February 2017 - Ophtek

4 Quick Solutions to Maximize Your PC Storage Space

Feb 2017

PC storage space is a valuable commodity for businesses, but it’s one that many take for granted and, as a result, fail to maximize and use correctly.

And, despite the seemingly huge size of modern hard drives, many businesses discover that the huge amounts of data they’re dealing with soon eat up all their digital real estate. This can lead to an inability to handle new data and even runs the risk of affecting the system’s performance.

This is why all businesses need to understand that it’s a common problem which can easily be addressed as we’ll discover in 4 quick solutions to maximize your PC storage space.

Run Disk Cleanup

Windows comes bundled with a number of system maintenance apps and one of the most useful is Disk Cleanup. By analyzing the hard drive, Disk Cleanup is able to determine which files are essential for the system to operate and which are likely to be dispensable.

Files such as temporary internet files and those still lurking in your recycle bin will be identified as potential trash and you’re given the option of either deleting or compressing these files to create space. Depending on how long since you’ve had a clean out, vast gigabytes worth of data can be found by Disk Cleanup, so it’s recommended you run this app at least once a month.

Uninstall Unused Apps

We all download apps, use them a few times and then discard them in place of something else, but we also forget to uninstall these original apps. And these apps can take up huge amounts of your storage space.

That’s why it’s crucial that you regularly check through your installed apps in Control Panel to identify which apps are still essential for your needs. Once these are uninstalled, you could suddenly find yourself with more than enough room for all those important files.

Delete Duplicate Photos

As digital cameras have become more and more sophisticated, the resulting image files have come larger and larger. Therefore, for businesses involved in publishing and photography, this can put a huge drain on your storage space. And it’s made even worse when duplicate photos are present, they serve absolutely no purpose apart from eating into your hard drive space.

Mistakes happen, though, and with so many edits being necessary when working with photos it’s no surprise that duplicate photos are created. However, given the sheer number of photos present, it can be labor intensive to track these photos down. Thankfully, a number of apps are available such as Duplicate Photo Cleaner and Easy Duplicate Finder which are able to round up duplicate photos and delete where necessary.

Invest in External Drives

Perhaps the most obvious way to maximize your PC storage space is to invest in external hard drives to help cope with the increased demand for space. And, with the cost of storage space reducing almost every year, it’s no possible to pick up an external drive with 1 terabyte (that’s 1,024 gigabytes) of space for around $60. This is more than enough space to help with your storage needs and provides useful storage for documents and photos which aren’t crucial for running apps on your system.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

Speed Up Your PC Boot Time

Office ITboot up, speedOphtek, LLC

Feb 2017

The quicker your PC boots up, the quicker you can get started on business. Wouldn’t it be amazing, though, if you could boot Windows up even quicker?

Well, there’s actually a number of ways you can save precious time in getting your PC up and running. The methods involved are a mixture of software and hardware changes that any PC user can instigate, so let’s take a look at how to reduce your Windows boot times.

Install More RAM

The simplest hardware solution to startup times is to install more RAM. The absolute minimum that any modern PC should be running with is 4GB of RAM, but if you can increase your RAM to 8GB then you’ll notice a significant increase in boot speed. And, with the price of memory getting cheaper and cheaper, this is an easy and attractive fix.

Reduce Your Startup Programs

One of the biggest factors in boot times is the number of programs that load at startup. You only need to load programs at startup which are essential for your PC to run. However, software manufacturers are keen to have their programs at your disposal as soon as possible, regardless of whether they’re needed or not.

To check what’s loading up at startup, you just need to run MSConfig and click on the Startup tab where you’ll be presented with a long list of programs. As a rule of thumb, you only need to have programs enabled which are manufactured by Microsoft and Intel. All other programs can be loaded later on when you need them.

Adjust Your BIOS Settings

You may not be aware of your BIOS, but it’s the piece of software which is responsible for loading your operating system. And, as you can imagine, this is quite a large task, so there’s plenty of potential for reducing your boot time by tinkering with the BIOS.

Not all PCs will allow you to access your BIOS settings, but the most common way is by pressing F2 during the initial stages of startup. And, once in, the most important change to make is to enable the ‘quick boot’ option which skips all the non-essential hardware checks during the startup process.

However, the BIOS is a very important piece of software, so you should only alter its settings if you know exactly what you’re doing.

Invest in a Solid State Drive

The most sure fire way of making your boot time faster than ever is to invest in a solid state drive (SSD). A relatively new breakthrough in hard drives, an SSD relies on Flash memory rather than moving parts and, as a result, can shave a significant number of seconds off your boot time.

