Page 83 - Computer - 10(A&B)

Maintenance of Software

Software is what keeps your computer ticking and working. Though software cannot be touched, it can still be
harmed by other malicious software such as virus and malware. The storage space inside a computer – RAM as
well as disk storage gets used up as more software are installed and new files are created. This leads to shortage
of storage space and memory. Over a period of time, the computer may become sluggish or its performance may
lag behind acceptable standards. All this requires cleaning of the computer system from inside.
Let us understand some of these methods.

Cleaning Memory

The amount of RAM in a computer is limited. Too many open programs or programs running in the background
eat up the RAM and make it unavailable for useful programs or slow down the execution of programs. Thus, we
need to clean up the RAM for better performance. Some of these ways are:

v Restart the computer to reset the RAM and clears it of all data and programs making it usable afresh.
v Uninstall or Disable software tweak the settings of the operating system so as to disable programs from
starting up automatically at boot time.
v Use Task manager to keep an eye on the memory consumption by various running programs and ensure
that memory hogging programs do not run for too long.
v Use lite versions of programs and apps to make sure memory consumption during execution of software
remains low.

To get started, open the Task Manager by searching
for it in the Start menu, or press Ctrl + Shift + ESC
keys.

Cleaning Disk Space

Modern computers have large disk drives with storage spaces of 500 GB and more. This may seem a lot in the
beginning, but over time software installations and creation of files eat up the disk space very quickly.
Follow the following tips to keep your disk space optimised for use.

v Periodically check the hard disks and delete the files you no longer need or have not used for a long time.
v Use a disk cleaning program or app to clean all unwanted and unnecessary files such as error logs,
transactions logs, left-over installation files, or cookies from web sites.
v Use program manager apps to uninstall software that you do not need any longer. Make sure that the
program also removes any files left after uninstallation of the software.

v Use Disk Defragmenter utility or other similar programs to optimize the disk space by keeping all segments
of files together at one place on the disk. This enables faster response times while opening software and
files.

v Use a compression utility such as WinZip or WinRar to compress large files and store them with smaller
sizes. You can always decompress the zipped files when you need to use them.
v Use a backup utility regularly to backup your files and folders to a portable backup storage device such as
a pen drive or external hard disk to free space from the main hard disk inside the computer.
v Use cloud storage services such as OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox to store your files in the cloud
rather than on the hard disk.

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