uonyenagubo

Solve your many minor and common PC problems

Defragmentation

by Uche Onyenagubo

Is there anything wrong with your PC? You have just arrived at the solution centre. This column tries to resolve every worry you might have, read on and find out more ways to solve your many minor and common PC problems without calling the PC doctor and save a few pounds.

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Case 1
My PC is running sluggish and slow all of a sudden, my memory is about 1 GB of RAM.
Collins from Abuja, Nigeria

Few things that could be responsible:
1. Installing and running more than one antivirus can be responsible for slow performance amongst some other reasons. Antivirus uses up memory available on your PC, it’s designed to run whilst your PC is running. If you have more than one anti virus software, I will advise to remove one.

How to remove an antivirus not in use:
Click on Start,
Go to Settings, Then Control panel
Click on add or remove program, on the list of programs
Select the anti-virus required to be removed then
Click on change/remove.
Restart your PC if requested to do so. Done

2. You haven’t cleaned up in a long time. PC needs services regularly as much as you use them. They are also machines like your cars which require services after some recommended miles. One of the major clean up you require is defragmenting your hard disk.

How to Defragment:

Defragmentation

Start by closing all your Windows programs.
Click on the Start button
Select Programs,
Select Accessories
Select System Tools
Then Select Disk Defragmenter from the list of tools.

From this program, you can select the hard drive that you want to defrag. Typically that’s the C: drive, but if you have multiple drives, you can do them all.

Press the Analyze button after selecting the drive, and Defrag will tell you if the drive needs to be defragmented. I recommend that you defragment your computer regularly. Once a month should be enough, though do it more if you’re a very active user, or you regularly deal with large (multi-megabyte) files such as music, video or graphics. If you have Windows Vista, the Disk Defragmenter offers you the option to run the program on a regular schedule.

Case 2
How do I use the Euro (€) symbol on the keyboard?
Gary Henderson from Galway

Solution:
Press Ctrl+Alt+4. The number 4 button houses the Euro symbol on a standard keyboard.

Case 3
(The next case is a follow-up from last edition regarding the Case 3 question from Kemi in Galway. Kemi has further asked how to disable the Rotation option on the computer.)
Recap of the Kemi’s case from last edition: I switched on my PC and realize that the windows position is about 180º because I had to tilt my head to the same degree to read the screen. How do I correct this? I cannot remember altering my configurations.

Solution:
Please follow the steps below:

To prevent further occurrence, you can disable this function by:

  • Right clicking on the desktop, from the popup menu
  • Select Graphics Properties, it opens the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver
  • Display Settings
  • Select Display Settings (as shown above)
  • Under Rotation there is an option to enable or disable by checking or unchecking the box.
  • Uncheck the box to disable the rotation function
  • Click Apply.
  • Note: When this is done, Rotation is removed from the list of Graphics Options

    TIP! that I will leave you with
    Your computer, like your car, needs proper maintenance to perform at its best. Knowing your way around your PC and conducting routine repairs will keep it in good working condition.