Remember the day that you got your new computer (or the hand-me down
from Uncle Larry) and you pulled that shiny case out of the box?
Once you finally had all of the cables properly mangled into an
unmanageable ball, you powered on, the screen lit up and off you
went. The PC was fast, programs loaded in the blink of an eye, and
Internet surfing was a breeze. Those were the days.

But now your PC seems to need a walker and a dozen car batteries
just to get enough energy to start. Now you can turn the PC on, go
get some coffee, walk the dog, and wave hello to your local waste
management person who is throwing your trash cans around like a
toy. When you come back inside, if the computer is ready to go,
you're surprised. Then, once you click on something, the wait
starts again.

So what happened? Where did you go wrong?

There are many things that contribute to your slowing PC. Perhaps
you forgot to feed the little gerbil inside – the one that's running
the wheel round and round that powers your PC. Maybe you've loaded
one-too-many programs and now your hard drive is gasping for air.
You may have a computer that is more than 2 years old, which may
cause some newer programs to just not work. You may need more
memory in your computer. And if you have teenagers, you're just out
of luck. Between games, instant messaging programs, and tons of
Internet history backlog, you should be looking for a professional
psychiatrist.

But your PC is not dead on arrival. There is a way to resuscitate
the old pile of metal into a once-again functional machine. Start
by going into the Control Panel (START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL on
most machines) and click on the Add/Remove Programs button. Look
through the list for programs you no longer use. Make sure you
recognize the name, and that you aren't deleting Aunt Mary's recipe
book on accident. If you do, your wife will remind you daily for
the next six years. Remove with care. For programs that show in
duplicate, remove the oldest version. If you are not sure about a
program, don't delete it. Call a professional - or your teenager.

You really should check your hard drive. In Windows, it's pretty
easy. Double-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Your
desktop is the main screen you see when the computer comes on, you
know, the one with the cute puppy background or the picture of
someone's kids. When the My Computer window comes up, right-click
on your main hard drive, usually labeled as the C drive. You should
get a menu with options, choose Properties. That will bring up a
small window with a neat little pie chart. Note your used and free
space amounts. If your pie has only 1 slice left worth of free
space, you need to start cleaning the drive, or get a bigger one.
Windows wants at least ten percent of your drive to be free just to
run minimally. I suggest more like twenty percent. With hard
drives in the 100 gigabyte range now, you shouldn't have to worry
about space issues.

These are a few good ways to start reviving that PC back to its
former self. In future articles I'll cover more of these time-
saving tips, as well as many other computer secrets that the normal
geek wouldn't dare tell you.

If you are located in the St. Louis area, contact us about our <a
href="http://arnoldlink.com/savemain.php?type=computers">PC Tune-Up
Special</a>!
-------------------

Sponsor

Do you need a referral to a top of the line attorney for your legal
needs? If so, we can help. As the premier process service company
in the state, we have as our clients some of the finest nationwide
attorneys. No obligation - give us a call. A.A.A.P.S., Inc.

1-888-350-5809
--------------------

Host Three and Save COntinues to Satisfy Web Developers

Our Host Three and Save Special has been a great success! Webmasters
are utilizing this sale to increase their profits and pass savings
onto their clients. If you are a webmaster looking for a great
hosting deal, this is it!

The process is simple - host three unique sites within 6 months and
get the third site for HALF PRICE! You can pass that savings onto
your clients or use the savings to increase your marketing budget!

To find out more about this or any other special, click through to
http://www.techlh.com/specials.htm
---------------------

FREE Website Hosting

We offer quality hosting for personal and business sites starting at
only $1.29 a month. This hosting is dependable and offers a TON of
freebies including FREE subdomains, FREE MySQL databases, FREE add-
on scripts, FREE parked domains, and more.

Now, when you sign up for one year with any of our packages, you get
2 months FREE. That's right - 14 months for the low price of only 12
months!

To find out about our hosting packages, click to
http://www.techlh.com/hosting
----------------------

Lighthouse Technologies Announces Major Upgrades to Hosting Servers

If you are a hosting client of Lighthouse Technologies, you may have
noticed some changes. Then again, perhaps you didn't.

Over the weekend of November 15-16, Lighthouse Technologies
partnered with a newer, faster server hosting service. This new
service gives us much better servers and connections for our
clients. Along with that, you'll notice an increase in speed, as
the new servers have 3.06GHz Processors.

There have also been some upgrades to Apache, PHP, and the Control
Panel. Watch for more to come.

While there are always speed bumps to be expected, Lighthouse
Technologies is proud to serve you. If you are looking for a good,
quality unbranded hosting solution, we invite you to check out our
website at www.techlh.com/hosting
----------------------

Thanks for reading!

Will Hanke
Lighthouse Technologies
www.techlh.com