Possible fix to a slow computer;)

I've done this myself a few times and it does help.

One thing to be aware of is which programs to uncheck and thus keep from automatically launching at start up.

If it's a program that you're familiar with, then by all means uncheck it. If you're not familiar with I'd leave it alone and consult someone who knows more about computers than you do.

 

Yeah but to be honest if you don't know what you are doing you can screw stuff up. If you don't know what a program is/does write down the executable (blah.exe) and exit msconfig and do a google search on it. That will tell you if you should, or should not disable it. You can also go in and disable some of the default system services but again you need to know what you are doing or you may shut down something that is required.

One resource for figuring out what to shut down and what to leave running is:
Startup Inspector

If you really want to speed up your system go to Google and type:

Tweak <Insert your OS here>

So if you run Vista search for: Tweak Vista

There are many ways to speed up computers these days and no one way will cover every OS so learn to use Google and read, its the best way to learn folks.

-Reby

 

Stopping some things from starting up at boot is a good thing.

Cleaning your registry (safely) is another. You can use System Mechanic to do a lot of things to improve your speed. Do a simple search for it, you can get a free trial. You can disable a lot of start up items with it also. The latest version is very intense, and excellent for people who do not understand the things that are required to keep things running smoothly.

One of the BEST registry cleaners I've used to date. Advanced Admin Tools. You can get a fully functional 30 trial version at http://www.glocksoft.com/download.htm

Run and delete a ALL bad keys.

Although a full version is pricey. I would recommend AATools to anyone.

Aside from just cleaning your PC, if you have WinXP you need at least 1 gig of ram. Vista, I would not even have with less than 2 gig of ram.

More RAM equals better speeds with these 2 OS.

 

It also doesn't hurt to format and re-install the OS every couple years.

 

MicroSoft actually recommends doing this every 6 months for all OS prior to Vista. I'm not sure about Vista, I haven't looked at the recommendations.

 

I know you have probably already done this . But have you done a defrag on your harddrive lately ? That can really speed things up

 

Well a couple things from your friendly neighborhood geek. If you have Vista you don't need to worry about defragging anymore since Vista will do that on its own automatically, so unless you have some special need don't bother (ie you install or uninstall a lot of programs and want a clear hard drive before you install more software).

As far as reinstalling your OS every 6 months, again this went away after Windows 98/ME. If you have Windows XP or Vista you really don't need to do this anymore unless you want to just start fresh. The tools available today to clean out old registry settings and old programs have simply advanced to the point that its just not worth the hassle of a clean OS install anymore. I have had the same XP Pro install running for the last 3 years and its still running just fine. Same thing for my Windows 2k Advanced Server, its been running as an IIS web/email server for 4 years and its still running just fine. If it ain't broke don't fix it folks. Welcome to the new age of Operating Systems.

Why do people still suggest these fixes? Well as a geek I'd rather do a clean install then spend a day figuring out what you did to hose your computer, its just faster and easier. Many times a clean install will solve the problem or at the very least remove the OS as the cause of whatever malfunction the user was trying to cure. For those that still want to do a clean install every so often I'd suggest investing in an external hard drive to make backing up and restoring data a snap. I recently purchased a 320gb external drive for ~$105.00 and its so much easier to drag files anywhere i want.

Now for those that insist on reinstalling the OS, fine...its your choice but let me give you a tip. The main drawback to reinstalling OS is usually the install CD's are the original version (ie pre-SP1) and you need to download newer service packs and a lot of updates after you reinstall the OS. Did you know you can 'Slipstream' all of these updates onto a new cd with the OS from the original OS CD? Very cool stuff and it saves you from having to re-download large service packs and updates over and over. I'm not going to give you all the instructions here but Google Slipstream OS CD's and you'll get all the info you need. The basic idea is to copy the contents of the XP cd to a folder and then add the Updates/Service Packs into the XP data in the folder then re-burn a new updated XP cd.

In the end its your computer, do what you want, but realize you may just be wasting your time for 300ms speed increase. You can take my advice or not, again its your choice.

-Reby

 

To clear somthing up when you use msconfig you can just uncheck all of the boxes in the "Start up" tab. This will save you mass amounts of time when you start the comp up and a lot of memory and resorces while its running.

Reason, these are stand alone programs that have nothing to do with your OS. What it is, is most people who have comps dont know a whole lot about them so they will "use" whats easiest AKA the program that starts when they start the comp. Becuse of this most programs will place themselves in the start up list when you instal them.

Now the tab you dont what to mess with unless you have a good idea of what your doing is the "Services" tab has these items are parts of your OS.