Speed Up Vista:
While Windows Vista makes many improvements to security and other features, it also includes its fair share of programs that use a PC’s resources that you may not want to run. In this lesson, we’ll show you what programs in Vista you can turn off to free up system resources.
Trialware
Let’s start with your hard drive to remove some unnecessary files. The more programs on your hard drive, the longer it takes a PC to find anything.
Vista comes with many software packages pre-installed; you can decide which you want to run or disable.
Click your Start button on the bottom left hand of your screen, then choose Control Panel.
Double click “Programs and Features” (which used to be called “Add or Remove Programs” in Windows XP).
You’ll see a list of all the programs that came pre-installed with your new PC. Some of these software packages are “trialware,” in which you may have 30 days to try the software. Often, this software is bundled with Vista from your PC manufacturer or Microsoft. It’s up to you whether you want to try the software or delete it from your PC.
Note:
Trialware, is often referred to as crapware or junkware. Critics complain that crapware is unwanted, useless, and sometimes hard to remove by design — all while taking up valuable disk space. Most crapware is operational for a trial period in hopes of persuading the user into buying the full version.
When you’re done, it’s time to disable some unnecessary software that comes with Windows itself.
From the Programs and Features window:
Click “Turn Windows features on or off” on the left side panel.User Account Control will ask you to confirm; do so.You’ll get a list of Windows built-in software, much of which you’ll never use. Uncheck whatever you don’t need.
Telnet
Telnet is the way you can access someone elses computer, assuming they have given you permission. (Such a computer is frequently called a host computer.) More technically, Telnet is a user command and an underlying TCP/IP protocol for accessing remote computers. The Web or HTTP protocol and the FTP protocol allow you to request specific files from remote computers, but not to actually be logged on as a user of that computer
SAFE TO DELETE
Disk Clean Up
Next, if you’ve been using your PC for awhile, let Windows Vista free up file space on your hard drive.
Click your Start orb, then Computer.
Right-click on your hard drive.
On the General tab, choose Properties.
Click “Disk Cleanup.”
In a few moments, you’ll get a list of what Windows doesn’t need anymore. Make sure all the boxes are checked, then click OK. You’ll be asked to confirm your choices; click Delete Files.
Most modern computers have a second processor dedicated solely to graphics. Manufacturers of high-end video cards, for example, will tout their speed and amount of RAM on their products the same way computer makers do.
Having that kind of graphics horsepower is especially important with Windows Vista, which is specifically designed to take advantage of it.
There are two components to Windows Vista’s graphics that you can make changes to. First is the big one: The visual styles, which set the overall look of your system. There are four choices: Windows Aero, Windows Vista Basic, Windows Standard, Windows Classic. (Not every choice is available on every version of Vista. See CNET’s Which Windows Vista version is right for you? tutorial)
Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose Personalize.
Click Window Color and Appearance.
If your computer supports Aero and it’s turned on, you’ll see a row of boxes showing the different colors you can choose for your windows.
Running Aero is actually a good thing in terms of system resources. In older versions of windows, the more graphics shown, the slower the computer. So you might think that Windows Classic, which has the fewest bells and whistles, would give you the fastest performance. But that’s not exactly true for Vista.
Both the Windows Aero and Windows Vista Basic (aka Aero Lite) use your computer’s graphics card, not the computer’s processor, to do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the display. Using one of those — as opposed to Standard or Classic — actually lets your computer do less work.
You can switch to Windows Vista Basic for most of Aero’s graphics; that also saves resources. Here’s how:
From that Window Color and Appearance box, click “Open classic appearance properties for more color options.”
Choose Windows Vista Basic. (You can click “Advanced…” if you want to tweak the settings.)
If you want to keep all of Aero’s bells and whistles, you can still get a performance boost if you’re willing to give up transparency. Here’s how:
Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose Personalize.
Click Window Color and Appearance.
Uncheck “Enable transparency.”
To review, if your computer and your version of Vista support Aero, the following settings will speed up Vista:
Fastest: Use Windows Vista Basic
Faster: Use Windows Aero with transparency turned off
Fast: Use Windows Aero
Slow: Use Windows Standard or Windows Classic
Finally, while Vista’s sidebar can be a cool thing — let’s face it, that clock is kind of nice — it’s also a resource hog. It slows your computer. Disable it.
Right-click on the Sidebar (or, if it’s not visible, choose “Windows Sidebar Properties” from the Control Panel).
Uncheck “Start Sidebar when Windows starts.”
