XP Speed Secret #4: Speed-Up File Browsing
You may have noticed that every time you open “My Computer” to
browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows
XP automatically searches for network files and printers every time
you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing
speed significantly:
1. Double-click on My Computer
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Select Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and
printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click OK
8. Reboot your computer
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Page file size is not constant by default. Due to this, the operating
system has to resize the file each time more space is required. This
is a performance overhead. All you have to do is to set the file size to
a reasonable limit.
Follow the steps:
1. Right-click My Computer, Select Properties
2. Click the Advanced tab
3. Click the Settings button under the Performance section
4. Click the Advanced tab
5. Under the Virtual
Memory section click
the Change button
6. "Virtual Memory"
dialogue box will appear
(also shown in the figure
below)
7. Highlight the C: drive
containing page file
8. Select the Custom Size
radio button and give
same values in Initial
size and Maximum size
fields:
If you have less than 512MB
of memory, leave the page
file at its default size. If you
have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to
physical memory size.
9. Click Set, then OK buttons to apply the changes
__________________________________________________ _
Of course, the fastest and easiest way to speed-up your computer is
to allow a software program to do it for you! Although you will find
that all of the adjustments in this book will speed up your system,
the most effective and easiest way to give your computer blazing
speed is to clean up your system’s Registry.
Your computer is like your car: it needs periodic maintenance to
keep it running at optimum performance. Installing and un-installing
programs, surfing the Internet, emailing, and other everyday
activities create a sort of “sludge” that builds up in your computer
over time, much like an automobile engine. After a while, it doesn't
startup like when it was new, it stalls unexpectedly, and performance
is sluggish on the (information) highway.
We strongly recommend running a free Registry scan to find out
how many errors you computer is hiding from you. Your computer
will likely have hundreds of Registry errors that are dramatically
slowing down the potential speed and performance.
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Both Windows and application programs tend to leave temporary
files lying around on your hard drive, taking up space. A hard drive
that is close to being “full” can cause Windows to slow down or
interfere with efficient disk access and virtual memory operations.
If you surf the web a lot, your temporary internet files folder can
become quite large, causing Internet Explorer to slow down or
malfunction. Cleaning up unneeded files, scanning for disk errors
and defragmenting the hard drive can help to restore some zip to
your system. Try to run once a month for peak performance.
1. Double-click the
My Computer
icon.
2. Right-click on
the C: drive
3. Select
Properties
4. Click the Disk
Cleanup button
(to the bottomright
of the
Capacity pie
graph)
5. Select / check
Temporary
Internet Files
and Recycle Bin
6. Click OK
------------------------
1. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties
2. Select the Hardware tab
3. Click the Device Manager button
4. Double-click IDE/ATAPI controllers
5. Double-click on the Primary IDE Channel
6. Click on the Advanced Settings tab (as shown in figure) The
tab may or may not be available for each option. It is only
available in Primary and Secondary Channels.
7. Set the Transfer Mode to "DMA if Available" both for Device
1 and 0
8. Click OK
9. Perform the same operation for other items in the list, if
applicable.
---------------------------
Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts
of memory and can often make a computer endlessly loud and
noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files
that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search
for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the
index lists. If you don’t search your computer often, this system
service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:
1. Click Start button
2. Select the Control Panel
3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
4. Click the Add/Remove Window Components icon on the left
side of the window
5. This may take a few seconds to load. Be patient.
6. Look for the “Indexing Services” component in the list
7. Uncheck the Indexing Services
8. Click Next
9. Click Finish
-----------------------
You may have a bunch of software packages on your hard drive that
are no longer needed, or they were gratuitously installed when you
downloaded some other package. Toolbars, file-sharing
programs, free email enhancers, online shopping "companions"
and download managers are notorious for this practice. These
uninvited guests can put a big drag on your startup time, cause web
pages to load slowly, and generally bog down your computer.
1. Click Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs icon
4. See what programs are installed that you don’t typically use
5. Select the Remove button for the ones you know you don't
need
If you’re unsure about some programs, do a web search to learn
about the ones that you need to keep.
------------------------------
Vista Speed Secret #1: Turn-Off User Account
Control (UAC)
Now, there’s a lot of talk about the new User Account Control
policy in Vista, and all I can say is that it annoys the heck out of 99%
of users and slows down normal computer usage. To turn it off,
the easiest way is to:
1. Click the Start (Windows) button
2. Select the Control Panel
3. Type in ‘UAC‘ into the search bar
4. It’ll bring up a search result of ‘Turn User Account Control
(UAC) on or off’
5. Just follow the prompts from there
Much better, eh? You might say ‘but what’s that got to do with
speed?’ It prompts you at least a couple times an hour and then
takes several seconds to figure itself out. Without these annoying
prompts, your productivity goes up, so therefore it’s a speed
enhancer.
------------------
Vista Speed Secret #2: Disable Unnecessary
Graphical Effects
Vista is “sexy” because of its new aero glass transparency effects.
Here is how to enable and disable this new eye candy.
1. Click Start (Windows) button
2. Select the Control Panel
3. Double-click Click Appearance and Personalization
4. Under Personalization, click Change the color scheme
5. In the Appearance Settings dialog box, click Windows Vista
Basic, and then click OK.
Or, if you prefer a Windows 2000-style interface, click Windows
Standard, and then click OK.
