1. First, run a scandisk or checkdisk. Let Windows fix any errors.
2. Run a disk cleanup utility...this will flush your temporary internet folder, trash can, temp system files, etc.
3. Delete any garbage files or data...if possible, run a Duplicate File Finder program.
4. Run Defrag on all partitions (NOTE: run this after you have deleted all trash and excess files!)
5. Run a registry cleaner utility and delete or get rid of any orphaned entries in that registry.
6. Check your exisiting swap file for it's size and location (*will explain location later in the post). If you have alot of ram (i.e. 1 gig and over) set this swap file to something small, like 250 mb. The reason is that this will force Windows to load more into memory, resulting in faster performance (note: some games and applications actually require a certain sized swap file so check your applications performance after making a size adjustment for any error messages.)
7. Under XP, you can tell Windows to use Classic Style on your desktop, - this will remove the neat single click and internet-style desktop but for lower end systems this will improve performance in other areas, such as gaming and multi-tasking.
8. Run msconfig and under startup and only keep the programs that are essential to load in the tray icon (and hence stay resident in memory). Uncheck anything else non-essential, like an ATI or Nvidia control panel, Quicktime utility, Real Audio, etc.
9. Upgrade drivers! Check for the latest BIOS, video, motherboard, sound, etc drivers from the manufacturers. Alot of my friends had chipsets on their motherboard that had advanced disk management capabilities or AGP port settings but the drivers weren't loaded for them so they were never being used. A simple upgrade realized a noticeable difference. For instance, they didn't have the latest driver for their AGP port so it was set to 1x, instead of being used at 4x!
10. (OK, so this won't speed up your PC but it could save you alot of time and trouble later on!) After making all these improvements, make a working backup! I use Ghost, but for XP users you can also use System Restore...
-FOR ADVANCED USERS-
1. Take a look under the hood (for IDE owners). How are your IDE devices configured? If you have more than 1 hard drive, put the master hard drive on the primary IDE channel and the secondary hard drive on the secondary IDE channel (most motherboards have two IDE channels).
2. Place all CDROM drives, DVD readers etc. on the secondary IDE channel (or SCSI bus, etc). This will reduce I/O contention with your master hard drive which should have your OS and apps installed...
3. Remember when I mentioned the location of the swap file? OK, if you have 2 hard drives and you have one on the primary IDE channel and the other on the secondary IDE channel, move the swap file to a partition ON THE SECOND hard drive (on the secondary IDE channel). This will greatly improve system performance as the PC can write to the swap file while loading and running OS and system commands without I/O contention on the primary IDE channel!
4. Take a look under the hood (for SCSI owners) What kind of SCSI do you have? If it's the newer Ultra 160/320 etc cards then guess what? Any devices placed on the same bus will automatically default to the slowest drive on the chain...this means that if you have say, an Ultra 160 SCSI card, and it has an Ultra 160 drive (capable of transferring 160 mb/sec) on the same chain as a SCSI cdrom drive (capable of only 40 mb/sec) then the whole bus slows down to the 40 mb/sec speed...use different chains for the slower devices and maximize those hard drives!
5. Run a utility like WCPUID and check the settings...is your CPU/front speed bus/AGP port running as fast as they should be? If not, check your drivers and BIOS configuration options. Also, are all of your chipset features enabled? If not, then enable them! (usually done in your BIOS!)
6. Dig in to the BIOS...check settings like boot order, for example...is it checking the floppy first? Change this! Select your order to reflect the hard drive first, then CD, then floppy for a noticeable boot time improvement. Also disable any non-used on board peripherals...for instance, - does your motherboard come with an on-board NIC card? Guess what, if you don't use that NIC card and it is enabled it will eat up valuable CPU cycles and can be detrimental to your systems' performance. DISABLE THAT MUTHA! Also, see if you can play with memory timing and CPU clock frequencies (NOTE! This is for expert users only!) Set these timings to "Aggressive" and see what happens in your games and apps...Also, check to see what your video aperature is set to. If you have a video card with 128 megs of on-baord memory, your aperature should be set to this amount too. Read the BIOS owner manual for further non-general performance tricks or improvements! Do you have the latest BIOS firmware version?
