3 Myths That Can Bring Down Your PC

3 Myths That Can Bring Down Your PC

PCs today are amazingly easy to use and practically run themselves. However, there are some persistent myths about PC operation and you shouldn’t let them fool you.

Myth 1: “A PC is at its fastest and most efficient right out of the box.”

This is, unfortunately, not true. When you first start up that computer, there are several things already slowing it down. When these elements are corrected, speed and efficiency can be noticeably improved.

• It’s quite likely that numerous programs are set to start up along with your computer that don’t need to be part of the startup process. Bootup time is lengthened, and this delay worsens with computer use. When these programs are removed from the startup process, your bootup time is decreased.
• Along the same lines, many PC manufacturers install programs (both full version and trialware) that you may find unnecessary. These programs simply occupy disk space and eat up memory resources right from the beginning. Deleting programs you’ll never use frees up these resources.
• File fragmentation—the splitting of files into thousands of pieces (fragments) to better utilize drive space—is well in-progress when you first start up your PC. Your performance is already being impacted, and it will only become slower over time as fragmentation compounds.

While you could take the time to address each of these items manually, a faster route is to utilize System Mechanic. This multi-tool power house tackles a broad range of issues that affect the performance of your new PC, and automatically continues to keep your computer optimized.

Myth 2: “Defragmentation by itself takes care of hard drive optimization.”

It would seem to be true that if fragmentation is occurring, then a defragmenter regularly applied would take care of the situation. This is only partially true.

The fact is that defragmentation addresses data files that have become fragmented, collecting the fragments and providing faster access to those files. But there are other types of files that are not handled by defragmentation, and even others which are negatively affected when defragmentation is run.

• Core operating system files, crucial to the stability and running of your PC, cannot be defragmented through normal defragmentation. Over time, performance suffers despite regular defragmentation. These files can only be defragmented before Windows starts up.
• Programs are composed of many interdependent files which become scattered across the drive over time, and defragmentation only compounds this issue. Placing program files in close proximity to speed program performance requires a special process separate from normal defragmentation.

System Mechanic addresses each of these types of fragmentation—that of data files, program files and core operating system files. Optimum performance is consistently maintained.

Myth 3: “Making adjustments to the registry is dangerous and must never be done.”

The registry is a database containing key settings used by the Windows operating system. While it’s certainly true that you could cause serious problems by going into the registry and making changes without knowing what you are doing, informed changes made with proper knowledge are not only helpful, they increase the stability of your PC’s operation.

When changes are made to your computer, those changes are not always reflected in the registry. The result is registry entries that are outdated and invalid, causing freezes and sometimes even system failure. Removing outdated and invalid registry references restores stability to your PC.

There are many experts whose work you can access online and discover the registry entries you can safely eliminate. Or, you can utilize System Mechanic’s Total Registry Revitalizer™ to do this work for you. Total Registry Revitalizer also isolates and removes dangerous registry entries that may be running without your knowledge as well as defragmenting and compacting the registry to eliminate unused space.

Know Before You Go

Be cautious of “everybody knows” beliefs about PC maintenance and optimization. Always research the facts so you won’t fall victim to the myths.