How to speed up your computer

[Cardboardsnail]

First thread :)

Hooray!
Anyway...lets get down to business.

Q)My computer is slowing down! Why? How do I fix it?

A) This can be caused by a large number of things

-Scan your computer for Spyware. If you need help on what to use to scan for spyware, try Spybot:Search and Destroy
To avoid having spyware come back, be careful about what you download and don't visit sites that aren't safe. Generally, unsafe sites have lots of popups and ads.

-Defragment your hard drive (And do so every month or 2)

-Clear useless files and/or programs that you don't use anymore

-If you haven't cleaned out your computer in a while (if ever), open up the side and blow the dust off the components and vacuum the dust that falls to the bottom of your case. Then use canned air to blow any caked in dust that may have accumulated in your CPU's heatsink. Then suck the dust you blew out.
How does dust slow your computer? Processors since Pentium 4 throttle (lower "ghz") when they reach a certain temperature in order to prevent burning.
Sometimes the dust buildup causes so much heat that your computer can automatically shut down (thanks HiiEN)

-Use disk cleanup (Right click your C drive in "My computer" and select "Properties"
There should be an option for disk cleanup.)


-CCleaner is a great program to use (Thanks Greg)

-Check your disk for errors (Thanks Lyssa)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...ips/kbtip.mspx

Quotes galore.

Spoiler

start>run>msconfig
and then you can disable any programs you don't need your computer to automatically run on startup, it helps restarts go alot faster.

If you use a laptop like I do, a notebook cooler is a godsend. It prevents the components from getting too hot by circulating air around it.

Originally Posted by Darklai
Virtual Memory
Virtual memory acts as extra RAM for your computer, used off your hard drive.
My Computer -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintence -> System -> Advance -> Performance [Settings...] -> Advanced Tab -> Virtual Memory [Change]
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...ress/guide.jpg <- Image of the box

Depending on the free space of your HD, how much to set. Your computer will give you a recommended amount at the bottom of the box, which is what it most likely has allocated. If your computer has the HD space, double the recommended amount as your min, and multiply that amount by 1.5 to set the max amount. Once finished, press OK.

Also, remember... A clean desktop is a happy desktop. The less items on there, the faster it will be when you minimize and switch windows.

1. This is just a quick tip for those who want to Zakum but are afraid they're going to lag out. Right before Zakum, I suggest turning off your computer and giving it a few minutes before you reboot. That way, the RAM will clear itself and you won't have weird things hogging your memory. The next step is up open up Task Manager and kill the 'explorer.exe' task. At first, you might be a little freaked and want to kill me because your desktop disappears. But don't worry, you can fix that. Killing the explorer.exe task will make it so your CPU uses about 1% of its power. Very handy when you're scared of lag, and your computer is going to run like the wind. After your Zakum run, just fire up Task manager again by using the 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' combo in Windows XP or the 'Ctrl+Shift+Esc' combo in Vista. Select 'File'>'New Task' and type 'explorer.exe'.

2. Another tip. Instead of using the MSConfig tool, I prefer using a little program called WinPatrol (which you can find here). This is a really nifty program that not only gives you the power to stop certain programs from running at startup, you can do many other things with the tool. You can use it as a task manager and see all the tasks which are running (without having the complicated Task manager Processes nonsense), and you can also choose to delay the startup of some programs. For example, if I want my chat client to run at startup but don't want it hogging my memory space when everything else is starting up, I can set the delay for my chat protocol to start a minute after everything else has loaded. This is an extremely useful tool and I think it's much better than MSConfig.

3. On the note of Virus' and Spyware, I suggest that you buy a few products. Virus' and Spyware are the main reasons most computers are really slow. I know, free things are always good, but some commercial products are really much better than the free products. I suggest getting NOD32 and/or Kaspersky. Both will rip your wallet apart, but I personally love both of those programs. If you feel like you want to stick with free programs, that's also fine. I just suggest getting a good Firewall (I prefer Comodo Pro Free as opposed to Zonealarm.)

When you're scanning your computer, update the virus database to the latest version, and then reboot your computer. As you're rebooting, press F8 or F12 to get into a thing called Safe Mode. (The button you press varies, but most of the time there will be a screen telling you what to press.) In Safe Mode, a lot of the program features are disabled, which means that virus' are isolated making it easier for your Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware program to detect. Hope this helps.

Here's another post for the quotes galore;

Microsoft Bootvis.

In short, Microsoft Bootvis makes your computer run faster by gathering the scattered boot files in your hard drive.

This url prodives more explanation and a simple guide on how to use Bootvis. Or if you don't feel like reading, graphs and all that jazz, download it, go to Trace and click on Optimize System. Download here

Hopefully, your computer will be faster after you do these things.

Taking suggestions for more things to do to speed up computers

[Mark]

Start > Run > type in services.msc > disable any unnecessary programs.

Use Google for more information so you don't pineapple up.

