Faster Computer

My Notes -

My laptop had started becoming slower and it was

beginning to frustrate me. So, i decided to go online

and find the way out.

Eventually i was able to get 35 things that i could try out

some of them have improved my LT's speed already :)

my Notes end here-

No matter how you look at it, a PC never feels fast

enough, and when it comes to Vista, everything seems

to take too long.

Copying files, searching for documents, connecting to

a wireless network and waiting for it to start are all

frustrating.

The good news is that we've got a stonking selection of

speed tips, tricks and tweaks for you.

Whether you're using a desktop or a laptop, here are some

handy tweaks you can make, services you can turn off and

much more to help you get things done faster.

1. Clean out old files

In Performance Information... click Open Disk Cleanup to

delete redundant files. Then click Start, enter 'defrag' in the

search box and press Enter, click Defragment Now, and wait

while your hard drive is optimised.

2. Tame the Sidebar

The Sidebar is fun, but the more gadgets you add, the more

system resources they'll consume and the slower your PC will

be. Remove gadgets you don't need, or right-click on the Sidebar,

select Properties and clear Start Sidebar to disable it altogether.

3. Disable unused devices

Click Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System

> Device Manager, right-click hardware you don't need

- an unused network adapter? - and select Disable. However,

disable the wrong thing and your PC won't reboot, so if in doubt,

leave it.

4. Disable unwanted services

Type 'Services' in the Search box and press Enter

to see what's marked as 'Started' and running on

your PC. Services you may not need that start

anyway include the Distributed Link Tracking Client

(which maintains NTFS file links over a network)

and the Tablet PC Input Service (unless you're using

a Tablet PC). Double-click a redundant service, set

its Startup type to Disabled, and it won't be relaunched

when you next boot. Again, some services are vital to

your system, and disabling them will stop it from

booting altogether. Take advice from sites like Black

Viper, and if you're in doubt about something, leave it

running.

5. Troubleshoot long boot times

If your PC is up to date, but you're suffering really slow

boot times (over three minutes) then there could be a

hardware or driver issue. Try removing everything apart

from your monitor, keyboard and mouse. Or if you're

currently unplugged from your network, reconnect and

see what happens.

6. Check for errors in the Event Viewer

Find clues in the Event Viewer (type 'eventvwr' in the

Search box and press Enter). Expand the Windows Logs

part of the tree and browse the Applications and System

logs. Scroll down to the last time you booted and look for

error messages that might explain why your PC is

performing poorly.

7. Remove system tray clutter

Take a look at all those icons in your system tray. For

every essential item like your antivirus program, there

will be something else, like QuickTime, which probably

doesn't need to be there at all. Right-click or double-click

that icon, look for ways you can tell the program not to

load, and benefit from a little extra speed.

8. Check running tasks

Some background programs will run anyway, and could be

tying up more memory or processor time than you realise.

To find out, right-click the taskbar, select Task Manager >

Processes. Now just watch for a while. Assuming you've

sorted by CPU use, you'll now see background processes

pop up as they run. If you spot something you don't recognise

that's taking up 10 per cent or more CPU time, right-click it

and select Properties to find out more. Once you've discovered

which program owns this process, check the documentation to

find out if you really need to run it.

9. Get rid of unwanted startup programs

Launch Windows Defender and click Tools > Software

Explorer to see the programs that load when Windows

starts. Don't automatically delete them all, but if you're

positive a program is unnecessary, click it and select

Disable to stop it loading.

10. Trim the fat with Autoruns

Every program that starts up with your PC extends the

boot time. Some programs are essential, but others aren't.

Trim them back with free program Autoruns. Autoruns has

a whole series of tabs - each of these display start-up

programs according to their category. Switch to the Logon

tab. Before you remove anything, right-click on it and

choose Search Online to find out more. Once you've been

able to verify that a disabled entry isn't important, you

can opt to remove it completely - to do so, right-click and

choose Delete. Click Yes when prompted. This action should

prevent future memory loss.

Coutresy TechRadar.com

QUOTE OF THE POST

"Run Baby Run" -unknown