How to Keep Your Computer Running Fast and Smooth

Keep Your Desktop and Hard Disk Tidy Is your computer desktop your virtual dumping group? Storing files and/or lots of shortcuts on your computer's desktop will demand more memory from the computer. It is ok to keep some commonly used items here (or better yet shortcuts) but don't make a habit of sprawling out all of your work on the Desktop. If you deal with a lot of documents or files on a regular basis, create a temporary work folder instead of littering the desktop. If you are big on downloading software, videos or music, be sure to clean up after yourself. Don't leave setup programs or media files on your hard disk that you are never going to use again; this just wastes your computer's valuable disk space. Likewise, do not let your recycle bin or various temporary file folders fill up and fill your hard disk. If your disk space gets too low for any of these reasons, performance problems are sure to follow. To easily empty your recycle bin and various temporary file folders, such as your temporary Internet folder, use Window's build in "Disk Cleanup" utility. Access the "Disk Cleanup" utility by clicking: Start - > All Programs - > Accessories - > System Tools - > Disk Cleanup The tool is very easy to use; simply check the boxes next to the categories of files you would like to remove from your computer. There is one option to avoid however: "Compress Old Files". This is meant to save disk space if a drive is running very low, but for this option, saved space is traded for performance. 2 De-fragment Your Hard Disk Regularly The way your computer stores files to the hard disk is a lot less pretty than what you see in your Windows Explorer file browser. The Windows operating system translates the digital mess of what is actually recorded on your hard disk so you can understand it. It also translates your clicks, drags and keystrokes into instructions the hard disk understands. The hard disk is read and written to in a sequence and through references rather than through the directory tree structure you may be familiar with. There are also many hidden files and some abstract data recorded to your hard disk that Windows constantly accesses. Over time, with perpetual reads and writes to the hard disk, the way that the data is organized there becomes less and less efficient. For example, a digital photo you have saved may be split up into a dozen or more segments and an instruction set for associating and locating those pieces. YES! WHAT A MESS! Also, files that your computer needs to access very frequently may be stored on a part of the hard disk that is the slowest to read, while your report on Dinosaurs from the 3rd grade (or some other equally obscure file you'll never look at again) is stored on the fastest part of the disk. When your hard disk gets in this gross state of disorder it is said to be fragmented, and your computer begins to crawl. Fortunately, Windows has a built in tool, "Disk Defragmenter", which can correct the data fragmentation on your hard disk fairly quickly. The tool can be accessed by clicking: Start - > Programs - > Accessories - > System Tools - > Disk Defragmenter The program is very easy to use. Once you have started "Disk Defragmenter", all you have to do is click the "Defragment" button and let it do its magic. The time the process takes to complete depends on how bad the fragmentation of your hard disk is. If you have not "defragged" your

hard disk before, you will probably see an improvement in your computers performance as soon as the process is complete. Note: Complete Step 1 before defragmenting your hard disk since there is no sense in rearranging data you are going to delete anyway. Failing to do so will also unnecessarily slow down the defragmentation process. Note: You can defragment your hard disk as often as you like. The more often you do so, the less time it will take. 3 Keep Your Computer Free from Viruses (and other unwanted software) If you are connected to the Internet, it is just too easy to come into contact with malicious computer viruses. Some viruses will slow down your computer and maybe corrupting your favorite files, while others will complete destroy your computer's software and render the machine useless. Therefore, it is essential that your computer be equipped with modern anti-virus software. There are many anti-virus packages to choose from, so consult with friends and hit the web to see which packages people have had the most success with. Whether you pick a brand name or opt for a freebee, make sure you keep the anti-virus software's "definitions" up to date. Virus definitions let the anti-virus software distinguish known viruses from other software. New virus threats are constantly emerging, so it is essential for your antivirus software to have a feature that regularly updates these definitions. Computer viruses are not the only annoyances that can plague your computer experience. Two other groups of unwanted software, adware and spyware, can slow down your system. These types of software are not technically viruses because their purpose is not purely malicious. Adware is designed to advertise products and services to you through your computer, while spyware is designed to capture information from your system and transmit it to someone else. Obviously, you do not want any of this software running on your computer, irregardless of the fact that it will contribute to a computer's sluggish performance. Some anti-virus software packages are bundled with anti-adware and spyware software, and there are other packages solely devoted to detecting and removing this type of software. Again, do some research because there are many choices. As with the anti-virus software, these detection and removal tools need to be kept up to date to be effective. 4 Make All of the Above Easy Even if you are fairly technically savvy, but especially if you're not, you probably wondering, "how often do I have to do ALL of that?", and "will it be worth it?" Well, you can make sure all of these things get done everyday, or even more often, with just a little up-front work. "Set it and forget it" sort-to-speak. Everything mentioned in steps 1 through 3 can be automated using Window's built in feature to schedule tasks, and a simple batch file. Batch files contain a set of instructions for your computer to follow, which can be called upon at a specific and recurring time by Window's "Scheduled Tasks" manager. How to Create a Batch Files: To create a batch file: Click Start - > Run Enter "notepad" Click "Ok". The notepad editor will appear.

