RS Bowk

As Above

How can i make my pc faster it was quick when i first bought it but now feels like its 'clogged' with crap.

On my old pcs everytime i had em wiped they used to always run a lot faster but i dont rilly wanna do that with this new 1.

Would clearing my history, cookies and tempory internet files sort this?

Also what are the consiquencies of doing this? As i remember in the past when i fuked about with the cookies it fuked other things up.

Hope you can help as im a bit of a numpty when it comes to computers lol.

Thanks in advance

Mark

RANJ

defragment the hard disk

Puss2

iTrader: (5)

thats what i did speeded it up for me

Martin-Hadland

iTrader: (2)

also run an anti spyware program

Smit

iTrader: (5)

few things to try,...

Run a virus check
Run a spyware check
Do a window wash
Lastly do a defragmentation
Then 2 restarts

See how ya go

Stu.H

NUKE IT






I do mine every few months, there are temporary files that windows 'creates' which over time start to slow things down, and no amount of defragging or spyware removal will sort it.

RS Bowk

What u mean by nuke it Stu wipe it and start again?

i have defraged it btw.

im sure theres something u do with the cookies etc and it sorts it

rs_daz

Download "Easycleaner" Thats good at cleaning up files etc
Also "Lavasoft ad aware" that clears alot of crap out..

snedboy

Try this i think its excellent m8

http://www.downloadatoz.com/wwasher/

Its the free one but if it doesnt work PM me ure msn addy and i'll pop it in a folder for you,the full version that is

vroooom ptssssh

Whats a window wash Smit and how do you do it?

snedboy

Its a program like the excellent one ive posted above

Redkop

You should clean up temp internet files weekly.
Also run Ad-Aware once a week to clear the Spyware cookies tracking running in the background on your PC.
Set the days to keep your History to 1 day in Internet Tools.

Disk cleanup: Start > Programmes > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup...... This doesn't remove your cookies, so your passwords will be safe.

Doing this simple PC maintenance once a week will speed up your PC considerably.

Do a new System Restore and then remove all previous System Restores.
Do a De-frag.

RS Bowk

REDKOP

When u say "clean up" do u mean delete all temp internet files?

RS Bowk

UP ^^^

RS Bowk

Anyone???

BM08

Ahh my specialist subject

First things first, just use this little application that will do it all for you http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
Top right hand side in blue text click on "download lastest version". Basically this will delete all the crap that every pc gets on it and it will take a matter of seconds or maybe minutes in your case as i do use this once every 2-3 weeks, first time i used ccleaner it got me back 1 gig of hard drive space( thats an awful lot if you dont know) every pc should have this installed i reckon Still use this even if you used what the other guy suggested.
Click on "run cleaner" that will start it scanning and deleting, then after its done it will list everything its deleted and tell you how much free space it gave you, then after that click on "issues" on the left then click on "scan for issues" this will scan your registry for any crap or obsolete files.

Ok thats that done, just note after using this, since it will delete cookies and stuff it will mean all your forums you visit(or anything you type a username password for) will be cleared so you'll need to re enter them on every site and then click on "log me in automatically" agian and it will then start remembering you agian.

You shouldnt have any problems doing any of the above so ill go onto the next thing, click on start bar, select "run" when the box pops up type in "msconfig" without the quotes, then you will get another box come up, click on the "startup" tab at the top and tell me how many boxs there are with green ticks in them? infact even better could you post a screenshot of this box? hit print screen key on your keyboard, open up windows paint, click EDIT then paste, save the pic and post on here and ill tell you what to do from there

Basically its a list of all the things that load up when you turn your pc on, it maybe that you have loads on there, this will effect it if you have a silly amount

rsnutters1

28 green ticks is that too many ?

Redkop

Yes and anything else that appears in the disk cleanup window, I click everything

BM08

Dont bother doing that, just do what i said and ccleaner will clear that up plus about 10 million other things

Off the website:
CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less that a second to run) and Free.

Cleans the following:

* Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat.
* Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files.
* Recently opened URLs and files.
* Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs).
Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more...
* Advanced Registry scanner and cleaner to remove unused and old entries.
Including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... Backup for registry clean.
* Windows Startup tool.

