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Author: Vic Laurie, Computer Learning Center at Ewing, August, 2004
Revised: Joel May, Computer Learning Center at Ewing,
Optimizing the performance of your computer is similar to optimizing the performance of your automobile. In the past, many people worked regularly on their cars, adjusting carburator settings, spark plug gaps and timing, checking and changing oil, brake and transmission fluids, maintaining correct tire pressure, etc. Today, carburators are a thing of the past, on-board computers control most of the functions and most of us relay on Jiffy Lube or some similar service to keep our fluids and tire pressures maintained.
The situation is similar when it comes to computers. In the early days of computing, all the work required to keep the computer running smoothly and (in what was the case then) rapidly was left to the computer owner who was, of necessity, a kind of geek. Some people spent large chunks of their lives learning all about how computers functioned and how they could be "tweaked" to achieve the best performance. Today, as computers become more and more a commodity, most computer owners have little idea of how to keep their computers running smoothly and how to "tune them up.". They typically defer or even ignore the system maintenance requirements until the performance deterioriates, the computer runs noticeably slower, or (in extreme cases) ceases to operate at all. And they have no idea as to what modifications or adjustments could be made to the system to improve its performance.
This course is designed to provide you with some tools that will enable you to keep your computer running smoothly and to optimize its performance so you won't have to rely on the guy at CompUSA everytime something goes wrong. We'll get started shortly. But first, whenever you make a change in your system there is always a possibility that something could go wrong. Therefore, you'll want to have a way to return your system to its previous state whenever necessary. The way to do this is with "System Restore".
We'll talk about how to adjust the System Restore settings later, but for now you should know that Windows XP periodically records a snapshot of your computer. These snapshots are called restore points. Windows XP also creates restore points at the time of significant system events (such as when an application or driver is installed) or you can create and name your own restore points at any time. If you’ve installed a program or made a system change that has made your computer unstable, you can open system restore, choose a restore point, and return your computer to its previous stable state.
To create a Restore Point prior to making a change in your system:
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To view or to return to this restore point, from the Welcome to System Restore screen of the System Restore Wizard select "Restore my computer to an earlier time." Then select the date you created the restore point from the calendar in the Select a Restore Point screen. All of the restore points you created and you computer created on the selected date are listed by name in the list box to the right of the calendar.
When you run System Restore, a calendar is displayed to help you find restore points. If you don't use your computer every day, some days might not have any restore points. If you use your computer frequently, you might have restore points almost every day, and some days might have several restore points.
Adjusting System Properties
There are a few things you can do right up front that will make your computer run better and faster:
Adjusting Display Settings
There are many ways in which you can adjust the way your display looks. For instance, you can change the colors, the fonts, the sizes, etc. You can even opt for "Themes" which change the looks and sounds of almost everything on your screen. Let's see some of the ways to do this.
How much total memory do you have? You can find out by clicking on "Start" then on "Control Panel". In the Control Panel, click on "Performance and Maintenance" then on "See basic information about your computer". At the very bottom of the information on the "General" tab you'll find both the speed of your processor and the amount of memory in your computer.
How much total memory do you need? In general, most current operating systems run best with at least 128MB of RAM, and preferably 256MB or more to take advantage of the features the OS has to offer. That's just for the operating system. Then, you need to add more memory for each additional program you plan to run at a given time. To calculate the number, look at the software you're running, and then add the amount of memory required for each application you'll likely run at one time to the amount you need for your operating system. If you're not sure how much memory your software requires, the following chart can help.
Installing additional memory in your computer is easy to do. You can find step-by-step instructions here: http://computermemoryupgrade.mysuperpc.com/. Or you can take your computer to a local tech store and have them do it for you. Either way, upgrading your system memory is usually the single best way to speed up your computer and to improve the way it operates.
Clean Up Your Desktop
So how do you get rid of the ones you don't want and, perhaps even more important, how do you know which ones to get rid of?
The answer to the second question is easy: You should get rid of any shortcut icon that you haven't clicked on in the last month. It is perfectly safe to do this, and the operation of your computer will not be affected because when you delete the shortcut, you are NOT deleting the program itself, only a temporary reference to it.
The answer to the first question (how to get rid of them) is as follows:
Delete Unneeded Files
These files not only take up unnecessary space on your hard drive, their mere presence can slow down the operation of your computer.
To get rid of them, you can use a commercial program such as those available here, or you can use a built-in Windows utility that's already on your computer.
