The wife and I share the study in our house. We’ve got desks near each other and both use our computers. We use the same internet connection.
My system works fine. It runs quickly, and I can get around on the Internet lickety-split. Hers, not so much. Admittedly my system is newer than hers, but even when I was on the previous laptop my system ran faster than hers.
Her computer is slow. Like, takes five minutes to boot up slow. Yeah, we’re gonna compute like it’s 1999.
It is getting to the point that her computer is nigh unusable. Launching any app, like a word processor, or a web browser takes several minutes. When she browses to a website, it takes several minutes. If she tries to look at a digital photo, well, you get the idea.
I don’t know why her system is slower. I’ve done all the standard shtuff – made sure the hard drive gets defragged on a regular basis, kept the anti-virus apps up-to-date so we can keep it virus free, made sure the recycle bin gets emptied.
The only thing I can think of is that she likes to shop online. She’s not shy about hitting links for shiny objects that get put in her path. I don’t know where she is ending up, but I know she has run into a few digital ‘back alleys’ where she shouldn’t have been. I don’t know if she got a virus or trojan that is doing this in the background and using up all her CPU cycles, or what.
I suppose her computer might just be getting old and could need replacing. I’m not fond of that as the disruption in her routine could be catastrophic.
I’ve also contemplated making backups of everything on her hard drive, wiping the drive, then loading Linux on her box. If I thought she could make the transition to using Linux (which is not quite as straightforward as using Windows) this might be a viable option. But again, the disruption to her routine would be great.
Right now, we don’t have the luxury of making the switch. We’ve got too much else going on.
Should we end up getting her a new computer, I might take her current box and turn it into a Linux box. It would make a good command center for a home automation system.
May all your CPUs be overclocked, your graphics sharp, and your ‘net connection blazing fast, my Hordeling.
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