Kashio
08-10-2008, 09:30 AM
Many of you may know a whole bunch of tricks and tips on keeping your computer clean, and running healthy, but here's a few things to try.
Here is my PC Tune-up Process:
***********
Before you begin, it's a good idea to create a system restore point, incase you really screw up. Here is how:
Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore
Click to create a new restore point, and name it appropriately.
***********
1) Desktop Items:
The more you have, the slower your computer will start up.
Plain and simple. Usually under 10 is perfect, and only if they're shortcuts.
Your desktop isn't Pictures/Music/programs folder.
2) Startup Items:
Here's something not a lot of people know.
The less Startup items you have selected, the faster your computer will start up, and most of the time, over-all performance will improve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
XP
Click Start -> click "Run.." -> type "msconfig" -> click over to Startup tab.
Vista
Click Start -> click Start Search -> type "msconfig" -> press Enter -> click over to Startup tab.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now here, you can de-select anything your heart desires
Be careful!
Messing with some of this stuff can really make things weird.
If you don't know what something is, search it. You can use www.processlibrary.com to find most of the items.
**NOTE:
NvCpl.exe is most-of-the-time NOT a virus. It is nVidia Control Panel. Unless you have suspicions, it's safe, but disabling it will not harm anything.
3) Recycle Bin:
Empty it. You don't need to save 10% of your HDD. Empty it, and do it often.
Even right-click on it, go into it's properties, and set it to save 3%. Not 10. 10 is crazy.
4) Add/Remove Programs:
Go through it, and get rid of anything you're not using. There's no sense in having useless programs/crappy games/etc installed if you know you don't need/want.
To access is:
XP
Click Start -> click Control Panel -> double-click Add/Remove Programs
Vista
Click Start -> click Computer -> Click on your drive, and on the top area, it will say "Uninstall or change a program". Go ahead and click on that.
5) Toolbars:
For IE:
If you're using IE7, you don't need Google/Yahoo/etc Toolbars. You should use Step 4 to remove them. No Toolbar is a useful toolbar.
For advanced IE settings
- Open Internet Explorer.
- On the Tools menu, click Manage Add-ons.
Look through them. Some you need, others you don't, and if you're
not sure, look it up.
6) Disk Cleanup:
This clears Temp files, and things of this nature. I suggest using it once weekly, maybe even every 2 weeks.
Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup.
It will take a little while, but it will definitely clear out some useless stuff and save you some space.
7) Set Internet Explorer Cache:
If you find your Internet Browsing is slow, you can change cache settings in Internet Explorer that change how temporary Internet files are used to improve browsing performance.
A handy guide can be found here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263070#top).
ALSO:
Make sure you have Script Debugging disabled:
Open IE -> tools-> internet options-> Advanced
Unless you're going to re-code website's HTML, it's useless. More information can be found here (http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/314).
<At this point, go ahead and restart your computer. Was it any faster this time 'round?>
After a Restart, a little box will come up explaining that some Services/Start-up items have been disabled. Don't panic, this is normal.
8) Defragmentation:
It's always good to run a Disk Defragmentation once every 1-2 months.
If you don't know what it is, the best way to explain it is to think of your hard drive as a messy book case. The Disk Defragmentation sorts the books, and makes it easier to find them, making things run easier.
If it's never been done before, it could take a few hours, but after that, it should only take about 10 minutes (On standard Hard Drives, anyway).
To do this:
Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~
Hope these steps help some of you guys.
I know most of you know all this, and could probably explain it better than I have, but feel free to comment.
Did anyone experiance changes?
Here is my PC Tune-up Process:
***********
Before you begin, it's a good idea to create a system restore point, incase you really screw up. Here is how:
Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore
Click to create a new restore point, and name it appropriately.
***********
1) Desktop Items:
The more you have, the slower your computer will start up.
Plain and simple. Usually under 10 is perfect, and only if they're shortcuts.
Your desktop isn't Pictures/Music/programs folder.
2) Startup Items:
Here's something not a lot of people know.
The less Startup items you have selected, the faster your computer will start up, and most of the time, over-all performance will improve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
XP
Click Start -> click "Run.." -> type "msconfig" -> click over to Startup tab.
Vista
Click Start -> click Start Search -> type "msconfig" -> press Enter -> click over to Startup tab.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now here, you can de-select anything your heart desires
Be careful!
Messing with some of this stuff can really make things weird.
If you don't know what something is, search it. You can use www.processlibrary.com to find most of the items.
**NOTE:
NvCpl.exe is most-of-the-time NOT a virus. It is nVidia Control Panel. Unless you have suspicions, it's safe, but disabling it will not harm anything.
3) Recycle Bin:
Empty it. You don't need to save 10% of your HDD. Empty it, and do it often.
Even right-click on it, go into it's properties, and set it to save 3%. Not 10. 10 is crazy.
4) Add/Remove Programs:
Go through it, and get rid of anything you're not using. There's no sense in having useless programs/crappy games/etc installed if you know you don't need/want.
To access is:
XP
Click Start -> click Control Panel -> double-click Add/Remove Programs
Vista
Click Start -> click Computer -> Click on your drive, and on the top area, it will say "Uninstall or change a program". Go ahead and click on that.
5) Toolbars:
For IE:
If you're using IE7, you don't need Google/Yahoo/etc Toolbars. You should use Step 4 to remove them. No Toolbar is a useful toolbar.
For advanced IE settings
- Open Internet Explorer.
- On the Tools menu, click Manage Add-ons.
Look through them. Some you need, others you don't, and if you're
not sure, look it up.
6) Disk Cleanup:
This clears Temp files, and things of this nature. I suggest using it once weekly, maybe even every 2 weeks.
Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup.
It will take a little while, but it will definitely clear out some useless stuff and save you some space.
7) Set Internet Explorer Cache:
If you find your Internet Browsing is slow, you can change cache settings in Internet Explorer that change how temporary Internet files are used to improve browsing performance.
A handy guide can be found here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263070#top).
ALSO:
Make sure you have Script Debugging disabled:
Open IE -> tools-> internet options-> Advanced
Unless you're going to re-code website's HTML, it's useless. More information can be found here (http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/314).
<At this point, go ahead and restart your computer. Was it any faster this time 'round?>
After a Restart, a little box will come up explaining that some Services/Start-up items have been disabled. Don't panic, this is normal.
8) Defragmentation:
It's always good to run a Disk Defragmentation once every 1-2 months.
If you don't know what it is, the best way to explain it is to think of your hard drive as a messy book case. The Disk Defragmentation sorts the books, and makes it easier to find them, making things run easier.
If it's never been done before, it could take a few hours, but after that, it should only take about 10 minutes (On standard Hard Drives, anyway).
To do this:
Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~
Hope these steps help some of you guys.
I know most of you know all this, and could probably explain it better than I have, but feel free to comment.
Did anyone experiance changes?