Remove Unused Programs
Check Disks for File and Surface Integrity
To check your hard drive:
NOTE: about every six months or so, you should also check the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" box. Doing to will instruct the computer to check the physical surface of the hard drive to identify any deteriorating spots. This causes the process to take much longer
Keep Your Files in One Piece
With the large size hard drives common today, defragging is not as crucial to the operation of the computer as was the case in the past. Nevertheless, if you perform the operation from time to time (I suggest monthly), your computer will thank you for it.
Before beginning the defragmentation process, it is important to shut down all running programs including anti-virus programs and screen savers. This is necessary because if, during the defragmentation process a program should attempt to access a file on the drive that is being defragmented, the process has to be started all over again. In theory, firewalls should also be shut down, but in my opinion, the risk of opening your system to the outside world is greater than the risk of having the defragmentation process restarted.
To defrag your hard drive:
For the majority of users, the Disk Defragmenter Utility included with XP is sufficient to keep the hard drives in relatively good condition, but it's actually what is known as a Lite or slightly crippled version of Diskeeper, a product made by Executive Software. All of the utility suites (Norton, McAfee, Panda, etc.) include defragmentation software. Some additional examples of commercial software that gives you more control over the defragmentation process are:
Disable Unneeded Programs and Services That Run Automatically
Along with the core operating system that Windows runs when it starts, there is also a host of programs and services involved. Many of these are necessary for your computer to operate correctly. However, many of them are for features that you may not use at all. You can peruse the running programs services and disable any that you do not want. The fewer programs and services that run, the more quickly Windows will boot and the more smoothly and faster your computer can process information.
You can reduce the number of programs and services that start on bootup. To see the services that are running:
To see the programs that are running:
So how do you know which programs and services are safe to stop/delete?
Additional Optimization Tools
And for Windows 98 users:
Upgrade Your Computer':s Memory (if necessary)
When it comes to adding system memory, the general rule of thumb is the more, the better. On average, doubling the amount of memory in your system will give you ample "space" to work and make an obvious difference in overall speed, especially with today's memory-hungry applications, such as office programs and graphics-intensive games. You'll be able to run more programs at once, and your system will be less likely to lock up or behave strangely. The bottom line is that adding memory makes your computer more efficient and allows you to do more things at once.
Microsoft Windows® XP (Professional or Home)
128MB
512MB
Mac® OS X
128MB
256MB
Windows 2000
128MB
512MB
Windows ME/98
64MB
256MB
Most people's desktops are cluttered with the little pictures called "icons" that are seldom or never used. Most of these are "shortcuts" -- links to programs that are used to quickly and easily access and run them. A shortcut to a program that is used regularly is a very useful thing. But a shortcut to a program that is never (or even seldom) used is nothing more than a distraction that litters your desktop and makes finding the one you really want all the more difficult. You might ask, "How do these things get on my desktop -- I didn't put them there?". The answer is that many programs, when they are installed, add icons to your desktop without even asking you (or asking you in a dialog box that is full of so much other stuff that you don't take the time to read it all). Norton, Quicken, and AOL are particularly guilty of this practice.
As you use your computer, the Windows operating system creates many additional files that you probably don't know about and probably don't need. These include:
All of us have programs on our computers that we don't use. They take up space on the hard drive and may also slow down the operating of the computer.
It is important to check regularly (about once a month) the integrity of the structure and status of the files on your hard dirve and, in addition, to occasionally check the physical status of the drive (which takes a lot longer). If the file structure is corrupted, it will be impossible to find a file that you want to use. If the physical structure of the hard drive is deteriorating, your computer can take note of the "bad" spots on the disk and remember not to save data in those spots (because anything saved there will be impossible to retrieve).
Fragmentation refers to the condition of a disk in which files are divided into pieces scattered around the disk. Fragmentation occurs naturally when you use a disk frequently, creating, deleting, and modifying files. At some point, the operating system needs to store parts of a file in noncontiguous clusters. This is entirely invisible to users, but it can slow down the speed at which data is accessed because the disk drive must search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file. To speed up your computer, you can perform a operation called "Defragmentation" or, more commonly, "Defragging."
Whenever you start your computer, you are faced with a few moments of thumb twiddling while Windows XP boots and prompts you to log on. Although you should expect to wait for a few moments, sometimes Windows XP seems to boot rather slowly. In fact, you may notice that over a period of time the PC that used to roar to life seems a bit sluggish instead.
A good free program that helps a great deal in this process by providing information on just what each program and service does as well as warning you when a program tries to insert something into your start-up list is WinPatrol. If you are interested in keeping your computer running smoothly, you are strongly urged to download and install this program.
On the Web, there are a number of sites where you can download small utility programs that help you to "tweak" your computer into doing things the way you want them done. Here are some examples::
There are many other ways in which your system can be tuned up and its performance improved. For those of you who are interested, Vic Laurie and I recommend the following sources:
