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Thread: Improve your computer speed

  1. #1

    Sword Improve your computer speed

    This guide describes simple ways to improve your computer's performance without modifying, or adding additional hardware to your PC. It's safe for anyone to use, Just follow the instructions carefully.


    Contents:

    Removing Startup Items
    Re-Arrange Boot Files
    Increase Explorer Responsiveness
    Disable NTFS Functions
    Improve Page File Performance
    Regular Disk Maintenance
    Firewall and AntiVirus Alternatives
    Ensure Your System is Spyware-Free
    Freeware Alternatives to Well-Known programs
    Services Tweaks
    Increase Firefox Browsing Speed


    System Tweaker

    I've added a bunch of tweaks to optimize the performance of your computer. They're somewhat more difficult than the rest listed here, so I created a small "package" to do the work for you.
    The pack optimizes the system's memory management, cleans up explorer toolbars, and applies registry tweaks based on your system. It's not one of those large "System Optimizers" that do absolutely nothing noticable, as it contains all of the tweaks listed here, and then some.
    Simply download, extract, and run the .bat file. If you suspect a virus of some sort, Simply right-click each of the files contained and select "Edit", or open them with Notepad. You can verify the contents is 100% Safe.
    The batch file will ask you 3 questions, then will request you reboot your PC. Once you reboot, you'll notice improved overall performance, regardless of your system's specifications.
    Download


    Removing Startup Items

    Many unnecessary programs will automatically run in the background every time you log on or turn on your computer. This can drastically decrease boot times, And will also add to RAM usage, as the programs stay running in the background. To limit the number of applications that start upon logon:
    Click "Start", Select "Run", and type "MSCONFIG", without quotes. Press "OK", and "System Configuration Utility" will pop up. Navigate to the "Startup" tab, And deselect any programs that you'll either start manually, or don't constantly need running.
    Remember to be strict about what you allow to run upon startup, As a lot of the listed items are unnecessary. Such items that belong to hardware drivers are also unnecessary, because Windows loads the appropriate drivers anyway.

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    Re-Arrange Boot Files

    From the moment you install Windows XP, Data becomes scattered across your hard drive, Whether it's fragmented or not, Files are in all different locations of the platters, And during startup, Your boot time will suffer significantly.
    Microsoft's BootVis utility, Recommended by Ferron, was designed specifically to correct this, and to re-arrange all the files that are used to boot the system. This reduces Hard drive seeking time, And will decrease overall boot time significantly.
    Note: This utility is for use ONLY with Windows XP.
    Download BootVis
    BootVis Tutorial

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    Increase Explorer Responsiveness

    There are several ways to increase file and folder browsing when using any Microsoft Windows operating system. Several are listed below:
    Disable Auto-Network Search
    Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:
    Open any Explorer Window, for example, "My Computer". Click "Tools", Select "Folder Options". Click on the "View" tab. Uncheck the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" checkbox, Then click Apply, and OK. Afterwards, Reboot your PC.

    Disable Indexing Service
    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 it, go to the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs. Click the Add/Remove Window Components. Simply unclick the Indexing services and click next. (For some systems only).

    Decrease Menu Delay
    This little tweak just makes your computer "Feel" faster. You don't have to wait around a second after hovering your mouse over a menu before it shows. To enable this small tweak:
    Go to Start then Run, Type ‘Regedit’ then click ‘Ok’. Find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Control Panel>Desktop”, Select “MenuShowDelay” , Right click and select “Modify’ Reduce the number to around ~50? You can choose whatever suits you, I personally use 25. Finally, Reboot.
    If you don't feel comfortable changing items in your registry, I've included a file with the tweak, And the original setting, Should you decide you want to revert back to the the default. Menu Tweak

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    Disable NTFS Functions

    If you're running a system with NTFS, as opposed to FAT32, You've got a lot of things happening "behind the scenes" with your data that will slow down access times. The NTFS Filesystem, by default, Will log each time you access or modify a file.

    Disable NTFS 8.3 Filenames

    Go to "Start", click "Run", and Type: "fsutil behavior set disable8dot3 1" without quotes.

    Disable NTFS Last Access Time

    Go to "Start", "Run", and Type: "fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1" without quotes.

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    Improve Page File Performance

    If you've got 256MB of RAM or more (XP), or 1GB Of RAM or more (Vista), The following tweaks, suggested by Walridge3, will considerably increase overall system performance with either Windows XP or Windows Vista.

