How to Boost Computer Productivity

Being highly productive today in this economy is one way to try to stem the tide of lay-off possibilities. Have you noticed that your computer has an automatic switch, that when triggered, it brings on a delay for you to continue working?

Just imagine, you are working along on your latest project when out of nowhere your system slows down. Ultimately it "freezes". No more typing, or movement can be detected. It's amazing how these occurrences happen almost daily.

It could be a million things, but really probably two options are at play here. The first is a windows auto update is being installed on your PC. The next option is probably beyond the scope of this piece because it delves into the dark world of Viruses, Trojans, bugs, malware, cyber-terror, remote key loggers and other tools that cyber-criminals use to 'phish' for your personal data in an effort to steal and profit from your identity.

So, we will focus on how to handle the Windows automatic updates that come switched on or set as default when you first purchased your computer.

For Windows XP you can alter your configurations easily. You can set your computer for manual updates. With manual updates switched on, you will no longer have Microsoft updating Windows, and a whole host of problems can arise if you do not keep a regularly updated copy of their operating system. So do not ignore updating your PC manually in hopes of greater efficiency.

Here are the steps you would take first, if staring at your desktop.
1. Navigate over to Start, Control Panel, and select Automatic Updates

2. Selecting automatic updates, choose a good time for your schedule when your PC would be left on. This would allow Microsoft to provide the regular updates but when you want them. Sometimes, these updates are two or three a day. It just depends on what Microsoft has to do. For some clients, leaving their computer on all night once a week eg. Sunday night is a good time. You would then select the exact hour you would allow them to update your system. It could be 3:00 AM if you like, just remember to leave your PC on all night.

3. Lets just recap these steps. When your in the Automatic Updates window, they offer four choices.
a. Automatic- where you choose a good time (Every Sunday, once a day etc. are all available.
b. Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.
c. Notify me but don't automatically download or install them.
d. Turn off Automatic Updates. This last option is not recommended. Mainly because the Windows frame work is very unstable and has many security weak points. This is especially true of Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

After your system receives an update, the system forces a reboot. This is very problematic. One solution Microsoft attempted was a button that said, "would you like to install later?"

Unfortunately, it does not work. The systems next screen says "your system was just updated and requires immediate rebooting." Regretfully, the update started prior to you saving the document.

Quite frustrating when you failed to complete that spreadsheet and it is now 4:57 PM and time for your daughters soccer match. So much for your productivity.

You can take the time right now which is really quite short, to customize your PC to update when you are less likely to need it. Some experts suggest updates once a week to be sufficient. Anything else appears to border on humans working for the computers.