Windows 7 is now officially a thing of the past. This shows the importance of keeping up with the patches, updates, and fixes to the operating system. A lot of people will say that Windows is so insecure because they always must send out more updates to fix things. This does not mean that Windows, or any other major operating system is insecure, it just means that there is a lot going on. There are a lot of different things that can cause an issue which requires an update to an operating system or just require that the computer be properly maintained. We list a few here.
NEW HARDWARE
Hardware manufacturers are constantly coming out with new models with the latest and greatest parts and equipment. Memory is faster, processors have more computing power, sound cards are louder, and the motherboards are doing everything more efficiently with every new version. Sometimes software is not prepared for new hardware, so parts of the operating system must be tweaked to account for the new hardware that is on the market.
HACKERS
There are people, and even governments around the world who make it their business to look for an exploit every possible flaw they can possibly find in an operating system. With the uncountable lines of code that it takes to create an operating system, there is always going to be an error, a weakness, or just a hole in the code that went unnoticed until hackers come across it and create viruses and malware to exploit the weakness. It is then up to the creators of the software and operating systems to find the code that was exploited and fix it in a way that doesn’t break other parts of the operating system and doesn’t plug one hole by exposing another.
TIME
There are a lot of processes and routines that are run by operating systems to make sure that an operating system is running smoothly. We used to hear a lot about disk defragmentation. This is still an issue with hard drives, but most operating systems clean these things up in the background, so you never have to even think about it. Not all system or processes clean themselves up that well. Some processes and other applications will create and leave behind temporary files that just pile up, or the apps will use memory but not release it properly, called a memory leak, so the computer has less memory to work with, so it slows down and can possibly even crash. The longer a computer goes without being properly maintained, the more things will accumulate causing your computer to slow down. People will say that their computer is “slow this morning,” like it didn’t have its morning coffee. Computers don’t have moods; they should always operate the same way. The issues is that computer software can slow over time due to issues within the operating system. The best thing you can do for your computer is to keep it maintained by a professional who is up to speed on the latest operating systems, hardware, tools, and processes. Call Steven at Unfrustrating Computers to take care of your machines before you curse at your cursor.