The holidays are fast approaching and if you’re the one who had to fix your grandma’s computer while everyone was socializing at the family gathering, we salute you. Here’s how to fix it right away so you can get back in there and have some eggnog.
There is always a computer expert in every family, but sometimes this is a double-edged sword as that person is usually dependent on solving all the computer problems that occur in the family.
Sometimes these problems are pretty minor, like showing a relative how to delete a file or move a file to another folder. However, the damage could be much worse than that. Often times, a relative puts his computer in front of you and says it’s “running really slow” and wonders if you can fix it for them.
While most of us hate this time of year because of the many family tech support questions, it’s something we have to do. Here’s how to fix your grandma’s computer so that it’s in (or at least moderately) perfect condition after she leaves.
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Before you even touch your grandma’s computer, you may be tempted to ask if they’ve googled any solutions to their problems. The answer is almost always no. You may also be willing to sit down with them and really teach them how to fix the problem so they can fix it themselves if the problem reoccurs.
This is a big mistake, because most users (especially the elderly) who do not know much about computers do not want to learn more than is absolutely necessary. Sometimes they may be open to sitting down with you and learning how you solved the problem, but often they forget and crawl back to you when a new problem arises.
I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but that’s the simple truth about your grandmother. He didn’t hand over his computer so you could teach him how to fix the problem. He gave it to you so you could fix the problem quickly and then had you give it back to him.
Get Rid of the Junk
The thing with your grandmother is that she often has no idea what is being downloaded and installed on her computer. He may know that he has downloaded and installed a free game that he enjoys playing in his spare time, but many free apps and games will subtly install other free junk files that are not needed, such as a new browser toolbar, unless the user manually selects it. outside.
After a while, a lot of garbage piles are formed, which slows down the computer. Take some time and delete the trash it never uses. In Windows 7, you can do this by opening and clicking to see a list of all installed applications and programs.
You can also go ahead and click the button and select and type. This will bring up a list of applications and programs that start at boot, and the list is likely quite long. Disabling most programs from starting when you turn on the computer will make the computer start up much faster.
Install Any Update
If your grandma isn’t keeping up with important updates for Windows, there’s probably a whole pile of updates waiting to be installed.
These updates can seriously improve the performance of his computer and possibly fix permanent bugs that could cause problems for him.
Click the button and type in the search box. You will get a result that says Go ahead and click on it.
Click from there and then wait while Windows searches for the latest updates. Once done, just download and install them. You may need to restart the computer after it’s done so be aware of that.
Install and Run a Virus Scanner
Your grandmother may or may not have an antivirus installed on her computer, but either way, she may not have scanned for viruses in a long time and all these free add-ons were downloaded and installed on her computer. Through other free stuff it downloads, it’s very possible that a virus has sneaked in and slowed down your computer.
A good anti-virus program for Windows is Avast, which is free and gets the job done silently. There’s also Malwarebytes, which I think is a bit easier to use and is free to use.
After scanning and removing any virus, restart the computer to finish the process and we hope you end up with a faster machine in the end.
