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I like talking to our clients, solving problems for them, and working on creative projects; but I hate dealing with computer issues and slowness.  I imagine you’re in the same boat.  Whether your focus is selling staffing solutions, finding qualified applicants, running a business, or trying to take your staff to the next level; your PCs and laptops are just supposed to work.

Which is probably what frustrates me about Vista so much, but I’m going to stop there before this turns into a rant!  Instead, this week I took a major step in accepting the fact that my Vista machine isn’t going to get any better unless I proactively do something to make it better.  The 20 minute boot-ups in the morning drove me to this common-sense realization.   So I’m going to share with you some of the very simple steps and resources I used to improve my Vista machine’s performance.

I know maintaining and improving your PC or laptop’s performance is not your main job and may not even be on your radar, but it’ll pay off exponentially if you and your staff gain 5 to 10 minutes a day.  The main article that got me off and running was “10 things you can do to increase performance in Vista,” on Tech Republic’s website: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=200&tag=rbxccnbtr1.

Besides adding additional RAM (this is the only acronym I’ll use – I promise) , here are the 3 most effective things I did to boost my laptop’s performance.  The first one only applies to Vista machines, but the second two apply to all PCs or laptops.

1.       Turn off Aero  - the slick graphical look that comes with Vista.

While Aero makes Vista look pretty, beauty comes at a price – memory and lots of it.  I’m content with a classic Windows look, so here is how you can change from the sexy Aero look to the workhorse Windows look:

Right-click the desktop and select Personalize, then click Windows Color And Appearance, click Open classic appearance properties for more color options, from the Appearance Settings dialog box select either Windows Vista Basic, Windows Standard, or Windows Classic, click OK or Apply and voila you’ve proven you care more about what’s on the inside than the superficial things of life.  

2.       Defrag  your hard drive, which rearranges your data and files in a way that is easier for Vista to access.

I know “defrag” sounds scary, but it is really quite simple; if you have a Vista machine, go to:

Your Start menu, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and select Diskeeper.  When Diskeeper is displayed, you can right-click on you your hard drive – most likely (C:) – and select Defragment.

This process slows down your computer, so it is best to schedule it or kick it off when you are not using it.  There are also many third-party defrag utilities available.

3.       Turn off extra startup programs.

You probably have a lot of processes, services, and programs running in the background that you may not even be aware of.  To turn off unnecessary startup programs, go to:

Your Start menu, Performance Information and Tools, and Manage startup programs, and you can literally go down the list and Remove any unnecessary startup programs. 

If you are not sure about removing a program, either ask your IT person, google the startup program name, or check out CNET’s The Download Blog’s startup posts: http://download.cnet.com/download-blog/?keyword=startup.

I hope this gives you the information and nudge you need to do something positive for you, your computer, and your productivity.  It was hard for me to get to this point, but I’m glad I tapped into my inner-geek.  If you need some further inspiration; get a bag of Doritos, Red Bull, and a your own hacker handle (alias) at http://www.rootcompromise.org/hhg/.  Mine is Static Darkness.  This week, follow these three steps and comment on this blog or click I actually did something good for my computer to let me know if you and your staff are saving time, money, and emotional health.

Static Darkness (aka Everett Reiss)
Business Relationships Development
The Staffing Cooperative
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