7. Under hardware properties, check to see that everything is working properly, and fix any hardware contention issues. You'll see the dreaded yellow exclamation point (!) beside any hardware componenet that is not working correctly.
8. Evaluate the potential for system/hardware upgrades...usually, the best bang for the buck is adding memory so buy all that you can afford (don't go much above 512 megs for Win 98 or ME). If you have a motherboard with an 8x - capable AGP port but you are using an older 4x video card, consider upgrading to an 8x card. You get the idea here...
9. Quit using software pigs like Norton system utilities, etc. These place files everywhere and can be a real system resource hog on lower end PCs.
10. Did I mention to make a good backup? Do it now! Also, while you're at it, run a good virus program with the latest definitions.
There are more options to make your system faster, such as overclocking, etc. but (just about) everything I've mentioned in this tech post costs you nothing and will result in faster system performance! Good luck and if you have any questions on how to do anything mentioned here, ask a knowledgeable friend or consult a book, - don't mess up something trying to do something you are not sure of!
Good luck and I'd like to dedicate this post to all of WorldWarez which has given me so much! You're all great, peeps!
10 Things That Make Your Pc Faster, Guaranteed
Make XP go Faster
Services You Can Disable
There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically.
This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources.
They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read the description of each one when you run Services
and that you turn them off one at a time.
Some possibilities are:
Alerter
Application Management
Clipbook
Fast UserSwitching
Human Interface Devices
Indexing Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeeting
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routing & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client
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Cleaning the Prefetch Directory
WindowsXP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs.
However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.
To clean this periodically go to:
Star / Run / Prefetch
Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the shorcuts
Delete them
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Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages
To turn these off:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system
If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
Give it a value of 1
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Clearing the Page File on Shutdown
Click on the Start button
Go to the Control Panel
Administrative Tools
Local Security Policy
Local Policies
Click on Security Options
Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"
Select "Enable"
Reboot
For regedit users.....
If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\ClearPageFileAtShutdown
Set the value to 1
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No GUI Boot
If you don't need to see the XP boot logo,
Run MSCONFIG
Click on the BOOT.INI tab
Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT
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Speeding the Startup of Some CD Burner Programs
If you use program other than the native WindowsXP CD Burner software,
you might be able to increase the speed that it loads.
Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
For the Startup Type, select Disabled
Click on the OK button and then close the Services window
If you dont You should notice
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Getting Rid of Unread Email Messages
To remove the Unread Email message by user's login names:
Start Regedit
For a single user: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail
For all users: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail
Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays
Give it a value of 0
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Decreasing Boot Time
Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP
The program is called BootVis
Uncompress the file.
Run BOOTVIS.EXE
For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line)
Then run Trace / Optimize System
Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays
Note how much the time has decreased
Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.
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Increasing Graphics Performance
By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.
Most simply slow down their display.
To turn these off selectively:
Right click on the My Computer icon
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced tab
Under Performance, click on the Settings button
To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging
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Increasing System Performance
If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1
Reboot the computer
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Increasing File System Caching
To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
Edit the key IoPageLockLimit
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Resolving Inability to Add or Remove Programs
If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, there might be a simple registry edit neeed.
Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Uninstall
Change the DWORD NoAddRemovePrograms to 0 disable it
4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory
NTFS Cluster Size, better Hard Drive Performance
Cluster is an allocation unit. If you create file lets say 1 byte in size, at least one cluster should be allocated on FAT file system. On NTFS if file is small enough, it can be stored in MFT record itself without using additional clusters. When file grows beyond the cluster boundary, another cluster is allocated. It means that the bigger the cluster size, the more disk space is wasted, however, the performance is better.
So if you have a large hard drive & dont mind wasteing some space, format it with a larger cluster size to gain added performance.
The following table shows the default values that Windows NT/2000/XP uses for NTFS formatting:
Drive size
(logical volume) Cluster size Sectors
----------------------------------------------------------
512 MB or less 512 bytes 1
513 MB - 1,024 MB (1 GB) 1,024 bytes (1 KB) 2
1,025 MB - 2,048 MB (2 GB) 2,048 bytes (2 KB) 4
2,049 MB and larger 4,096 bytes (4 KB) 8
However, when you format the partition manually, you can specify cluster size 512 bytes, 1 KB, 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB in the format dialog box or as a parameter to the command line FORMAT utility.
