How old is your computer? Is it running the latest operating system? Have you upgraded the memory recently? Cleared out all those unused programmes and files? Given it a spring clean?
A quick survey of my contacts from businesses both large and small suggests that many IT upgrade and replacement programmes stalled during Covid-19 and haven’t really recovered since. In other words, we’re all running desktops, laptops and handhelds that are – like me – beginning to show their age: creaking a bit when asked to do too much!
Now in the recent past this might not have mattered much. A slow programme and the occasional crash were annoying, certainly, but something only we noticed and were directly affected by. Now, in the age of LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook lives those annoying little glitches are there for everyone to see or hear – literally when the audio drops out or the video breaks up mid presentation.
Most of the time we blame the internet connection (if I had a pound for every time I’d uttered the words ‘”bloody BT” under my breath during an online meeting I’d be rich as well as Rich). But I’ve concluded that many of the problems are not connectivity issues at all and are more to do with our CPUs (central processing units) and GPUs (graphics processing units) getting hot and bothered.
I use a bit of software called NZXT Cam to monitor the performance of my six year old PC and it’s particularly interesting to keep an eye on the load and temperatures stats for the processors (see pic). As I’m typing this blogpost with only one Chrome window open the load and temperature readings on both processors are low (around 6% and 35C respectively.) But when I open up the Zoom app, a few additional windows and a couple of other programmes the load and temperature soar. Like driving an old car, you can put your foot down now and again but if you floor it for too long it’ll overheat and break down. And so it is with computers.
Think about it . If, like me, your answer to my initial question was more than three years then your computer predates much of what has emerged since – LinkedIn lives, Zoom and MS Teams meetings, Restream and StreamYard, the continued growth of business into networks like YouTube….
We’re expecting ever more from our tech and it’s perhaps hardly surprising that it’s letting us down. Now I’m not suggesting you order the very latest spec of PC or Mac especially at a time of crazy inflation and budgetary constraint. But what I am saying is give your computer a helping hand. So here are some quick and easy things you can do to get the very best out of it.
- Close all other windows, tabs and programmes apart from the one you’re using – for example, Zoom.
- Use an ethernet cable to connect to your router/modem rather than rely on wireless.
- Don’t use Bluetooth microphones and headphones. AirPods may look cool but the built in or hardwired ones gobble up less processing power and aren’t subject to interference.
- Try to make sure you’re the only one using your internet connection during mission critical online meetings and presentations. Working from home is great but less so if grandad is watching the cricket online and the kids are playing Counter-Strike just as you’re pitching to the board for a rise.
- Make sure there are no programmes running in the background using bandwidth. For example, at ACM Training we store a lot of data in the cloud (on Dropbox). Uploading a video at the same time as you’re running an online meeting is asking for trouble.
- Keep your computer up-to-date with the latest software and patches.