    If you choose not to use the included, Pre-made Registry Entries, I highly suggest you Back Up your Registry. I've written a small batch file to do this for you, and you can download it here.

    Disable Paging Executive
    Windows XP and Windows Vista both use the Paging file rather poorly. They start using the Page File (Virtual RAM) Before your Physical RAM is actually full. As you know already, Physical RAM is much faster than your Hard Drive, And Virtual RAM is, in fact, stored on the hard drive. Because the hard drive is so much slower than RAM, It takes more time to copy to, and read from, the Virtual RAM.
    To force your operating system to use all of your RAM Before it starts using the Page File;
    Go to "Start", and open "Regedit".
    Go to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Contro l>Session Manager>Memory Management>DisablePagingExecutive.
    Right-Click it, And click "Modify...", Then, Change the value from 0 to 1.
    If you're not risking modifying your registry, Which I suggest you don't unless you've got an idea about what you're doing, I've included the keys with both the Tweak, And the Microsoft Default setting. You can download the tweak from this link .

    System Cache Boost
    This tweak forces your operating system to allocate all but 4MB of system memory to the file system cache, allowing the Kernel to run entirely in memory. The 4MB of memory left is used for disk caching, if more is needed, XP allocates more.
    This tweak will considerably improve performance if you've got 256MB of RAM for more (Windows XP), or 1GB of RAM or more (Vista) .
    To Enable this tweak;
    Go to "Start", and open "Regedit".
    Go to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Contro l>Session Manager>Memory Management>LargeSystemCache.
    Right-Click it, And click "Modify...", Then change the Value from 0 to 1. Click OK.
    Once again, If you're not risking editing the registry, The keys have been uploaded for your convenience, And they're located here.

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    Regular Disk Maintenance

    CCleaner
    Over time, Clutter on your hard drive will accumulate. This will hinder your computer's performance, and may prevent you from installing applications in the future due to lack of disk space. A useful utility to remove such junk files is called "CCleaner".
    CCleaner has been designed to delete temporary, and unnecessary files from your PC with a single click. It's a very convenient program.
    CCleaner Download

    Disk Defragmenter
    When files are read and written regularly, Files tend to become Fragmented. This occurs when pieces of files are located on different areas of the hard drive. Because the hard drive is actually a mechanical device with moving parts, Data access time will be improved if the read/write heads don't have to seek out the information on the disks themselves.
    Microsoft has included a Disk Defragmenting program, Which can be accessed through the "Start" menu.
    To run Disk Defragmenter, Simply go to:
    Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools.
    Note, The defragmenting process may take up to an hour, Depending on how often you defragment, and how large your hard drive is.
    You can program your computer to automatically defragment your drive when your computer isn't in use, for example, while you're sleeping.
    To do this, go to: Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Scheduled Tasks.
    I've uploaded a copy of my job properties for you to download. Link
    Save the file to your desktop, Open Scheduled Tasks, and drag the file onto the Scheduled Tasks window. The job properties can be edited to suit your needs, but It's set to defrag daily, at 4:53AM.

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    Firewall and AntiVirus Alternatives


    Many popular AntiVirus applications, especially Symantec's Norton AntiVirus, Uses a lot of system resources. It can be replaced with much smaller, and in my opinion, more efficient programs. The two I'm suggesting here are "AVG AntiVirus" and "Avast! AntiVirus". They're both freeware, And offer superb realtime virus protection.
    Avast! AntiVirus
    AVG Free Edition

    Additional Firewall Applications

    Myth - "The Windows XP Firewall is not good enough because it lacks outbound filtering."

