Restore Your Computer's Performance with Windows XP

Back Up First

Back up your computer before you run any system tools or do any troubleshooting. This is not just an over-cautious warning. Some of the steps I recommend in this column can cause pre-existing but hidden problems to surface, which may keep your computer from starting. Windows XP includes Backup, a tool that helps you protect your data.
To open the Backup or Restore Wizard
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Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.

For information on how to use this tool, see Ed Bott's column, Backup Made Easy and the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, How to Use Backup to Restore Files and Folders on Your Computer in Windows XP.

Before I make any changes, I'm going to time my computer to see how long it takes to restart. That way I know which of the changes helps the most. My computer took about three minutes to shut down, restart, and then open my e-mail client and browser. Of course, I hope to improve the computer's overall performance, but the time it takes to restart is easiest to measure.
Clear Out Forgotten Programs

The first step in tuning up your computer's performance is to remove any unnecessary programs. I install new programs all the time. Sometimes I'm thrilled with the new program and I continue to use it. Other times, it doesn't do what I hoped, and the program sits on my computer consuming resources and hurting performance.

Follow these steps to remove unneeded programs:

1.Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2.Click Add or Remove Programs.

3.Scroll through the list and examine each program. Windows XP lists how often you use a program and what day you last started it. As shown in Figure 1, the Age of Mythology Trial is a good candidate for removal from my computer. Though I liked the game, I haven't used it recently and it's consuming a lot of disk space. You shouldn't remove anything labeled as an Update or Hotfix, however, because they improve the security of your computer.
Figure 1: The Add or Remove Programs window

Figure 1: The Add or Remove Programs window.

4.Click each program you no longer need, click the Remove button, and then follow the prompts to uninstall it. You may have to restart your computer after removing a program. After your computer restarts, repeat the steps above to remove more programs.

Free Up Wasted Space

Removing unused programs is a great way to free up disk space, which will speed up your computer. Another way to find wasted disk space is to use the Disk Cleanup tool by following these steps:

1.	Open My Computer, right-click Local Disk, and then click Properties.
2.	On the General tab, click the Disk Cleanup button. Disk Cleanup will spend a few minutes examining your disk.
3.	The Disk Cleanup dialog box opens. As you can see in Figure 2, it found almost three gigs of space on my computer that it could free up! Figure 2: The Disk Cleanup tool.
4.	Select the desired check boxes in the Files to Delete list, and then click OK. Disk Cleanup will spend several minutes clearing space.
5.	If you have more than one hard disk, repeat this process for each hard disk listed in My Computer.

You can save yourself some time by automating the disk cleanup process. For more information, read the Microsoft Knowledge Basic article, How to Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP.

Disable services that run at start-up

Constantly running in the background of XP are services--processes that help the operating system run or that provide support to applications. Many of these services launch automatically at start-up. While you need many of them, some are not required, and they can slow down your system when they run in the background.

You can disable services at start-up by using the system configuration utility, similar to the way that you halt programs from running at start-up, except that you use the Services tab instead of the Startup tab. But the system configuration utility doesn't necessarily list every service that launches on start-up. A bigger problem is that disabling services is more of shot in the dark than disabling programs. When you disable a program, you can get a sense of what the program does. But when you disable a service through the system configuration utility, there's often no way to know what it does.

* A better way of disabling services at start-up is via the Services computer-management console. Run it by typing services.msc at the command prompt. The Services computer-management console includes a description of all services so that you can know ahead of time whether a particular service is one you want to turn off. It also lets you pause the service so that you can test your machine and see whether that service is needed.

* After you run the console, click the Extended tab. This view will show you a description of each service in the left pane when you highlight the service. The Startup Type column shows you which services launch on start-up--any with Automatic in that field. Click that column to sort together all the services that automatically launch on start-up. Then highlight each of those services and read the descriptions.

* When you find a service you want to disable, right-click it and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog box that appears, choose Manual from the Startup Type drop-down list. The service won't start automatically from now on, but you can start it manually via the console. If you want the service disabled so that it can't be run, choose Disabled. To test the results, turn off any services that you don't want to run by clicking Stop The Service in the left pane, or by right-clicking the service and choosing Stop.

Here is a list of some common services you might want to stop from running at start-up.
Service What it does
Portable Media Serial Number Retrieves the serial number of a portable music player attached to your PC.
Task Scheduler Schedules unattended tasks to be run. If you don't schedule any unattended tasks, turn it off.
Uninterruptible Power Supply Manages an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) connected to your PC.
Automatic Updates Automatically checks for Windows updates. (You can check manually by going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/.)
Telnet (service available on XP Pro only) Allows a remote user to log in to your computer and run programs. (This will not be found on all versions of XP Pro.)
Wireless Zero Configuration Service Automatically configures a Wi-Fi (802.11) network card. Disable this only if you're not using a Wi-Fi network card.