Click OK.
If the Sidebar is currently open, right-click on it and choose Close Sidebar.
Search Indexing
You might notice that your computer’s hard drive is busy a lot, even when you’re not doing anything. That could be because Vista is busy indexing all the contents of your drive in case you need to search for something.
The good thing about Vista’s indexing system is that it lets you find things on your computer very quickly when you need to. The downside is that if you don’t search a lot, your computer’s time and resources are wasted doing that.
If you only search your drive occasionally, here’s a good way to speed things up:
From your Control Panel choose “Indexing Options.”
Hit the Modify button. A dialog box with two boxes inside it will appear.
In the bottom of those two boxes will be a list of locations on your hard drive that Vista is indexing. One at a time, click each one of those “Included Locations” except Start Menu.
As you click each one, it will appear in the top box with a check mark next to it. Uncheck it. You should end up with only Start Menu listed as an indexed location.
Click OK, then close the Indexing Options box.
You may be working in a program and wondering why it runs so slowly — especially if you don’t have any other programs open. The problem is that when Windows boots up, a lot of programs are automatically loaded to run “in the background” where you can’t see. Of course, some of these are quite valuable (virus protection, for instance), but many are useless and simply eating up your system resources for no reason.
Here’s how to get rid of these unnecessary start-up programs:
The first and easiest way to seek and destroy unnecessary start-up programs is to look in your Startup folder.
Click the Start button, then choose All Programs. (If you’re using the classic Start menu, you’ll click “Programs” instead.)
Click the Startup folder.
The list of programs that automatically start will appear. Check this list, and if you see something you don’t want or need to start automatically — such as some Microsoft Office task — right-click it and choose Delete.
Repeat as necessary.
Now let’s go a little deeper and remove some programs that start automatically without appearing in your Startup folder. Here’s how:
Click your Start orb.
Click “Run.”
In the box that appears, enter msconfig.
Click the Startup tab.
You’ll see a list of all the programs that start automatically with Windows. Most of these should start: your anti-virus program, several Windows programs, maybe a driver or two. But some things just waste resources.
Most notorious for loading themselves are media players such as Quicktime and RealPlayer. There’s no need for them to be loaded until you need them. If you see things like that, select them and click the Delete button. When you’re done, click Close.
That done, let’s go even deeper. Besides programs that run automatically when you start up, Windows also launches services — internal software that does important things, such as making your network run, managing users, and a host of other things.
But there are some services you just don’t need; running them is a waste of resources. Here’s how to find and reduce them:
Click the Start button, then Run.
Enter services.msc in the box.
The screen that pops up is a bit intimidating at first, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. Services are programs that run in the background, helping your computer work. They do things like make sure you’re connected to the network, allow your mouse to work, and so on
The Services list shows every one that’s on your machine and tells you whether it starts automatically or manually, among other things. Some of the services that start automatically are unnecessary, so we’ll stop them. Here’s how:
Click the Extended tab on the bottom, which will create a space that will give you a description of each service.
Click on the words “Startup Type” at the top of that column, which will sort the services. The ones that say “Automatic” are, obviously, the ones that start when Windows does. They’re the only ones you care about.
Alert:
Some services are critical for your computer to run. So don’t disable anything that’s not on the list below unless you’re absolutely sure that it’s an expendable item.
You can choose to disable the following non-critical items without encountering problems. The find out what each does before disabling, click on them. Some of these items are specific to Vista, while others are also found in Windows XP.
COM+ Event System
Cryptographic Services
DFS Replication
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
IP Helper
IPsec Policy Agent
KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Offline Files
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
SSDP Discovery
Tablet PC Input Service (Unless you have a Tablet PC
Terminal Services
UPnP Device Host
Windows Error Reporting Service (no more asking you to notify Microsoft when there’s a crash!)
EHTRAY.EXE RECOMMENDATION
Description:
ehtray.exe is a process is the tray bar process for the Microsoft Media Center. It gives you easy access to the digital media manager. This is a non-essential process. Disabling or enabling it is down to user preference.
Ehtray.exe provides a system tray icon that can be used to access the various features of Media Center. If this process is terminated the system tray icon will no longer be shown, so if you use it, you should leave ehtray.exe running. Otherwise, terminate ehtray.exe in order to free up space on your taskbar
One at a time, find each one on the list and double-click it. A dialog box will appear. In it will be a drop-down menu next to “Startup type” that is probably set to Automatic.
Change it to Manual and click OK. This way the service will start only if it’s needed, not all the time.