BM08

way too many ive got 9 but the trick is to untick anything you DONT need when the pc starts up, for example on my pc i want my antivirus, firewall, msn etc to load up when i turn the pc on , but things like my graphics card control panel, limewire and stuff i dont want to use all the time so whats the point it letting it load up when i switch the pc on slowing it down? disable anything you dont want and then restart the pc, as a rule if your unsure what something is dont disable it, type it into google and it will tell you exactly what it is dont be frightened of disabling anything though as you cant screw up your pc or anything, at worst you just wont have a programme loaded up and you will have to click on the icon to start it manually, if you did disable something you didnt mean to then just go back onto the programmes options and set it to run on start up agian

Puss2

iTrader: (5)

Hers mine what do you think mate

Top half


Bottom half

Stu.H

RSBowk

Yeh thats what I do every few months, then I *know* its 100% fresh

BM08

stu disk cleanup works yeah, but download ccleaner and run AFTER disk cleanup, you will be surprised how much it misses

BM08

puss doesnt seem too bad from the amount of things, but i cant read anything because the pic is too small

Some of things are obvious, like if you have zonealarm firewall it will say "ZLCLIENT" so obviously you want that on there, something that you cant work out put the process name in google and it will tell you what it is.

rsnutters1

cheers mate, will have alook later and clear it out !!

BM08

no worries mate, i know most people will probably think as long as my pc works i dont care, but you will care when your pc runs at a snails pace keep things in check and it wont go noticeably slower for a long time

RS Bowk

Cheers GTi iTG your a big help im gunna have a sit down and do what u said tommorow.

Puss2

iTrader: (5)

Cheers Damm resizer

BM08

i know

BM08

no worries chap, any questions just pm me

rsnutters1

got it down to 5 and its lightning now !

cheers chap

BM08

Excellent, just make sure if you install any other programmes to check msconfig because alot of programmes once installed decide to add themselfs to your startup without your knowledge, thats probably why you had 28

Glad its faster

RS Bowk

Cheers Mate u have PM

Turbocabbie

overclock it

Turbocabbie

10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows XP

1. Disable Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don’t search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

* Go to Start
* Click Settings
* Click Control Panel
* Double-click Add/Remove Programs
* Click the Add/Remove Window Components
* Uncheck the Indexing services
* Click Next

2. Optimise Display Settings

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

* Go to Start
* Click Settings
* Click Control Panel
* Click System
* Click Advanced tab
* In the Performance tab click Settings
* Leave only the following ticked:

* Show shadows under menus
* Show shadows under mouse pointer
* Show translucent selection rectangle
* Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
* Use visual styles on windows and buttons

3. Speedup Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

* Open My Computer
* Click on Tools menu
* Click on Folder Options
* Click on the View tab.
* Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
* Click Apply
* Click Ok
* Reboot your computer

4. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC’s performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

To disable:

* download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List

* Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom.button below

5. Improve Memory Usage

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

Once Installed:

* Go to Show Wizard and select All
* Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing
* Exit and Save Cacheman
* Restart Windows

6. Optimise your internet connection

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

* Download and install
* Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
* Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
* Check Optimal Settings then Apply
* Reboot

7. Optimise Your Pagefile

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

* Right click on My Computer and select Properties
* Select the Advanced tab
* Under Performance choose the Settings button
* Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
* Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

8. Run BootVis - Improve Boot Times

BootVis will significantly improve boot times

* Download and Run
* Select Trace
* Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
* A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
* Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system’s boot process. When it’s done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
* Reboot.
* When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete

9. Remove the Desktop Picture

Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.

* Right click on Desktop and select Properties
* Select the Desktop tab
* In the Background window select None
* Click Ok

10. Remove Fonts for Speed

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down
to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

* Open Control Panel
* Open Fonts folder
* Move fonts you don’t need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few
of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

if you find these tips usefull I will post some advanced tweaks for the more adventurous of you

_DAN_

Cheers mate, only done a couple of them (those without the programs.) And it's tons better.

dsgtrain

For ultimate speed without adjusting any hardware is doing a Clean install of Windows. Obliviously, this is out of reach of most people so a good crap clear out would be best then a De-Frag (with Diskeeper not Windows own program). Another good one is disabling Windows XP's visual themes. All of the above will also improve speed.

Dave

Eagle

iTrader: (2)

did a few of the above 10 tips and found an immidiate improvment in speed .. cheers mate

cabrio boy

what about vista? ive got a dell laptop i put loads of pics on there from time to time and the computer runs really slow at times even if with no pics on there cant follow the guidlines but to no sucess ive used cc for a while but even that doesnt make it run that much quicker / any ideas??