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Computer speed
- Thread starter hatmanok
- Start date
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
choucove
New Member
There's several tools and things I do on multiple computers a week to help speed them up. First things first, use the Disk Cleanup utility to remove temporary files from your computer. This utility is in the All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools folder in your Start menu.
Next, turn off any unnecessary startup items using MSCONFIG. Now, this is something you have to be careful with, and if you don't know how to use it and what specifically needs to be turned off or left on, then I'd suggest not messing with it, but it's what makes the biggest difference in system performance I find. Use the startup tab to uncheck the items that don't need to start up automatically in Windows, such as MSN Messenger, Quicktime, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office, the list goes on and on. The less you have loading at start up, the faster the entire system will perform.
Next, you can run a scan using the program Malwarebytes. It's free to download from http://www.malwarebytes.org and is pretty straight forward. This will search for and remove malware, beyond just viruses, and get rid of a lot of things that are hiding in the background using up resources, using up network bandwidth, and possibly even monitoring your usage and sending it off to somewhere else. Let it scan and then remove all of the threats that it detects.
Now, from there it really comes down to a more customized system. What kind of operating system are you running? What computer hardware? What anti-virus software do you use? Details like this can determine what else can be done to help fine-tune performance.
Next, turn off any unnecessary startup items using MSCONFIG. Now, this is something you have to be careful with, and if you don't know how to use it and what specifically needs to be turned off or left on, then I'd suggest not messing with it, but it's what makes the biggest difference in system performance I find. Use the startup tab to uncheck the items that don't need to start up automatically in Windows, such as MSN Messenger, Quicktime, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office, the list goes on and on. The less you have loading at start up, the faster the entire system will perform.
Next, you can run a scan using the program Malwarebytes. It's free to download from http://www.malwarebytes.org and is pretty straight forward. This will search for and remove malware, beyond just viruses, and get rid of a lot of things that are hiding in the background using up resources, using up network bandwidth, and possibly even monitoring your usage and sending it off to somewhere else. Let it scan and then remove all of the threats that it detects.
Now, from there it really comes down to a more customized system. What kind of operating system are you running? What computer hardware? What anti-virus software do you use? Details like this can determine what else can be done to help fine-tune performance.
OldPaint
New Member
what do you have, for processor to begin with???? this will help. i had a 1.7 gig single processor and when i bought a new computer i moved up to a 2.8 quad core AMD. more sufficient for all i do. with the 1.7 no matter what i did, it still ran slow, which is what anything below a 2 gig does. ram will make a diff IF YOUR O/S will handle anymore then 2 gig. XP, will only recognize 2 gig, anything more is a waste of money.
jiarby
New Member
ccleaner is a good program for cleaning out junk temp files & such...
Use taskmanager to see why your pc is running slow.
Are you out of ram and doing page swaps to virtual memory?
Is some process maxing out cpu utilization?
Too much many start up apps (updaters, listeners, monitors, etc...)
If you just boot up and are idling at a desktop how much ram is being used?? 150kb? 750kb? How much ram do you have?
How big is your HDD? How full is it?
There are a million things that can impact the user experience... it could be some of them, or even all of them! There is no "easy button"/
Use taskmanager to see why your pc is running slow.
Are you out of ram and doing page swaps to virtual memory?
Is some process maxing out cpu utilization?
Too much many start up apps (updaters, listeners, monitors, etc...)
If you just boot up and are idling at a desktop how much ram is being used?? 150kb? 750kb? How much ram do you have?
How big is your HDD? How full is it?
There are a million things that can impact the user experience... it could be some of them, or even all of them! There is no "easy button"/
round man
New Member
another couple of tools to speed things up are eusing's free registry cleaner and spybot search and destroy. Ram can often as not speed things up if your system needs and can address more than it already has,....usually the only sure fire way to speed things up is to upgrade the system to a faster processor and more ram,...if you have the money a solid state hard drive will show a very noticeable improvement in system speed
choucove
New Member
I as well will recommend Avast, it's been one of the best antivirus software out there for many years now, they have a free version that hands down beats out any other free antivirus software, and even beats out a vast majority of the annual-pay-for-use antivirus. I've been using it for a good six years now and have not been disappointed once.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
I'm still using AVGFree and haven't noticed any slowdown associated with it, though I'll keep a lookout
Mike Lin's startup contol is a great tool
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
That in combination with checking which services are loading automatically is a good start
Right click My computer > Manage > Services Tab and look for running services. You can check which are set to start automatically, manually etc.
Tip before setting anything to disabled, check the dependencies and go to manual start if unsure as a first step.
Also keep notes as it's easy to lose track.
There are also some in there which are set to start automatically and IMHO are a security risk, Remote Registry is one in particular, though later service packs of XP have changed this default to disabled.
It's not uncommon to find services related to uninstalled programs and virus scanners still listed, these are safe to disable.
Whilst in the computer management, it's also a good idea to check the error logs, particularly System and look for errors as a slowdown which won't give popup mesages, like drive access will be listed.
Often times drive access errors will just need the cable reseated, but it alows you to catch drives before they fail.
I check the error logs weekly as good practice - like checking the oil, water and tyre pressures.
peace out
Glenn
Mike Lin's startup contol is a great tool
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
That in combination with checking which services are loading automatically is a good start
Right click My computer > Manage > Services Tab and look for running services. You can check which are set to start automatically, manually etc.
Tip before setting anything to disabled, check the dependencies and go to manual start if unsure as a first step.
Also keep notes as it's easy to lose track.
There are also some in there which are set to start automatically and IMHO are a security risk, Remote Registry is one in particular, though later service packs of XP have changed this default to disabled.
It's not uncommon to find services related to uninstalled programs and virus scanners still listed, these are safe to disable.
Whilst in the computer management, it's also a good idea to check the error logs, particularly System and look for errors as a slowdown which won't give popup mesages, like drive access will be listed.
Often times drive access errors will just need the cable reseated, but it alows you to catch drives before they fail.
I check the error logs weekly as good practice - like checking the oil, water and tyre pressures.
peace out
Glenn