Dont think so, I reckon its 70% at best, usually 60%
Anyone who uses one of the tools to speed up the system and says its just like it was when its new, cant remember what it was like when it was new.
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It depends how well used the system is and how much applications are installed etc.
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Aha. I shall mention this to the IT guy (who will probably say "I'll get you a new one").
I suppose being upgraded from Office previous to Office new didn't help either.
It is a desktop.
C drive has 222GiB, of which 177 are "free space".
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Fri 28 Oct 11 at 17:51
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>> Windows, I assume, clags up with carp. Cant be stopped, and despite all these "wonder"
>> tools will only get back to full speed like new if you reinstall windows.
I reinstall all my boxes after 9 months to a year. The end result is like having a new PC, and well worth the effort. It as much as halves the boot time for starters, and similarly impressive results for launching applications, and navigating around the OS.
It's also a good opportunity to have a clear out of unwanted stuff.
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Do computers need exercise? - Zero