    Reality - "I believe there are a lot of incorrect assumptions and outright myths about outbound filtering. I really like the Firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). It is lightweight, centrally manageable, does the job well, is unobtrusive, and does something very critical: it protects the system at boot. That last one is crucial; we have seen many systems in the past get infected during boot even with a firewall turned on. Any outbound host-based firewall filtering in Windows XP is really just meaningless as a security feature in my opinion. True, it stops some malware, today, but only because current malware has not been written to circumvent it. There simply are not enough environments that implement outbound rules for the mass market malware authors to need to worry about it. In an interactive attack the attacker can circumvent outbound filters at will. To see how, consider this. Circumventing outbound host-based firewall filters can be accomplished in several ways, depending on the scenario of the actual attack. First, the vast majority of Windows XP users run as administrators, and any malware running as an administrator can disable the firewall entirely. Of course, even if the outbound filter requires interaction from the user to open a port, the malware can cause the user to be presented with a sufficiently enticing and comprehensible dialog, that explains that without clicking "Yes" they will not ever get to see the "dancing pigs". See, the problem is that when the user is running as an administrator, or the evil code runs as an administrator, there is a very good chance that either the user or the code will simply disable the protection. Of course, the user does not really see that dialog, because it is utterly meaningless to users. That is problem number one with outbound filtering. Given the choice between security and sufficiently enticing rewards, like "dancing pigs", the "dancing pigs" will win every time. If the malware can either directly or indirectly turn off the protection, it will do so. The second problem is that even if the user, for some inexplicable reason clicked "No. Bug me again" or if the evil code is running in using a low-privileged account, such as Network Service, the malware can easily step right around the firewall other ways. As long as the account the code is running as can open outbound connections on any port the evil code can simply use that port. Ah, but outbound Firewalls can limit outbound traffic on a particular port to specific process. Not a problem, we just piggy back on an existing process that is allowed. Only if the recipient of the traffic filters based on both source and destination port, and extremely few services do that, is this technique for bypassing the firewall meaningful. The key problem is that most people think outbound host-based firewall filtering will keep a compromised asset from attacking other assets. This is impossible. Putting protective measures on a compromised asset and asking it not to compromise any other assets simply does not work. Protection belongs on the asset you are trying to protect, not the one you are trying to protect against! Asking the bad guys not to steal stuff after they have already broken into your house is unlikely to be nearly as effective as keeping them from breaking into the house in the first place." - Copied from http://mywebpages.comcast.net

    If you're too lazy to read the above "Lecture" about the XP Firewall, What it basically tells you is that the XP Firewall provides excellent protection from Attackers, Even at boot.
    It's lightweight, Uses very little system resources, Which means your PC will have more available RAM, thus increasing overall speed and responsiveness of your computer.
    If you have Windows Firewall enabled, I highly recommend disabling/uninstalling other Firewall programs such as ZoneAlarm, or Norton Firewall.

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    Ensure your system is Spyware-Free

    Spyware of all types can degrade performance significantly. Two programs I'm recommending here are free ways to keep your PC Spyware and Malware free, that work alongside AntiVirus programs.
    Spybot - Search & Destroy
    Spybot Search & Destroy is an easy to use program that will scan your PC for Spyware, and will generally delete what's found to be malicious.
    You can download Spyware S&D for free, here.
    Credits to ZYBlade

    HijackThis
    HijackThis is a program that scans your PC for everything.. Literally. It'll show all your running processes, Startup items, etc. This program is generally used to eliminate severe cases of Malware, that Spybot S&D can't delete alone.
    The best way to use this is to do a scan, and upload the saved log file to MediaFire. PM The link; And the results will be sent to you ASAP.
    As far as I know, The only two people that are "Qualified" to do this are Myself and Mindstormer.
    Download HijackThis

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    Increase Web Browsing Speed in Firefox

    The following tweak can cause some browsing errors when surfing websites with crappy servers, But besides that, It works great, and can almost double the browsing speed. You need Firefox to use this tweak, It will not work for Internet Explorer.
    To enable this tweak:
    Close all Firefox windows. Open 1 Firefox window, And type "about:config" in the address bar. You'll get a long list of options (Which is normal).
    Locate the entry labeled "network.http.pipelining". Double-Click it, So that it becomes "True".
    Find the entry labeled "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", Then double-click it. A window will pop up asking you to enter an integer value. Enter a value of your choice. I use 90, but it does cause some errors with websites that operate on a slow server. Any number above 25 will suffice. Click OK.
    Finally, Right-click anywhere in the window, Select "New", and then choose "Integer". A window will pop up labeled "New integer value". In the text box, Name the new integer value "nglayout.initialpaint.delay". Press OK, and a new window will pop up. In the text box, Set the value to "0".

    You can also disable the annoying little Site Logo that appears beside the address, In the address bar. This image, although small, does create additional lag while browsing the page for the first time, As the image must be downloaded. To disable this:

    Type "about:config" in the Firefox Address bar, And locate the entry "browser.chrome.site_icons". Double-Click it to make it False, And the icons will no longer be shown.

    More useful tweaks can be found here!