Type out the commands you want completed, in order and each on a separate line. (Specific commands will be mentioned below) Next, save the file by clicking: File - > Save Save the file to a location and with a name you will remember. As an example, you could save the file under "C:\" and call it "maintenance.bat". Be sure to change the "save as type" from the default of "Text Documents" to "All Files", and to include the ".bat" as part of the filename. Note: To later make changes or corrections to the batch file, locate it, right click it and select "edit" at any later date. 5 Automatic Disk Cleanup: So that "Disk Cleanup" can be included in your automated maintenance, you must first set the options you would like the "Disk Cleanup" utility to use when "Scheduled Tasks" executes it. To set these options: Click Start - > Run Type "cleanmgr /sageset:1" Click the "ok" button The "Disk Cleanup Settings" windows will appear. Check off the items you want automatically cleaned up, as described in step 1 above. Click the "ok" button The settings are now saved. To include "Disk Cleanup" in your automated process, save the command "cleanmgr /sagerun:1" in your batch file. 6 Automatic Defrag: Including a hard disk defrag in your automated process simply requires another entry in your batch file. Include a line that reads, "defrag c:" in the batch and you are done. Remember to include this line after the "Disk Cleanup" command, as this will speed up your whole maintenance process. 7 Stay Virus Free: The specifics on how to include regular definition updates and scans for viruses, adwares and spywares is entirely dependant on the programs you have chosen for these tasks, but most can usually be initiated from a batch file. Consult with your vendors' websites or support staff. If any of these products cannot be initiated from your batch file, they probably have a built in means of scheduling the same important tasks. 8 Schedule It!: Once your batch file is complete, you can easily test it. Simply double click the batch file and it should complete all of the tasks you included. Note that it may take some time for the process to complete. If you have trouble, it may help to add the command "pause" at the end of the batch file so you can see where you went wrong. If there is no convenient and regular time for you to schedule your batch file, you can continue to manually execute just as you did to test it. Another option is to include the command, "shutdown -s -f" at the very end of the batch file, which will turn off your computer after all of the

commands are complete. Each time you are done using your computer for the day, close all of your programs and double click your batch file; your computer will take care of its maintenance and then power-down. If there is a convenient time for your maintenance to be performed, perhaps in the middle of the night if your computer is left on, you can use Window's "Scheduled Tasks" feature to make your batch file execute automatically at that time. When scheduling, remember to allow enough time for all of the tasks to complete before you will need to use the computer again. To schedule a task in Windows click: Start - > All Programs - > Accessories - > System Tools - > Scheduled Tasks Double-Click "Add Scheduled Task" Click "Next" Click "Browse" Locate and select your batch file Click "Open" Select how often you would like your batch file executed Click "Next" Select the time you would like the batch file executed Click "Next" Enter the username and password for your computer if you have one Click "Next" Click "Finished" The tasks you have defined will now run on a regular basis as you have specified. If you have included all of the tasks suggested above, you computer should run relatively trouble free for years to come.

How to Make Windows Start Up Faster

I don't know about you, but I love spending the first 10 minutes of every workday watching Windows start up. It's like a Zen thing. If you'd rather get right to work, though, the following tips should help you make Windows start much more quickly.

Lighten the Load

A typical PC loads a lot of programs every time it starts. Each of the icons in your system tray (the area near your clock) represents an auto-start application. And there are probably other programs on your machine that start automatically but don't make their presence known so easily. Each autoloading app slows your boot time--a little or a lot. And because most of them continue to run in the background, they rob you of a little performance. Before you start eliminating autoloaders, though, make sure you can undo your changes. In Windows XP, Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Select

Create a restore point, click Next, call your restore point something like before removing autoloaders, and choose Create. Click Close once you've created the restore point. In Windows Vista, select Start, Control Panel, System. Under 'Tasks' on the right side of the window, click System Protection. In the System Properties box that comes up, click Create at the bottom of the window. XP users should now select Start, Run, type msconfig, and press <Enter>. (In Vista, select Start, type msconfig into the Search box, and press <Enter>.) Click the Startup tab, and you'll see a list of all your autoloading programs, each with a check box. Uncheck an item, and it will no longer load at startup.

