When programs are installed on your computer many have a feature that causes them to automatically startup when your computer boots up. While this is convenient for programs that you use everyday it is completely unnecessary for most programs. When you turn off this feature for most programs you will not only notice an improvement in the time it takes for your computer to boot up it will also improve the overall performance of your computer as well.

Using the MSCONFIG utility will allow you to see what programs have this feature enabled. You have the choice to turn it off or leave it on. Be sure that you do not disable this feature on any necessary windows component.

Having software auto start will mean that they are running in the background consuming valuable system resources and slowing your computer down.

Adding RAM to your computer can also result in a dramatic improvement in its performance. However sometimes you are not able to add RAM to your computer. If this is the case you can use the Readyboost feature of the latest Windows operating systems to use a USB flash drive as virtual RAM.

Using an external hard drive can also help your computers performance as you can free up resources on the hard drive. Computers need space on the hard drive to write to and they use it as virtual memory. If your computers hard drive is getting low on space moving off some files to an external drive can help.

You can optimize and boost the performance of the speed you browse the internet. There are several factors that can impact how fast you download information and how fast you can surf the internet. Some are beyond your control and others are not. For example you cannot control how fast your ISP’s connection to the internet is. Time of day and the number of other users using your network provider can also affect your internet connection speeds.

However there are some ways you can improve how fast your browsing experience is no matter the type of connection you use.

For dial-up connections you want to be sure that you are using a 56k modem and when you connect it is at that speed. You can see in the task bar how fast your connection is. Be sure to use phone cords less than eight feet long and remove all other devices between the modem and the wall jack even surge protectors as anything can create line noise and make for a slower connection.

If you are using a cable modem you can have speeds five hundred times faster than dialup or even more. But still you can improve this performance if you shop the providers in your area and find the fastest, most reliable network.

Other connection methods include ISDN and DSL and they both have issues related to connection speed and well as general overall service. ISDN is complicated to install and poor customer support. DSL is the latest on the market and only available in limited areas.

Computer hardware problems can be either simple or some major issue and it all depends on the condition of the hard disk which has crashed. This hand disk failure usually happens all of a sudden and without a warning and sometimes it can be gradually while using the computer.

Here we are going to give you some information on some warning signs before your hard drive crashes. But you should remember that always transfer all your data and information to storage for safety purpose.

1. A computer hardware problem can be understood if you can hear the sound of tapping or clicking emitting from your hard drive when you are tuning or retrieving a file from your PC. These sounds are a signal that your computer hard disk drive is gradually failing and may crash anytime. Your first duty is to immediately back up your data.

2. If your computer is running unusually slow then there is a possibility of a hard disk failure and this can be restored through a general maintenance. If you have already scanned for viruses, removal of temporary files, unused programs, check for software problems, defragmenting your disk and taken all the precautions and if the computer is still running slow then there are chances of the hard disk failing.

3. While using your PC if you notice that some files which are usually in its allotted place is nowhere to be seen. And as they have not been deleted by you they are missing. This is because your missing files has entered into a bad sector and found a place there. So when there is a bad sector in your disk this is a sure sign of malfunctions.

So you should carefully monitor your PC’s hard disk if it is having any of the above mentioned problems. And if so then take action immediately or it will be too late.

If you realize that there is a problem with the hard disk and along with it comes the fear of data loses, time and revenue loss possibilities, then you should look for the following symptoms.

One of the major problems is when you write data to the disk and while retrieving it you find errors or some data gone missing and the same would happen in more than one program, then disk failure is what the computer is notifying you about.

The root cause of the problem cannot be solved if any one tries to reformat the drive, reinstall the operating system and all other programs, because it will come back to haunt you once again.

In majority of the cases, strange noises are heard but these can happen from a power supply fan instead of the hard drive, so we should listen very carefully to one of the side panels, unplug the power supply and wait before turning the computer on once again. If the noise goes away, then the fan needs to be blamed, however, if the noise returns, it would be from the hard drive and this would thus be a serious problem.

If the hard drive is constantly busy, sending data to and from RAM, the odds are that you have to increase the RAM because in today’s world, programs are immense in size and they create multi megabyte files, whereas if the hard drive is slow in processing, it wont be due to disk failure but for other problems and can be frustrating.