---------------------------------
XP Speed Secret #3: Remove Spyware, Adware,
and Malware
Have you scanned your system for spyware, adware and other
unwanted pests? 1 of 6 computers has some sort of Spyware or
Malware! They dramatically slow down your computer because they
use resources to generate popup ads, send spam, and often
interfere with the operation of good programs.
If you haven’t scanned recently, we recommend a free scan from a
good anti-spyware program. We prefer to use stand-alone, high
quality anti-spyware programs like XoftSpy Pro, which give us the
ability to scan and repair these problems in seconds.
FINAL NOTE: Recent testing has shown that stand-alone programs
do a much better job than the “all-in-one” packages (eg. Norton
Internet Security) at detecting spyware, adware, and malware.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Vista Speed Secret #4: Shutdown Search Indexing
Windows Vista Search Indexing is constantly checking the files on
your system to make their information available for quick searching.
This is helpful, but can severely slow system performance as the
average user doesn’t use the search function frequently.
To shut down constant indexing:
1. Click the Start button
2. Select Computer
3. Right-click on the C: Drive icon
4. Select Properties
5. Select the General Tab
6. Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching
7. On the next dialog box, select Apply Changes to Drive C:,
subfolders and files
8. Click OK
-------------------------
Vista Speed Secret #5: Disable Automatic Disk
Defragment
Windows Vista uses an always-on defragment set up that isn’t that
necessary and will cause your system to slow down. Remember to
run a defragment manually once a month.
To shut down this feature:
1. Click the Start button
2. Select Computer
3. Right-click on C: Drive icon
4. Select Properties
5. Click the Tools tab
6. Uncheck Run on a schedule
7. Click OK
--------------------------
Vista Speed Secret #7: Disable Automatic
Windows Defender Operation
Windows Defender real-time protection against malware continues
to run despite having Automatic operation disabled.
In actuality, this built-in malware protector from Microsoft is very
poor at protecting your computer from external threats. You are
much better off using a 3rd-party software program like XoftSpy for
total protection (see Vista Speed Secret #9 for more information).
To disable:
1. Click the Start button
2. Type “services” into the Start Search box
3. Find Windows Defender in the list of programs
4. Double-click on Windows Defender
5. Choose Tools from the top menu
6. Select Options
7. Uncheck Auto Start at the bottom of the window
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Vista Speed Secret #8: Turn-Off Un-Needed
Features
There are many new features in Windows Vista that are installed by
default that you may not need. These extra and un-needed features
can slow down your computer and take up more storage space.
Windows Features can be un-installed using the Windows Features
utility. Follow these steps to uninstall applications such as the
Windows Fax and Scan and many more.
To Turn-Off Some Un-Needed Features:
1. Click on the Start Button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Under Programs click Uninstall a program
4. On the left side menu, click on Turn Windows features on or
off
5. Scroll through the list as shown below and uncheck from any
feature you do not want installed.
6. Click OK when you are finished making your changes. The
features will now be uninstalled.
----------------------------------
Vista Speed Secret #9: Disable Unused Services
Services are background processes which keep running waiting for
a response, so if you don’t use the application it still runs and
slows PC speed. The average user doesn’t need many running.
1. Click the Start button
2. Type msconfig in the Start Search box, hit enter
3. Click the Services tab
4. Uncheck the unneeded startup items (examples below)
Desktop Window Manager Session Manager - Provides Desktop
Window Manager startup and maintenance services. Uncheck to
disable.
Diagnostic Policy Service - Enables problem detection,
troubleshooting and resolution for Windows components. Uncheck
to disable.
Diagnostic Service Host - Same as above
Diagnostic System Host - Same as above
Offline Files - The Offline Files service performs maintenance
activities on the Offline Files cache. Uncheck to disable.
Terminal Services - Allows users to connect interactively to a
remote computer. Remote Desktop and Terminal Server depend on
this service. If you don’t use either of these, then you can disable the
service. Uncheck to disable.
Windows Error Reporting Service - Allows errors to be reported
when programs stop working or responding and allows existing
solutions to be delivered. Uncheck to disable.
After you are finished, click Apply then click OK to save changes.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Vista Speed Secret #10: Shutdown Remote
Differential Compression
Remote Differential Compression checks the changes of your files
over a network to move them with as little bandwidth as possible
instead of transferring an entire file that has previously been moved.
Obiviously, the average home PC user has NO need for this service.
With it constantly checking for file changes, this service will greatly
slow system performance.
To shut down this service:
1. Click the Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Click Classic View on the left side of the window
4. Double-click on Programs and Features
5. Click Turn Windows Features On And Off on the left side of
the window
6. Uncheck Remote Differential Compression
7. Click OK
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Vista Speed Secret #11: Shut-Off Windows
Hibernation
Windows hibernation background services use a very large amount
of system resources. If you are like most people you don’t use the
Hibernate feature very much so you may want to disable it to give
Vista a performance boost.
To shut down Hibernation:
1. Click the Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Click the Classic View on the left hand side
4. Double-click on Power Options
5. Select Change Plan Settings
6. Choose Change Advanced Power Settings
7. Click the Sleep “plus” icon
8. Click the Hibernate After “plus” icon
9. Adjust your selector down to zero minutes
10. Click Apply
11. Click OK
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Speeding up XP
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