Choose Your Autoloading Apps

Which applications should you leave checked so that they continue to autoload? First and foremost, you don't want to operate without your antivirus, firewall, and other security programs. Yes, these programs slow your PC's boot-up and shutdown, and they can even cause conflicts, but the cost of not having them running is too high to bear. For any other program in the list, use your judgment. Don't ask yourself "Is it a good program?" but "Does it need to be on all the time?" For instance, I unchecked Adobe Elements' Photo Downloader, a program that I use whenever I download photos from my camera, because it serves no purpose when I'm not downloading photos. On the other hand, I allow Copernic Desktop Search to autoload because it needs to index my data files continually. After unchecking the programs that you don't need to autoload at startup, click OK and reboot. Windows will load with a very wordy message box that might look like an error message. Just check Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts (the wording is slightly different in Vista) at the bottom of the dialog box and click OK.

Windows Dusting and Cleaning

If an autoloader diet doesn't sufficiently accelerate your boot-up, try these tweaks: Clean out the Registry. The larger your Windows Registry, the longer the OS will take to boot. My favorite Registry cleaner is ChemTable's $30 Reg Organizer, which is both a powerful Registry editor and a general Windows maintenance tool. If you don't want to pay to put things in order, try the less-powerful EasyCleaner from ToniArts. Use fewer fonts. Loading hundreds of system fonts takes time. If you have more than 500 fonts on your PC, remove a few. Sue Fisher's free The Font Thing utility will help you whittle your font selection down to size. Add RAM. Faster hardware means faster boots (and shutdowns, and everything in between). There's no cheaper, more effective way to improve your hardware's performance than by adding RAM. See our video tip, "How to Upgrade Your RAM" for step-by-step instructions.

How to Make Windows XP Startup Faster

Steps
1. Click on Start, then Run, and type "msconfig". Wait for a new window to pop up. 2. Look under the "BOOT.INI" tab. You will see a box labeled "Timeout:", and a numerical value. By default, it's 30, which means 30 seconds of wait time before boot. This can be changed, make it 4 seconds. (Note: if you have more than one operating system, this means the wait time to startup to the highlighted Operating System is longer. Sometimes you might want a bit more than 4 seconds, then you can opt 5 or 10 seconds) 3. Delete The Temporary Files Periodically From Your Computer To Make The Applications Run Faster. Type %temp% in the run dialog box by clicking on Start -> Run, and click on "OK". You will see an open folder with many files. Click on the Edit menu and click on Select all and then click on the File menu and select Delete. Note: Always confirm that the folder which is opened has the word "temp" on the top of the menu bar and the folder indicates that it is a temporary folder. 4. Perform a Scandisk To See That Your Computer Hard Drive is in Healthy Condition and it helps Your Computer Run Faster 5. Always Perform a Disk Defragmentation at least once a month. Start the disk defragmentation from the System Tools menu available in the Accessories menu from the Start menu. It takes a longer time and it is advised not to run any applications in the computer including the screen savers, while running disk defragmentation. Hibernation 1. After doing all this, another method you can do is to allow the computer to hibernate. Hibernation closes and opens Windows faster than usual. However, Hibernation is a good longterm recommended solution, as it does save electricity. 2. Go to Start->Control Panel->Power Options. Click on the Hibernate tab. 3. Click on the box that says "Enable hibernation" to check it. 4. Click on the Advanced tab and change the Power buttons options if you want to hibernate by pressing the sleep button or the power button. Otherwise, holding the Shift key while in the Turn Off Computer menu will give you the option to hibernate. 5. Restart your computer every week or so to clean your computer. 6. The power can then be completely turned off, even at the socket so that no power is wasted. Prefetch 1. Simply browse to the Windows folder (Ex: C:\Windows) and under there you would see the prefetch folder. Go into the prefetch folder and delete all the files (Beware! It should look like this c:\windows\prefetch). We need to edit a registry key to tweak it. Open regedit and browse to this key: 2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters 3. Under this key you should see a value named: EnablePrefetcher 4. It has 4 possible values:

5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

- Disabled : The prefetch system is turned off. - Application : The prefetch only caches applications. - Boot : The prefetch only caches system boot files. - All : The prefetch caches boot, and application files. You need to not disable it entirely. This would actually make boot time longer. This is because this feature is also used to speed up the loading of boot files. That is why you should pick the number 2 option. It allows you to keep the advantage of caching system files, without continually clogging the system up with applications. 10. Set the value to 2 and reboot. 11. The 2nd time you boot it should boot much faster. Remember that, the side effect is that launching individual applications once Windows has loaded will now be slightly slower.