Saturday, January 22, 2011
Hey... It's been a while since I last posted something, eh..?
In a blink of an eye, another year has gone by..
Since it's already a new year, I'm thinking of doing something different here. Probably, I can start sharing my knowledge thru this blog.
Enough of the bullshit! Let's get down to business.
Well..I'm not an IT expert or such, but I'd like to share my experience in case some of the readers don't know and want to learn more about computer stuffs.
So... how to make your computer run a little faster?
Some people have no clue and they simply format their computer when it becomes slow.
There are several ways to improve the speed, but the easiest one(for me) is to stop unwanted program.
Now... do you know how to open Windows Task Manager to stop the programs? Very simple! Hold "Ctrl" and "Shift" buttons, then press "Esc" key(while still holding the other 2 buttons). You will see a list of running programs, how much those programs use the memory and how much they utilize the CPU. Basically, the more they use the memory & CPU, the more they slow down your computer. So, try to kill whatever programs that are unused, but be a little careful because you don't want to stop some programs that are essential for the Windows to run properly. If you're unsure, don't stop the program; just stop those programs which you know. Actually, there is generally no harm to stop essential Windows program if you like to explore; if the Windows suddenly becomes a bit weird, you know you stop the wrong program, so next time you shouldn't stop that program. :)
But, of course, you don't want to go to Task Manager and kill the programs every time you run Windows, do you? There is an easier way to stop those programs. Stop them before they are even started! Yes, don't load them during Windows startup. But, how?
Click on the Windows "Start" button and run this command called "msconfig".
You will see the system configuration, something like this:
Well, not exactly, because it would be on "General" tab when the command is executed. Try to click on "Services" tab, then you will see something like the above picture.
We're trying to de-activate some Services and Startup items which are considered useless. As you can see, I de-activated quite a number of programs & services that I consider not necessary to be loaded.
I'd recommend sorting it by the "Manufacturer" name since it's easier to determine which programs are useful/useless by this method. Just click on the "Manufacturer" to sort it ascending or descending.
Now, you can start choosing which programs you want to de-active so they are not loaded during Windows startup. After finished going through the "Services" tab, go thru the "Startup" tab and do the same thing.
As usual, if you're unsure, google is your best friend.
Don't de-activate those programs with "Microsoft Corporation" as the manufacturer, unless you know what you are doing.
Once you finish doing your stuffs, just click "OK", then restart the computer. You may receive a prompt during Windows startup after the restart, but don't worry, it's nothing..
Note: you can still run the programs that you de-activated, just that they are not loaded during startup. Some programs may require the services to be loaded during startup, in that case you may want to enable those services by running msconfig again. By doing it, you can learn something and know how it works.
The above is how to make your computer startup faster.
If you still feel your computer is too slow, you may want to check for virus/adware/spyware/malware.
Try to get antivirus program and run a scan on your computer. If antivirus doesn't find anything harmful in your computer, it doesn't mean your computer is safe. It might still be full of adware.
If you receive an advertisement popup out of nothing especially when browsing, there may be adware inside your computer and those spyware/adware can slow down your computer as well.
I recommend you to guard your computer using a free program like Ad-aware(by Lavasoft). It can be used to scan & remove adware/spyware/malware, and it can also provide protection while you're browsing internet.
It would be good to delete unnecessary files from your harddisk as well, just to make sure the system has enough space to save restore points and utilize the free space as virtual memory. It's also recommended to "defrag" your harddisk once in a while. By defragmenting your harddisk, it will reorganize the files in such a way so the system/program can run faster. You can run "Disk Defragmenter" from Start button->all programs->accessories->system tools->Disk Defragmenter.
Try to uninstall programs that you don't need so it frees up some space and put less load to the system.
Actually registry cleaner program may help to speed up as well. But, if you're not familiar with registry, you better don't play with it.
After all the above, if you still feel your computer is too slow, maybe it's about time to upgrade your computer. =D
;;
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