Has your computer slowed down? Does it take forever for a file to
open. Do you think your computer is about to crash? Take heart
it probably just needs a little soft maintenance. What is soft
maintenance? Think about your vehicle for a moment. Hasn't it
gotten sluggish? Won't accelerate like it used to? Is using more
fuel than normal? I am not sure I have even met anyone who has
not experienced this. What is the most common cure for the
vehicle? A tune-up right? The same goes for the computer.
Hardware failures are usually pretty obvious. There is an odd
noise, a total system break down, blank screen and or error
messages. Getting slow is usually for reasons other than
hardware. And most can be remedied by using the software that
came with the machine. Some computer systems come with operating
system that are more self adjusting than others. The Linux
small computer OS is based on UNIX the operating system of the
internet. This is a very self-sufficient, self-maintaining OS.
It quite automatically checks for broken files and refreshes them
from master copies it keeps in a protected place on the hard
drive. The Apple Macintosh OS is also UNIX based and pretty much
trouble free. Every time the system is turned on all software is
verified and corrected as needed.
The most popular operating system in the world is Microsoft's
Windows in all its incarnations. From Windows 95 to XP there are
processes that need to be invoked manually. Unlike UNIX based
OS's only a select few files are readily available for automatic
correction. The others exist only on the original installation
disk. Special modes of operation provided for the reconstitution
of the operating system. This is the hard stuff. The kind of
thing you would need a technician for unless you are very
familiar with Windows.
The computer hardware is just electronic devices. Without
software it is just so much Silicon, electric motors and
connectors. The software is the instructions that tell the
hardware what to do. At the lowest level is the DOS, disk
operating system. This software takes care of the
"housekeeping". It controls the CPU math functions, disk
accessing that is to say the physical movement necessary to put
the play head in the right position to read the data magnetically
from the disk. It manages the use of memory and access to or
interface with peripheral devices like modems, sound cards,
high-speed access connect ports, etc. All of this is far removed
from what you see on the screen and occurs with no interaction
from you. Your request for a file is only that the DOS or OS
does all the nitty gritty work. The OS like Windows is often
referred to as a low-level program.
The programs that make the computer really useful run above
and depend on the OS. User programs use the OS to access the
computer resources. Your Mp3 player program makes is easy to
pick the tune you wish to play you just click on it. The Mp3
program asks the OS to fetch the song file. The OS retrieves the
file and puts it in memory and tells the Mp3 program where it is.
You click on play the Mp3 player then interprets the data and
requests the use of the sound card via the OS and the song plays
for your enjoyment.
The OS spends more time accessing files than anything else.
As the disk fills up and files are deleted and recorded, the
OS may not be able to put a file all in one place. The term
for recording a file so that all data is in a row is called
contiguous. Many times the OS will break up a file and put bits
and pieces of it in a number of places on the disk and create a
list of where and in what order they are stored. If files are
recorded contiguously they can be retrieve with a single movement
of the play head on the hard drive. If the file is not
contiguous (or, fragmented) the play head may have to reposition
several times before retrieving the entire file. As you might
imagine this takes longer. As more and more files are recorded
in this manner the access time grows slower and slower. The only
cure for this condition is to rearrange the files so they ARE
contiguous.
Windows has a sub-program or sub-routine for this. It is call
logically enough Disk Defragmenter. It is located on the
Programs list at Accessories in the System Tools folder. Periodic
running of this routine will do wonders to speed up the operation
of your computer.
Marc Ready is the Principal of PCHelp, LTD,
a Computer Consulting company and Developer of
<a href=http://tatems.com>TATEMS Vehicle Maintenance Software</a>
at: http://tatems.com/