The performance comes thew the bursts from the hard drive. by having a larger cluster size you affectivly have a larger chunk of data sent to ram rather than having to read multiple smaller chunks of the same data.
Create Batch File to Start or End Window Services and Third Parties Services
Warning: Manipulating windows services can have unpredictable effects on your system. You should create a system restore point before experimenting.
We all want to tweak or windows systems to the extreme to get the quickest, most powerful system possible. Many people will disable multiple window services manually before game playing. What a pain!
Many times people forget what the services do or forget to restart the important ones. Services can be easily changed by creating batch files.
The important commands are the following:
NET START - starts the service
NET STOP - ends the service
For example:
NET STOP "Error Reporting Service"
Output: The Error Reporting Service service was stopped successfully.
Knowing the commands, one can now easily create batch files called something like beforegame.bat and aftergame.bat.
Before.bat would contain all the NET STOP commands to end the nonessential services.
After.bat would be exactly the same except all the NET STOP commands would be replaced with NET START commands to restart all the common services.
A sample of the before.bat file might look something like this:
NET STOP "Error Reporting Service"
NET STOP "FTP Publishing Service"
SET STOP "IIS Admin"
NET STOP "Messenger"
Likewise, the after.bat file might look something like this:
NET START "Error Reporting Service"
NET START "FTP Publishing Service"
SET START "IIS Admin"
NET START "Messenger"
You may wish to reference this: list of services that can be disabled.
If your system ever becomes unstable and you want to return the services to their default settings, the default settings for the windows services can be found here.
How to Improve the Performance of your System
Friday, 11 September 2009
Hard drive is the most critical component of a computer system, which store all of data, application and operating system. Sometimes, the performance of your hard drive might get decreased rapidly. It could be due to operating system registry conflicts, file system errors, disk data structure corruption, extensive fragmentation, virus infection, hard drive wear and tear and other similar causes. In such cases, the hard drive failure might occur and you come across data loss situations. The data loss requires Data Recovery to be resolved.
- If you are experiencing the slow performance due to operating system registry corruption or unused registry entries, then you should use either a registry cleaner to remove unused or damaged registry hives.
- File system is a significant component of every computer system, which is responsible for organizing and maintaining files and directories on hard drive. When it experiences minor damage, operating system finds it difficult to access files from hard drive.
- When other hard drive data structure gets damaged, the disk may face several performance issues. In such cases, you need to replace the damage data structures with new ones.
- Every file on hard drive is stored in the form of fragments. When fragmentation becomes high, operating system can not access files so quickly and hard drive start performing slow.
- Viruses have become a big threat for your computer. Virus infection directly damages disk data structures and your data. To prevent your system from virus infection and to remove viruses from it, use a powerful anti virus software to scan your hard drive.
- If wears and tears are making your hard drive performance slower than uses, then you should get it repaired from specialist.
About The Author:
Andrew Juan is a student of Mass Communication doing research on PST Recovery. He is also a data recovery services Specialist.
How to install Hardware in Windows XP
Friday, 11 September 2009
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com
About The Author:
Alina Wilson is a technical and security specialist, associated with numerous tech firms including iYogi. iYogi is synergistic ally aligned to offer technical support , Microsoft support, computer repair, PC help services, computer support, online technical support, data back-up services to its clients in Australia, US, UK and Canada by Microsoft certified technician.
Rewards Of Using Microsoft Wireless Keyboards
Tuesday, 01 September 2009
I love technology because it is so quick to change and individuals are incessantly trying to discover new and better ways to make things easier for us. Nowadays you may discover computers that are much smaller then they used to be, faster, and each component is built to be wireless. Using a wireless keyboard is great because there are no cords that you must keep up with.
There are many various types of these wireless components that we are able to use for the computer that we have. One of the more notable and the most competent are those produced by Microsoft. This is plainly a name that we are familiar with because they make the bulk of the computers and programs that we use in our house and business.
These wireless keyboards are effective and low-budget for anyone to utilize and many are compatible with the kind of laptop or desktop that you might have. They are easy and simple to hook up and give us the chance to work wherever we wish without being bogged down by cords.