Then under Service status, click Stop.
Click OK and go to the next service on the list.
Defrag
Just like your car should have occasional tune-ups, your computer needs them as well. If you’ve followed the instructions in these lessons, your computer should be running better and faster. But you’ll still need to tune it up once in a while.
The biggest and simplest thing, akin to changing your car’s oil, is defragmenting — or defragging — your hard drive. It’s a good idea to do this about once a month.
When your computer stores files on your drive, it puts them in whatever empty space is available. The result is that over time individual files are actually split up and stored in several places on the drive. (Imagine a library where the different chapters of a book are on different shelves.)
Defragging puts those pieces together so your computer spends less time accessing the files.
The procedure is simple:
Shut down any running programs.
Disable your screen saver by right-clicking anywhere on your desktop, choosing Personalize, then clicking Screen Saver. Set it to “None.”
Click the Start orb and then Computer; right-click on your hard drive.
Choose Properties, then click the Tools tab.
Click “Defragment Now…”
In the box that appears, it’s a good idea to check “Run on a schedule” to have Windows defrag your drive automatically every month.
FASTER WINDOWS:
RECLAIM DISK DRIVE SPACE:
XP:
uninstall update uninstall files:
run--type explorer--tools--options--view--click show hidden files/folders
uninstall files that start and end in
$ and contain uninstall in url/address
Compress Individual Folders To Save Space
Highlight folder, right click, click "Properties". Click "Advanced..." button. Select "Compress contents to save space.
Faster Icons:
my computer--local disk drive [ c ]--tools--folder options--view
uncheck
auto search for network folders/printers
stop storing history files:
control panel--internet options--general--history
delete history and set for 0 days to keep
cut system restore and recycle bin's memory usage:
right click recycle bin--choose properties
click--hold--drag slider to 0%
while there,uncheck show delete confirmation dialog box
****** asking "do you REALLY want to delete this ?'
get back 13% memory on disk drive
same for system restore:
all programs--accessories--system tools--system restore--settings--drive [ c ]
click--hold--drag to 3% and get back 10% of your hard drive
we're up to 20% just these 2 items.
do a disk clean and disk defrag monthly:
all programs--accessories--system tools--disk clean up
disk drive { c }
ok,clean up
disk defrag is same place as disk clean
stop cookies from piling up:
control panel--internet options--privacy--advanced--override
allow:
1st party cookies
session cookies
Block:
3rd [ spyware ] party cookies
download Ccleaner and allow to delete unneeded/unused files
and regseeker as well
http://browseraddons.friendpages.com
REMOVE PROGRAMS:
1st check all programs for an uninstall file and uninstall
next check your downloads folder for the original download--delete
remove all desktop shortcuts
remove all taskbar shortcuts
right click start--select properties--select taskbar--select customize
for each icon,select always show or hide
check your add/remove programs and delete from there
my computer--local disk drive [ c ]--windows--programs
delete
delete temp files
my computer--local disk drive [ c ]--windows--temp
delete all YESTERDAY'S files
clear prefetch:
my computer--local disk drive [ c ]--windows--prefetch
click view--select all--press delete key on keyboard
Help Speed Up XP (XP)
Turn off Windows indexing function to open and close programs and files quicker. Go to the start menu button, select "Control Panel," then "Performance and Maintenance," then "Administrative Tools," then the "Services" shortcut and finally, highlight "Indexing Services" and select "stop". Doing this will slow searches for files on your computer, but it's easy to undo, just follow the same steps and select "start".
Vista:
disk clean:
control panel--performance information & tools--disk clean up
drive [ c ]
let it run/delete files
disk defrag is same place disk clean up but is on the advanced tools link
anylize and defrag if needed
set defrag for regular schedule run
remove programs
start--default programs--programs & features
delete programs
remove windows features
start--default programs--programs & features--turn windows features on/off
turn off features
Top 10 Ways to Clean Up Your PC
1. Wipe Your Hard Drive and Reinstall Windows
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465041
2. Evacuate the Dust Bunnies
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465033
3. White Out Disk Free Space
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465062
4. Detect and Delete Duplicate Files
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465086
5. Visualize and Reduce Disk Usage
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465094
6. Automatically Delete Temporary
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465179
7. Organize "My Documents"
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465171
8. Clean Up Your Startup, Registry, Cookies and More
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465195
9. Uninstall Unneeded Programs
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465187
10. Clear Your Desktop
http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Top-10-Ways-to-Clean-Up-Your-PC/2465235