And buying an SSD has never been more affordable with prices reducing every year whilst their capacity rapidly rises. Not only will it increase your boot speed, it will also speed up your Windows programs, so it’s an option which can’t be ignored.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

6 Quick Ways You Can Improve Your Network Performance

Networknetwork, securityOphtek, LLC

Feb 2017

The speed of your business PC network can make a huge difference to your productivity, but not all businesses use their network as effectively as possible.

By not getting the most out of your network, you’re missing out on crucial improvements in performance which can help you remain competitive in the marketplace. Now, there’s not a business on the planet which wants to lag behind its competitors, so let’s go through 6 quick ways you can improve your network performance.

Protect Your Network

The simplest way to improve network performance is to ensure it’s protected from malware and viruses. Making sure that you have reliable antivirus software and sophisticated email filtering is key to keeping your network online. Remember: if your network goes down then – even if it’s just for an hour – it can hit your productivity hard.

Embrace Compression

Even in this modern age, bandwidth is still a valuable commodity and increasing your available bandwidth can be a costly affair. However, you don’t have to break the bank to get the most out of your bandwidth. By working with compression software you can significantly reduce the size of the data being transmitted over your network and free up valuable bandwidth to be used by other applications.

Keep Your Network Up to Date

Once you launch a new network it will be as well tailored to your needs as it could possibly be. However, over time, things change such as individual staff requirements, software upgrades which require specialist attention and numerous other factors which alter your digital needs. And this is why you need to regularly review your network to assess and identify the changes required to keep your network in touch with your current needs.

Consider Linux

Linux is a lot more secure than Windows as it’s less commonly used and, therefore, there’s less incentive for hackers to concentrate on breaching it. Now, I’m not suggesting you should migrate all your users to Linux, as it only supports certain applications. However, if you can migrate users who don’t require access to Windows-only applications then you’ve eliminated a number of potential security risks.

Identify Junk Traffic

It’s important that you understand what’s taking up your valuable bandwidth as this can often be caused by junk traffic. Say, for example, your employees are running online games through their lunch period, depending on the software involved this could be consuming large amounts of your bandwidth. Likewise, blocking large attachments which are forwarded round from employee to employee can also drain your bandwidth, so preventing this will also improve your network performance.

Educate Your Staff

It’s vital that your staff understand the best practices to optimize your network’s performance. This can be simple advice that makes up part of your company’s IT induction process and informs staff how to not only practice good network security, but also understand how to use applications correctly and not affect the network’s performance.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

4 Tips to Maintain Your Hard Drive and Its Performance

Office ITcommon pc problems, speed, UpgradeOphtek, LLC

Feb 2017

The hard drive is one of the most vital parts of your PC as it contains all your valuable data, so maintaining it correctly is crucial for your performance.

By maintaining your hard drive you’re ensuring two things which can make a real difference to your business:

Your data is housed safely and is available when necessary
A well maintained hard drive allows you to access your data quickly

Hard drives, though, can easily fall into a state of disrepair and this can have a real impact on the accessibility on your data. And that’s why I want to show you 4 tips to maintain your hard drive and its performance.

Defragment Your Hard Drive

You may think that files on your hard drive are just one big piece of data, but this is only true in the very early life of the file. Over time, these files fragment into different sections and are spread across your entire hard drive.

Although this won’t cause any major damage to the hard drive, it does mean that it has to use up a little more power and performance in locating all these fragments when the file is requested. And this means longer load times for files.

The simple answer is to run a defragmentation tool which pieces all these individual file fragments together and provide quicker load times. This should only be done once your drive hits the 10% fragmentation threshold, most defragmentation tools can advise on the current level of fragmentation.

Use Surge Protectors

It’s not just the data on hard drives that can be classed as sensitive, the hard drives themselves are particularly sensitive components and need a steady, constant electricity supply. And, even if there’s a slight surge in electricity for even the briefest of moments, it can fry your hard drive and render it beyond repair.

Surge protectors cost less than $10, so it’s a tiny investment and there’s no excuse for not equipping all your PCs with them. After all, it’s going to cost a lot more in terms of time and labor when it comes to retrieving or even re-entering all the lost data.

Embrace Power Saving Modes

Sure, it can be irritating when your PC slips into sleep mode or hibernation mode as you need to wait a few seconds for it to spring back into life. However, these power saving modes stop your hard drive from running when it’s unnecessary. And by saving even just a minute or two’s running time several times throughout a day, you’re going to significantly increase the lifespan of your hard drive.

Protect Your PC

One of the most sure fire ways to damage a hard drive is through physical trauma, so you need to make sure your PC is well protected.

First off, only ever remove your hard drive if you have to and make sure it’s well packaged and cushioned once it’s out of the case as they’re very fragile. Likewise, ensure that your PCs cases are well out of the way of your employees’ walkways as all it takes is one mistimed kick to a PC to damage the hard drive.

For more ways to secure and optimize your business technology, contact your local IT professionals.

Monthly Archives: February 2017