Another reason why people select one of these Microsoft wireless keyboards is because of the distinct shapes and sizes that they come available in. Some of these are ergonomically shaped to make using them easy for our hands for individuals who work long hours on the computer. They may also be as big or small as you require them to be for your work area.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com
About The Author:
Wireless Keyboards are great to use and the ones from Adesso and Microsoft are some of the best.
Computer Virus - How to Remove a Computer Virus
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
If you have computer then probably you faced lots of computer problems like speed, virus, adware, spyware etc problems. Internet is very much dangerous place. We never know which site we are visiting, through which site we are going, whether the site is appropriate or not. If we are not browsing the net carefully then there are lots of chances to get infected by the computer virus. They can infect your computer speed, data, files, registries. Virus is dangerous for the computer.
Virus and Effect of Computer Virus
Virus is a program that can come to the computer easily through mails attachments, through bad internet site, downloading media files etc. Virus can harm the files, folders, registry utilities, important data, and computer speed.
The direct source of the e-mail note, email attachments, downloaded any kind of file or hard disk data you have is usually unaware that it has virus. Some viruses cause their effect as soon as they enter into the computer.
Some viruses and spyware are capable of deactivating computer protection software installed on the computer to permit the hacker to access the computer.
Do you want to know how to prevent computer viruses?
than go to symantec.com
About The Author:
Alina Wilson is a technical and security specialist, associated with numerous tech firms including iYogi. iYogi is synergistic ally aligned to offer tech support, Microsoft support, computer repair, computer support, spyware removal to its clients in Australia, US, UK and Canada by Microsoft certified technician.
The Five Types of Hard Drive Recovery
Friday, 28 August 2009
Hard drive recovery is an increasingly needed service as we are more reliant on hard drive and other data storage services. The problems that happen with hard disks can be classified into two types:
Logical problems: These problems occur when the file system has issues. The hard drive is fine however the files cannot be accessed, have disappeared or are corrupt. The cause for logical problems can be files deleted accidentally or intentionally, virus attack or the hard drive could be reformatted in error or poor software.
Physical problems: The hard drive can be defective if it isn't spinning, there are problems reading the drive, demagnetisation, has bad blocks or making noises. This can be caused by a manufacturing defect, mechanical impact or voltage oscillations. Data recovery is possible but as the drive has physical problems it will normally be binned after data recovery.
Hard Drive recovery can be classified in five types:
Type 0: There is a type 0 for cases where it is data recovery however a technician could solve the problem. For example Windows doesn't boot. Here the technician would simply put the hard drive in another machine, copy the data and then reinstall the system. This means there is a back up of important data should the hard drive need to be reformatted.
Type 1: A type 1 problem would be classified as a simple data recovery issue were no physical damage is present. Examples include hacker or virus attack, lost partition or deleted files. This type is for lost data but data that hasn't yet been overwritten therefore the data is still on the hard drive and there is a high possibility of recovering the data.
Type 2: Problems would be things like having partial overwritten data at the important points of the disk because programs have been reinstalled or poor recovery tools have been used and have probably caused more damage than good. Other operating systems that are used make data recovery harder so they would be in this group too, examples are Novell and Linux.
Type 3: These are the most serious cases which would likely have physical problems like suffering from a serious crash. There may be a reason sometimes like a mechanical chock or voltage oscillations but the cause could also be a defective manufacture.
Type 4: The last hard drive recovery type is reserved when there is no solution to the hard drive issue. Most cases here would be suffering from physical problems were the drives have been damaged beyond recovery like a severely crashed surface. No one will be able to recover the information. This type is also were information has been lost but has been completely overwritten.
If you have important information to recover seek professional advice, internet tools can cause more damage and won't be tailored to the situation.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com
About The Author:
Kim is an expert author who enjoys writing articles on various technology related topics.http://www.datlabs.co.uk">Data recovery services
Ten Reasons to Use Computer Rentals
Thursday, 27 August 2009
- Chaos: when your home or office computer breaks, and you need a computer while your own machine is being repaired, computer rentals can step in and fill the gap. No need to miss deadlines or go without communicating with family and friends.
- Fire, flood or other disasters: we all like to think that these things never happen, but a fire or flood can destroy a business, requiring a quick move, either temporary or permanent, to a new location. Insurance money is unlikely to come in quickly, so computer rentals can supply you with everything you need to get your new office up and running until you have the cash flow to buy or lease your equipment.