Speed up shutdown times

It's not only start-up that you'd like to speed up; you can also make sure that your system shuts down faster. If shutting down XP takes what seems to be an inordinate amount of time, here are a couple of steps you can take to speed up the shutdown process:

* Don't have XP clear your paging file at shutdown. For security reasons, you can have XP clear your paging file (pagefile.sys) of its contents whenever you shut down. Your paging file is used to store temporary files and data, but when your system shuts down, information stays in the file. Some people prefer to have the paging file cleared at shutdown because sensitive information such as unencrypted passwords sometimes ends up in the file. However, clearing the paging file can slow shutdown times significantly, so if extreme security isn't a high priority, you might not want to clear it. To shut down XP without clearing your paging file, run the Registry Editor (click Start > Run, then type regedit in the Run box) and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

* Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0. Close the Registry, and restart your computer. Whenever you turn off XP from now on, the paging file won't be cleared, and you should be able to shut down more quickly.

Note: Please be careful when editing the Registry; you can do a lot of damage here. Don't change or delete anything unless you know exactly what it is.

Eliminate programs that run at start-up

Eliminate programs that run at start-up
Stopping programs from running at start-up is especially daunting because there is no single place you can go to halt them all. Some run because they're in the Startup folder, others because they're part of logon scripts, others because of Registry settings, and so on. But with a little bit of perseverance, you should be able to keep them from running.

• Start by cleaning out your Startup folder. Find it in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, where username is your Windows logon name. Delete the shortcuts of any programs you don't want to run on start-up. As with any shortcuts, when you delete them, you're deleting only the shortcut, not the program itself. (You can also clear out the start-up items by going to Start > Programs > Startup, then right-clicking items you want to remove.)
  
  

• Next, clean out your Scheduled Tasks folder. Go to C:\Windows\Tasks, and delete the shortcuts of any programs that you don't want to run automatically on a schedule.
  
  Note: You can bypass all the programs in your Startup folder on an as-needed basis. To stop XP from loading any programs in the Startup folder, hold down the Shift key during bootup. No programs in the Startup folder will run, but the items will still remain there so that they will start up as they would normally the next time you boot.
  
  

Using the system configuration utility
Taking the previous steps will stop the obvious programs from running at start-up, but it won't kill them all. The best tool for disabling hidden programs that run on start-up is the System Configuration Utility. To run it, type msconfig at a command prompt, and press Enter. (If that doesn't work, first do a search for msconfig.exe; when you find the file, double-click it.)

• To stop a program from running at start-up, go to the Startup tab in this utility, and uncheck the box next to the program. It can sometimes be difficult to understand what programs are listed on the Startup tab. Some, such as America Online, are clearly labeled. But often, you'll see a phrase or collection of letters, such as fs20. That's the name of the running file--such as fs20.exe, which is Free Surfer mk II, an excellent free pop-up killer.
  
  
• To get more information about a listing, expand the width of the Command column near the top of the Startup tab. Expand it enough and you'll see the start-up command that the program issues, including its location, such as C:\Program Files\Free Surfer\fs20.exe. The directory location should be another hint to help you know the name of the program.
  
  
• When stopping programs from running at start-up, it's best to stop them one at a time rather than in groups. You want to make sure that you're not causing any system problems by stopping them. So stop one, then restart your PC. If it runs fine, then stop another and restart. Continue doing this until you've cleared all the programs you don't want to run automatically.
  
  

Each time you uncheck a box and restart your PC, you'll get a warning that you've used the System Configuration Utility to disable a program from starting automatically. If you don't want to see that warning, disable it by checking the box in the dialog itself.

After you've used the system configuration utility to identify programs that run on start-up, you may want to try disabling them from with the programs themselves. So run each program that starts automatically, and see if you can find a setting that allows you to prevent it from running on start-up.

How to increase the computer speed using msconfig utility?

How to increase the computer speed using msconfig utility?

You can configure windows XP to boot up using minimum list of startup programs and services. You can boot your system faster by short listing the startup programs and services list. Each item in startup list loads automatically after windows starts. By using the "Windows System Configuration (msconfig)" utility, you can create the list of windows necessary programs which allows for performance improvement while starting up your computer.

Perform the following steps to edit the msconfig utility:

To edit this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

First click on Start button to open "Run" and type "msconfig" then press Ok button to run configuration utility.

Here a small windows dialog box will appear with the title "System Configuration Utility". There are many options tab here, for example

• General

• System.ini

• Win.ini

• Boot.ini

• Services

• Startup

But we will discuss here on only Services and Startup tab.

First click on the Startup tab to view the programs list that begins on windows startup.

Here you can examine the all programs list and uncheck the program that is unnecessary or slow down your computer boot up process.

Click on Apply button to save the Startup tab setting.

