In our office, we get a lot of calls everyday.  Bar none, when someone calls or stops into our office the #1 complaint is “My Computer is Running Slow.”

Many times we can assume that a slow running computer automatically means a  Virus.  Certainly this can be true, but many times you have a hard drive that is about to fail.

 

Signs That Your Hard Drive Might Be Failing

  • The Computer is running slow or it takes a long time for open files or documents
  • Your computer keeps crashing or you are experiencing frequent blue screen of death occurrences
  • Files seem to be disappearing
  • Folder names appear to be changing
  • Hard drive is not spinning when it should be or is excessively noisy when spinning
  • When you turn the computer on it takes a really long time for it to start up

Unfortunately what most people do when these things start to occur is to shake it off, ignore it, and hope it will go away.  However, what can be a fairly inexpensive repair can turn into a very expensive data recovery on a frozen hard drive.  At the first hint of trouble call an expert.  Call an independent local computer repair shop and get your computer checked out.  If you don’t currently have a trusted advisor in this area do a Google search, look at the reviews, BBB rating, social media pages for a good one.

9 times out of 10 when you bring the computer in early you are going to be able to get the repair completed more quickly and less expensively than if you wait until the computer is not working at all.

What Else Can You do to Avoid These Problems?

  • Have routine maintenance performed on your computer performed twice a year.  If you want to extend the life of your computer this is a must do.
  • If you have a laptop make sure there is proper ventilation don’t use it on the couch or on your bed just sitting on top of the blankets.  Make sure there is proper airflow around your computer
  • Install operating system updates
  • Defrag the hard drive

The truth is that just like our vehicles computers need regular maintenance.  If you can take the time to take care of your computer it will extend the life of your device.