- Business travel: although staff members who regularly travel will have laptops of their own, occasionally other staff members will need to travel. Instead of ensuring everyone has a laptop, just in case they need to travel, computer rentals can provide the right equipment on a temporary basis.
- Family vacations: why not rent a tablet or laptop computer when going on family vacation. Instead of enduring hours of your kids arguing in the car or asking when you are going to arrive, a laptop can provide endless hours of entertainment with music, videos, and games. Computer rentals are so inexpensive that you can consider getting one for each child, so that they can each do their own thing.
- Temporary employees: on occasion a business hires one or many temporary employees to do a set job. Instead of buying or leasing computer equipment, a rental agreement can fill the technology need without long term agreements or a huge outlay in cash.
- Training: large corporations often do large scale training sessions, bringing in employees from many locations for a week or less. Instead of buying, leasing, or transporting computers from many locations, it is cheaper to rent. Another advantage to computer rentals is that the rental company will set up and take down all of the equipment, saving your IT department the time and money.
- Tradeshows: most companies only attend a few tradeshows a year, so instead of buying or leasing equipment that is used only for a few days, then incurring the costs of storing, shipping, and maintaining this equipment, many companies are now choosing to rent.
- Marketing events: making a big splash is the primary goal with large scale marketing events. Instead of buying the latest and greatest equipment to showcase your products for a day or two, consider renting. The money you saved can be invested elsewhere.
- Adding on peripherals: occasionally a small office will temporarily need a piece of equipment that they normally do not use, like a scanner. Instead of buying a peripheral that is only needed for a day or two, computer rentals can provide what you need.
- Testing out the newest computer equipment: who doesn't like to play with the newest technology? Instead of buying ever new piece of computer equipment that tickles your fancy, try renting instead. You can try it out for a few days or weeks, decide if you like it enough to make a big purchase, and return it without having made a huge dent in your finances.
For more information on computer rental in Toronto and computer rental in Ottawa, contact an IT professional at VernonComputerSource.com
Data Recovery Tips- How to Retrieve Lost Data?
Thursday, 27 August 2009
- Do not try to run the system after crash
- Avoid using any software utility in an attempt of recovering data
- A crashed hard drive might catch more damages if is subjected to extreme temperature, shocks and vibrations etc. Avoid them
- Do not attempt to open the hard drive as airborne particles might damage it further
- If you observe clicking and grinding noises emanating from hard drive, turn off the computer immediately
- The best remedy to recover data is to stop working with the system, place it safely in anti-static and anti-shock packing and consult a reputed data recovery company for further assistance
- Use your computer and media as little as possible until you recover the data. More activities on the media might result into data overwriting. For best results, do not use the system anymore
- Try to make more and more free space available on disk containing your lost files. This helps reducing odds of data overwriting
- Avoid the use of disk defragmentation and volume repair like utilities
- Do not use the same disk to install data recovery software. Use a slave or some other removable media for the same and specify a safe location to restore the lost data
- Look for a reliable, safe and comprehensive data recovery tools to recover data logically
Jacob Luis is a student of Mass Communication doing research on PST Recovery. He is also a ntfs data recovery Specialist.
Type of Processors Architectures
x86: AMD and Intel computers, could include optimizations from the 386 to the Pentium IV to the Athlon XP
x86-64: Computers with chips that use the AMD64 64-bit extensions, known in the Intel camp as EM64T. These chips include the Athlon64, Opteron, Pentium 4 600 series, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, and modern Xeons
PPC: PowerPC chips, including the Apple G3, G4, and G5 (in 32-bit mode), possibly other IBM Power chips
PPC64: PowerPC 64-bit chips, including the Apple G5, possibly other IBM Power chips
Eden: LiveCDs specifically made for the VIA Eden platform. Because these are based on the x86 instruction set, x86 LiveCDs may work too.
Xbox: Made for the XBox, may require software or hardware mods to run
IA-64: Itanium and Itanium2 platforms
Sparc64: SUN Sparc 64-bit platform
Alpha: Alpha platform, once made by DEC, then Compaq, and now being phased out by HP
Mips: Some SGI platforms
HPPA: Also known as PA-RISC, made by HP, also being phased out
