Has your computer slowed down? Does it take forever for a file to open. Do you think your computer is about to crash? Take heart it probably just needs a little soft maintenance. What is soft maintenance? Think about your vehicle for a moment. Hasn't it gotten sluggish? Won't accelerate like it used to? Is using more fuel than normal? I am not sure I have even met anyone who has not experienced this. What is the most common cure for the vehicle? A tune-up right? The same goes for the computer.
Hardware failures are usually pretty obvious. There is an odd noise, a total system break down, blank screen and or error messages. Getting slow is usually for reasons other than hardware. And most can be remedied by using the software that came with the machine. Some computer systems come with operating system that are more self adjusting than others. The Linux small computer OS is based on UNIX the operating system of the internet. This is a very self-sufficient, self-maintaining OS. It quite automatically checks for broken files and refreshes them from master copies it keeps in a protected place on the hard drive. The Apple Macintosh OS is also UNIX based and pretty much trouble free. Every time the system is turned on all software is verified and corrected as needed.
The most popular operating system in the world is Microsoft's Windows in all its incarnations. From Windows 95 to XP there are processes that need to be invoked manually. Unlike UNIX based OS's only a select few files are readily available for automatic correction. The others exist only on the original installation disk. Special modes of operation provided for the reconstitution of the operating system. This is the hard stuff. The kind of thing you would need a technician for unless you are very familiar with Windows.
The computer hardware is just electronic devices. Without software it is just so much Silicon, electric motors and connectors. The software is the instructions that tell the hardware what to do. At the lowest level is the DOS, disk operating system. This software takes care of the "housekeeping". It controls the CPU math functions, disk accessing that is to say the physical movement necessary to put the play head in the right position to read the data magnetically from the disk. It manages the use of memory and access to or interface with peripheral devices like modems, sound cards, high- speed access connect ports, etc. All of this is far removed from what you see on the screen and occurs with no interaction from you. Your request for a file is only that the DOS or OS does all the nitty gritty work. The OS like Windows is often referred to as a low-level program.
The programs that make the computer really useful run above and depend on the OS. User programs use the OS to access the computer resources. Your Mp3 player program makes is easy to pick the tune you wish to play you just click on it. The Mp3 program asks the OS to fetch the song file. The OS retrieves the file and puts it in memory and tells the Mp3 program where it is. You click on play the Mp3 player then interprets the data and requests the use of the sound card via the OS and the song plays for your enjoyment.
The OS spends more time accessing files than anything else. As the disk fills up and files are deleted and recorded, the OS may not be able to put a file all in one place. The term for recording a file so that all data is in a row is called contiguous. Many times the OS will break up a file and put bits and pieces of it in a number of places on the disk and create a list of where and in what order they are stored. If files are recorded contiguously they can be retrieve with a single movement of the play head on the hard drive. If the file is not contiguous (or, fragmented) the play head may have to reposition several times before retrieving the entire file. As you might imagine this takes longer. As more and more files are recorded in this manner the access time grows slower and slower. The only cure for this condition is to rearrange the files so they ARE contiguous.
Windows has a sub-program or sub-routine for this. It is call logically enough Disk Defragmenter. It is located on the Programs list at Accessories in the System Tools folder. Periodic running of this routine will do wonders to speed up the operation of your computer.

About The Author

Marc Ready is the Principal of PCHelp, LTD, a Computer Consulting company and Developer of TATEMS Vehicle Maintenance Software at: http://tatems.com/