Tip:
Is your computer running slower? Let’s say you’ve even added lots of memory and it’s still slow. What can you do to increase the speed and performance of your Windows computer?
Cache Setting: Set your cache to its optimum size to free more memory.
RAM: Add more RAM instead of upgrading your CPU. If you have enough RAM, but the memory doesn’t seem to be using all the RAM available, then use RamBooster.
Clear the startup programs: As soon as you start up Windows, you may have several programs that automatically start and get loaded into memory. Remove the settings provided with each program. If you cannot figure out how to do that then download Startup Control Panel to remove programs from starting up automatically.
Check programs in memory : Use programs like TaskInfo to detect which programs are running in memory and remove those that you do not need.
Close Programs: Press Ctrl - Alt - Delete once to bring up the Close Program dialog box. When all programs are closed, the taskbar is empty. Three programs will show in the Close box - explorer, system tray, and your antivirus program. All other programs can be closed if not needed by using Startup Control Panel or using msconfig from the Run dialog box.
Check Hard Disk : Go to the Start menu and click My Computer. Right-click the hard drive (usually C:), choose Properties, then tab over to Tools to Error Checking and click Check Now. Then choose the options to automatically fix errors and try to recover any bad sectors. Even if you don’t find any bad sectors, defragment the drive. (this and next 2 tips from SF Chronicle, David Einstein, 7-17-06)
Defragment : Go to Start menu to Programs to Accessories to System Tools. Follow the directions on defragmenting your drive.
Remove Viruses or Spyware : Run an antivirus program such as Avast 4 Home and an anti-spyware program such as Spybot Search and Destroy ( tp://www.safer-networking.org/) . Both free.
Plain desktop : Remove the desktop background image and set it None.
Screen resolution : Set your screen resolution to 15 or 16 bit. Set a higher level only when playing games and when using graphics or other programs that require better resolutions.
Clean the Desktop : Remove all unwanted icons from the desktop and shortcuts from the desktop and the quick launch bar. If you have shortcuts for CD drives, windows will check for their contents every time it loads up.
Active Desktop : Unless you run stock market price tickers on your desktop, deactivate Active Desktop to save memory. If you have enabled Active Desktop just to enable a GIF or JPEG file as the background, then convert the file to a BMP file and set that as the wallpaper without Active Desktop.
Remove Sound : If you remove sound events when you don’t need it, your computer will run faster. Go to Control Panel to Sounds and Multimedia to Schemes and choose No Sounds.
Some of these tips adapted from Tips and Tricks to Improve Windows Performance
Next Tip: All the ArtRage
