Phoenix IT Services

Any time someone goes to a technician for repairs, or a sales representative for a new computer, they will almost always hear an offer for more memory.  Well, unfortunately, many technicians and sales representatives dismiss or are unaware of  the fact that the amount of memory is not the only deciding factor in how fast your computer runs.

If you were to read the sticker affixed to a RAM module, you may see a code that resembles something like DDR PC2700 333 MHz on the older types of RAM; or you may see DDR PC2 5300 667 MHz on the newer types.  I will spare you the technical details of what these codes mean, but they simply represent the speed of your RAM.  In short, if you have more than one RAM module installed in your computer, these codes should be identical.

Having different RAM speeds is like running with only one shoe on.  If you were running with only one shoe, you would put the other shoe on to run faster.  Unfortunately, the computer does quite the opposite; it would take the one shoe off, causing it to run slower, or in your case, barefoot.

The price of a RAM module is not only determined by the amount of RAM, but also the speed of the RAM as well.  In short, you will spend more for the faster RAM module than you will for the slower one.  Manufactured computers (e.g. Dell, HP/Compaq, Lenovo/IBM) typically come with RAM clocked at a medium level.  No matter how you upgrade your RAM, be sure the speeds match.  Your Sales Representative or Computer Technician should be able to identify the speed and amount of RAM originally installed.

If you want one of the most reliable and secure passwords, follow the criteria below:

Minimum 8 characters in length
At least one lower case letter
At least one upper case letter
At least one number
At least one special symbol
Do not use any publicly accessible identifying information

The only fast way to crack this password is if you get infected with a keylogger virus.

If you use a docking station for your laptop, please copy the link below to your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome). This article will discuss the proper undocking procedures.  You can cause serious harm to your laptop if you undock improperly.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938825.aspx

Just wanted to offer some advice about how to keep your system clean from junk files and viruses:

1) Disk Cleanup: Open My Computer > Right Click on the C: Drive > Click Properties in the drop down menu > Click on the Disk Cleanup button to the right of the pie chart > Confirm every checkbox is selected > Click OK.
2) Deep Virus Scan: Open your AntiVirus program > Begin a Deep or Full system scan (most antivirus programs label it as such) > Upon completion of the scan, take appropriate action. You should attempt to repair the file first; if that does not work, quarantine the file and record the name of the virus so you can research ways to repair it. If the file cannot be repaired, and you do not recognize the infected file, check with a trusted computer technician to see if you can safely delete that file.
3) Scan Disk: Open My Computer > Right Click on the C: Drive > Click Properties in the drop down menu > Click Tools tab > Click Check Now… button > Confirm both checkboxes are selected, indicating that Check Disk will Automatically fix file system errors and will Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors > Click Start button > Restart the computer, as instructed by the prompt > While the computer restarts, you will eventually see a message that states something to the effect of A Disk Check has been scheduled. Press any key to cancel. You of course do not want to cancel, so let the timer expire, at which time the scan will automatically start. Upon completion, the system will restart itself and bring you to the Windows login screen.
4) Disk Defragmentation: Click on the C: Drive > Click Properties in the drop down menu > Click Tools tab > Click Defragment Now… button > You can either Analyze the disk first to see how badly your hard drive is fragmented, or simply run the scan. You cannot do any damage either way, and no matter what the condition of your hard drive is, it will always be less fragmented than before you started the process.

If you cannot set aside up to 4 hours during the day to perform these tasks one after another, you can run any one of these tasks overnight, and check on the results in the morning. You do not have to run the next task immediately after the previous task, but it is very important that you follow this exact order of operations, and do not allow more than one task to occur at the same time as another, as it will probably slow your system to a crawl.