When your computer gets clogged up with unnecessary files, it can decrease both its speed and efficiency. Here are some simple things you can do to free up space on your hard drive and keep your machine running at its optimum.
Automatic Windows processes
Windows comes with some automatic facilities to help you keep your machine running at its best – a simple search in the search bar will help you to find them. These include cleaning up Windows, uninstalling unwanted programs, removing duplicate files and temporary files that are no longer in use, emptying the recycle bin, defragmenting your hard drive, and increasing your RAM (random access memory).
Reduce file sizes
Another way of freeing up space can be to compress any existing files, either by zipping them or reducing their file size by converting them to a smaller format. Different file formats on computers can vary in size depending on their complexity. It stands to reason that a flat text file will be much smaller in size than more complex files, such as video files, photographs and PDFs, which is usually because these types of file store a lot more information.
An example of a sensible file conversion could be to change a PDF file to a Word or Excel file. You may only need the information to be text-based without the formatting, in which case converting the file to either a Word or Excel format can reduce its size and enable you to edit the file. There are some automatic converters out there that can convert PDF to Excel, such as, https://pdftables.com/. These take your existing PDF files, remove all the unnecessary formatting and enable you to open them in Excel.
Store data in the cloud
If you are a small business or enterprise just starting out, cloud computing can be invaluable to you, saving you both hours of time and literally thousands of pounds. Frazier Jamieson of the Chartered Institute for IT offers a great insight into how cloud computing has transformed our lives in recent years.
If you are concerned about how your computer is running, don’t immediately assume that you need a new machine or hard drive; instead, try the above suggestions and see whether the performance improves.
