Tech tips: How ‘full’ is your computer?

By Tim Lambie, Chez Vous PC

If your computer is full or nearly full yet you seem to have lots of space on another drive, fear not, there is always a way to share out space more favourably.  I can do this remotely too!  If however, ALL your space is taken up, I can clone your existing drive onto a larger one.  I do need the machine in the office to do this, but at the moment I can turn this type of job around in 24 hours.  You do NOT need a new computer just because yours is full.

‘Removing files from the computer, whether emails or other documents, will not have a positive impact in terms of speed’ - I find myself saying quite often.  There are exceptions; if you’re using an email program like Thunderbird or Outlook and it is bursting at the seams, deleting emails will help - but if you use webmail it will make no difference.  If your computer IS full, deleting data will free up space and boost performance. But if you have more than 20% hard drive capacity it will not make any difference. 

Do you have a suitable backup of the things that mean everything to you?  There are many ways of doing this like an external drive, online drive or memory stick.  I have always favoured having the files available; not online, and until recently, have suggested an external drive.  These of course are spinning drives which is fine for a backup, but memory sticks are very much faster and much more reliable these days.  They are also much bigger and cheaper.  

Don’t just buy a laptop - there are other types of computers out there.  I still have access to traditional small towers and separate screens.  These are best if firstly, you are over the age of 50 like me and you need glasses and secondly, if you have a place to put it.  Because the screen is so much bigger it is much easier to see and use than a laptop.  Computer shops will disagree with me, but consumers here have different needs to those that Currys etc are selling to.