You should know that bad tracks are usually because of low hard disk quality. So we are going to tell you as to how to protect your hard disk as well as your computer.

We are going to categorize them in two types, logical and physical. Logical occurs due to improper software or disk while the physical is because of the magnetic media of the hard disk itself. It is simpler to fix the first kind then the second kind. If your disk is having the problems given below then you have to see find out whether it is due to bad track in the disk

Usually your system is not affected by any virus and the start up does not come up normally and message like “sector not found” or “general error in ready C drive” And whenever the program starts, it will run scan disk program to scam desk error. The sound emitting from the hard disk also changes from normal to a squeaking type. When you are formatting the hard disk it suddenly stops then the error reports it can complete it. If you try “FDISK” to disks, it again repeats at certain schedule. Then all of a sudden your computer screen turns blue without any wrong operation.

The interior working environment of a hard disk is very delicate and a little dust can cause a lot of damage to it. If the disk has a problem, it can be fixed by taking it apart and then can take the help of some specific tool to lessen the loss. The bad track in your disk now has been confirmed, but you do not know whether it is logical or physical. If it is one of the common problems then it can be solved by using Windows or any other program. But if it is a physical then the hard disk has to be repaired.

Shield Physical bad tracks:

After doing the low formatting, if the bad track is still there then there must be more physical bad ones in it. This is because of maybe sudden power cuts while using hard disks and probably the disk head or may have collided with the disk while it was shaking. Though there is a disk checking program to spot those ones to forbid the operating system. By visiting the sector but the physical ones do extend after a certain limit of time. That means there are bad ones and the hard disk usually moves towards this sector which is shut for bad tracks and the situation can worsen. So you should try to shield the bad tracks by placing them in an unused partition.

If you have a computer which works fine and without any issues and suddenly you find it locks up, rebooting itself and shutting down with no reason, then you know what is wrong and hence you need to follow the simple steps;

1. Check for recently installed software or hardware- If the lock up started after installing the new software or hardware then uninstall the same and see if the problem is solved.
2. Run the anti-virus program- In the case of sudden lock ups, you must check the anti-virus program and the manufacturer’s website for latest updates and virus definition files, because the old ones are outdated.
3. Run some good spyware removal tools- If your machine isn’t affected by any virus then download and run good spyware removal tool, such as ADWARE or MICROSFT ANTI-SPYWARE.
4. Check for free hard drive space- If there are no viruses, check the hard drive space on drive C, and ensure it is more than twenty percent or else low space leads to lock ups.
5. Check for over heating- This is caused by fans inside the case, dust builds or other problems on cooling. Ensure the power supply from fan to CPU is running and dust free. Never open the power supply cases as it contains high voltage power.
6. Check the hard-disk: Check to see if the problem is logical or physical.
7. Check the computer memory- Lock ups can also be due to the memory which fails.
8. Check for other hardware issues and update windows and drives.

It is a fact that low hard disk qualities lead to bad tracks and it also should be known that improper use of hard disks means a lot of problems ahead. In order top protect your computer as well as your hard disks, a few facts are to be known and avoided;

1. There are two types of problems with regard to hard disks, logical and physical, the logical happens when the hard disk is not created properly or by using certain uncertified software. While the physical problem happens due to magnetic influences of the hard disk. The former is easier to fix than the latter and is necessary to check if the hard disk has traces of bad tracks embedded within.
2. If the computer doesn’t start functioning normally and comes up with prompts such as “SECTOR NOT FOUND” or “GENERAL ERROR IN READING DRIVE C”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the computer is affected b y viruses. Each time you start it would run a SCAN DISK program to scan drive errors, or the sound may seem stranger than normal, or when formatting the hard disk, it suddenly stops and reports errors that it cannot finish the task. If you perform an FDISK to the disk it would repeat at certain schedules and the computer will show a blue screen without any wrong operation happening.

Any tiny dust particle can cause a lot of damages to the internals of the hard disk. If there are any problems such as this, you should turn to the other specific tools to minimize the loss, rather than take apart the disks to get the problem fixed. You are unable to ensure whether bad tracks when detected belong to the logical or physical so you have to fix DISKERROR from simple to complex means and do this by using windows program or others for logical problems. But for physical problems you will have to repair to guarantee the safety of the hard disk, data and other normal usage.