[Greg22]

www.ccleaner.com

[jessiebelle]

start>run>msconfig
and then you can disable any programs you don't need your computer to automatically run on startup, it helps restarts go alot faster.

[Magus]

In my experience XP and Vista don't really need disk defragmentation as much as older OSes such as 95, 98, and ME.

[Cardboardsnail]

In my experience XP and Vista don't really need disk defragmentation as much as older OSes such as 95, 98, and ME.

They still need defrags once in a while

I had a 20% fragmented drive that just KILLED my loading times (Heck, even 5% fragmentation is pretty bad)

[Tiffany]

Cleaning the dust out of your computer actually makes it run better? As in.. speed wise?

[Cyber Akuma]

Cleaning the dust out of your computer actually makes it run better? As in.. speed wise?

Dust creates heat (or traps heat). Heat leads to many things, one being a slower system due to the many of the other things heat can cause.

[Saver]

I know that in my vista laptop, it tends to store a s@#tload of system restore data, like 40 GB in a month.

I used Tune-Up Utilities 2008 to get rid of it...as well as any other problem on my computer.
It's not free though. =[

[Dagger]

Dust creates heat (or traps heat). Heat leads to many things, one being a slower system due to the many of the other things heat can cause.

Man, I should try to clean out my desktop then, maybe that's why it's so darned slow.
:x

[dumboreozz]

JKdefrag and learn how to let it run as your screensaver :D

Performance decrease is usually from fullblown trojans though, small things like these are almost never noticeable

[Bws2cool]

Realy? Trojans can slow your comp?

For a while I was getting some >__>

Thats why my comp is so slow >:O

[Cardboardsnail]

Cleaning the dust out of your computer actually makes it run better? As in.. speed wise?

Dust insulates heat and restricts airflow through the heatsink of the CPU.
Heat can cause your processor to overheat, which in processors since Pentium 4, causes the processor to throttle clock speeds (lower your "Ghz") to prevent burning

[Saver]

Not to mention all the RAM usage during the period the computer was on.
RAM, combined with the heat, slow down your computer.

You might recall that many people always "restart their computers" before doing anything that requires some time and a smoother interaction.

[HiiEN]

Just want to throw in that overaccumulation of dust can not only slow it down greatly, but it can also affect it to the point where it can automatically shut off due to the buildup in heat.

[viperxuat]

First thread :)
-If you haven't cleaned out your computer in a while (if ever), open up the side and vacuum the dust. Then use canned air to blow any caked in dust that may have accumulated in your CPU's heatsink. Then suck the dust you blew out.
How does dust slow your computer? Processors since Pentium 4 throttle (lower "ghz") when they reach a certain temperature in order to prevent burning.
Sometimes the dust buildup causes so much heat that your computer can automatically shut down (thanks HiiEN)

WHAT?! You can't do that! Putting a vaccuum to your computer could cause static electricity which could potentially damage hardware components.

The best thing to do is buy a can of aersol and blow air into the computer. best to do so outside, so the dust isn't everywhere in your house.

[Cardboardsnail]

WHAT?! You can't do that! Putting a vaccuum to your computer could cause static electricity which could potentially damage hardware components.

The best thing to do is buy a can of aersol and blow air into the computer. best to do so outside, so the dust isn't everywhere in your house.

Not directly to the computer components
Blow the dust to the bottom of your case and suck it from there


Thanks for catching my poor wording :p

[Lyssa]

WHAT?! You can't do that! Putting a vaccuum to your computer could cause static electricity which could potentially damage hardware components.

The best thing to do is buy a can of aersol and blow air into the computer. best to do so outside, so the dust isn't everywhere in your house.

Why on earth would you go outside to do this? >_> Just vacuum the room after you're done blowing the dust around.

Also, AdAware is a nice program for a more in-depth scan of your HD for spyware and other junk. I've used it along with SpyBot on all of our Windows boxes.

http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php <--official download link, though I have heard the 2008 edition was giving people issues earlier. Not sure if that's been resolved or not.

Also, perhaps include info on checking the disk for errors, if it's running slowly? A damaged drive doesn't work as well as a fully healthy one ;]

~Lyssa

[Lylac]

If you use a laptop like I do, a notebook cooler is a godsend. It prevents the components from getting too hot by circulating air around it.

[Cardboardsnail]

Why on earth would you go outside to do this? >_> Just vacuum the room after you're done blowing the dust around.

Also, AdAware is a nice program for a more in-depth scan of your HD for spyware and other junk. I've used it along with SpyBot on all of our Windows boxes.

http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php <--official download link, though I have heard the 2008 edition was giving people issues earlier. Not sure if that's been resolved or not.

Also, perhaps include info on checking the disk for errors, if it's running slowly? A damaged drive doesn't work as well as a fully healthy one ;]

~Lyssa

The 2008 version is more trouble than it's worth, and when it does work, it only seems to find tracking cookies o_o (At least, from my experience)