    Freeware Alternatives to Well-Known programs

    There are a lot of extremely large programs that cost a lot of money, and many of you probably own some of these pieces of software. Here's a list of alternative programs, Most of which suggested by Che of the forums. All of the following programs have been tested by Che, and are used by both him and I on a regular basis. The following software is fully compatible with Windows Vista.
    Iceows Another lightweight alternative to WinRAR, and uses the explorer shell, much like WinRAR. Credits to Walridge
    InfraRecorder:It replaces nero hands down. It's fast, free, and above all, It's under 3MB to download. It makes Nero users feel right at home.
    7-Zip Archiver: It replaces all other archiving software, and supports most archive formats from ACE to ZIP. It's a smaller, and more lightweight replacement for WinRAR and WinZip
    Foxit PDF Reader: Because adobe pdf reader is for noobs (excuse my language).
    Foobar2000: A minimalistic media player that has built-in support for common and some rare audio formats. Very resource friendly.
    OpenOffice: A free alternative to Microsoft Office. Comes with Microsoft Office file format support AND, is about 3/4 smaller than Microsoft Office 2007.
    Paint.NET: A fairly small Microsoft Paint replacement. It is powerful enough to even do some things that Photoshop can do. It is rather versatile.
    GIMP Another Free, Photoshop alternative. Available for Windows, Linux, Mac, and FreeBSD. Credits to iMicrosoft
    Mumble: A low latency audio chat server/client application. It provides superb audio quality over Skype and Ventrillo.
    uTorrent: One of the most popular Bit torrent clients out there. Amazingly small and works like a charm.
    Mozilla FireFox: Most of you use and love this browser, so I won't say much about it.
    Mozilla Thunderbird: Because Outlook Express is a major security risk!
    GOM Player: With this multimedia application, you don't need any codec packs that cause conflicts with each other.
    VLC: If GOM Player isn't your thing.
    AbiWord: An opensource word application. Does the trick for little school essays and small assignments for class.

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    Services Tweaks


    The Services Tweaks are now located in the "System Tweaker". This is to prevent any errors resulting from pre-configured services.

    Top of Page
    _______________________
    Updated Jan 4th; 3:46PM. :D

  2. #2

    Default

    ... I'm not so sure I'd recommend doing any of the above beyond a defrag of a system every now and again and of course, ensuring a system is free of spyware/adaware/viruses. Most of what's listed may free up some memory for better but rather unnoticeable performance while compromising the functions of other programs.

    In the end if your computer is not up to snuff to what you want it to do, or is too slow for your patience - then the best alternatives are hardware upgrades... which can be accomplished very easily and on a low budget with more noticeable results that don't have the chance of screwing up your software or OS.

    Again... recommend against doing most of what's been put forth (even more so for a novice to computers).

  3. #3

    Dice

    K thanks for your comments

  4. #4
    Blue bird of friendliness penguinzrock's Avatar
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    Hate is easy; love takes courage.
    2/1/2010 - supalim becomes first to ever download an entire yobibyte of internet pizza
    PENGUINZ 4 MOD 2012!

  5. #5
    Phantom Watch
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    Default

    I was wondering what the random "top of page" phrases were about:rolleyes:

  6. #6
    Mushmom
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    Quote Originally Posted by penguinzrock View Post
    Lol. Owned.

    To original thread starter: Why must you take someone's work as your own credit?

    Have you ever heard of "TurnItIn.com" before? The new way of catching plagiarism in schools =(.
    "Finding your passion and making it your career is the dream, the six figure salary is just a bonus."
    Check out my Ludibirum Maze Quest Guide!

  7. #7
    Phantom Watch
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    Default

    Nice

    Top of Page

    Guide

    Top of Page

    You

    Top of Page

    Got

    Top of Page

    There

    Top of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of PageTop of Page

  8. #8
    S> Alcaster's Crap holywt's Avatar
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    Default

    He probably gets paid a dime for every forum he post it to.

    But yeah, I might actually try some out, as soon as I get my graphics problem done.

    ^Click!^

    Eh What the hell.
    [x] 2nd Job [x] 3rd Job [ ] 4th Job [x] 100k [x] 1 mil
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  9. #9

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by penguinzrock View Post
    I thought I read this in PCWorld....:rolleyes:

  10. #10
    Mushmom ~UnknownBandit~'s Avatar
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    Default

    In his defense, I didn't hear him say "I made this guide. It is mine. You are welcome to use my guide." other than whats already copy pastad from PCworld.

    Nice bandwagoning ;s
    Checking in 10/16!
    Reboot - Lillivet ADD ME

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