Increase the speed of your slow internet connection

Today broadband internet connection is available in all the major cities, but in some area people are still using slow dial-up internet connection. So don’t worry, you can enjoy your dial-up internet connection faster than its normal speed using internet accelerator. The Web Accelerator application designed to provide the full acceleration for your routine web sites browsing. With the help of Web Accelerator you can browse your internet 4 to 6 times faster than normal dial-up connection. Basically this services compressing the website text data, images and heavy graphics to open or download this data with high speed.

This technique is more useful for static websites and for email applications but don't accelerate with secure and downloading audio or video files. Some good web accelerator retains your system cache to reuse websites with faster speed and can also block windows pop-up. If you are using FTP sites and downloading any program using dial-up, then web accelerator is not for you. There are various web accelerator software are free available on internet, visit and download it to enjoy your connection.

Disable the Send an error report to Microsoft

In Windows XP and Windows server 2003, when any computer application crashes, you may receive a message “send error report to Microsoft”. This windows feature may be useful if you are using windows registered version or you have installed Microsoft recommended software’s on your computer, otherwise a simple error message disturbing you, nothing else. This error message close the document; you were working on when the application crashed. You can disable or enable this feature in windows XP.

To disable the Error reporting feature, follow the giving steps:

• First Right click on My Computer and select Properties option then go to advanced tab.
• Here at bottom click on the button name “Error Reporting”.
• select the item name "Disable error reporting". But it is good think to leave a tick in the check Box "But notify me when critical errors occur".
• Click "OK" to exit the "Error Reporting" window and then click "OK" again to exit System Properties.
  

Back It Up!

As most of you know, I recommend backing up your computer on a regular basis. Since I'm always harping about it, I thought it might be a good idea to actually explain how to do this!

First, what exactly does it mean to "backup" your files?

To backup simply means to copy files to another disk. This can be in the form of using a program designed to do backups or just doing a straight copy from your computer to a floppy (probably a lot more than one floppy), a zip disk , or CD-RW .

For a zip disk, just copy and paste the files you want to save onto the disk. For a CD-R or CD-RW, use your CD burning software. (Note that most CD burning software and Zip drives come with some kind of backup utility you can use if you like).

If all your files will fit on a single CD or Zip disk, then you're in good shape just copying your files straight to it. If your files are too large, you're probably better off using a backup utility, since they can "split" your files up automatically and most can even compress them.

That's really all there is to it. You just take the files you want to be sure to save and copy them to a disk or CD.

Now, here's my advice for easier backups:

One question that seems to come up all the time is. "If I do a re-format and re-install every year or two, how can I be sure I get all my important files?"

I use to have a terrible time with this one. I would hunt through every folder on my hard drive searching for my data. I would still miss stuff and lose it.

Well, a long time ago, I decided to keep any file I create (documents) or want to save (i.e. downloaded software) in the My Documents folder. Then when I go to backup my info, I know it's all in one place. I back up My Documents and it's a done deal. I have it all.

I also advocate putting sub-folders into the My Documents folder. You can do this from most "Save As" dialog boxes by clicking the “New folder " icon. You can also do it from Explorer by opening the My Documents folder, right-clicking on a blank area, then selecting New, Folder from the resulting menu.

Make sure you backup your e-mail and Favorites too! You can set current versions of Outlook Express (and many other e-mail clients) to save your e-mail to a specified folder, like the My Documents folder. Doing that will insure you at least keep your e-mail.

As for the Favorites, those you'll have to work a little harder at. They are usually found under your C:\Windows folder. XP users will find them under the Documents and Settings area.

Now, here's a tip-in-a-tip:

I didn't know you could do this - kind of found out by accident- but you can actually drag your Favorites folder to your My Documents folder. I tested this on Win 98/ME/XP (I'm sure it'll work on Win 2000, not sure on 95). Each time, it worked perfectly. Explorer didn't "lose" any of the favorites and since they are in the My Documents folder now, it makes for MUCH easier backups.

What about program files?

My advice on backing up programs is not to - as long as you can re-install them. I personally back up just the stuff I have "made". You know, things like documents, web pages, pictures, graphics, etc. If I had to take time to make it and save it, I'll back it up.

If it's a program I can reinstall, then I don't back it up. After all, if I lose it, I can always reinstall Besides, many programs have files in locations other than their own directory - so it makes it hard to find everything.

Oh, and if you're backing up because you're doing a reformat of your hard drive and a reinstall of Windows here's something else to consider -

If the reason for the reinstall is poor system performance, you don't necessarily want to copy old files to the newly formatted hard drive. Sure, most of them would probably be OK, but what if you're transferring a file that was causing some of your bad performance? It's kind of like getting a new car and putting used parts on it.

Of course, there's not any kind of "fixed" rule for backing up or not backing up your program files, so use your best judgment

One final idea for our more advanced users:

If you find yourself doing the re-format thing fairly often, you may want to partition off a section of your hard drive for your data. If you keep all your information on a separate drive, you can re-format your Windows drive all you want and your data stays safe on the other drive partition.

A word of warning though. If you decide to do this, only keep data (documents, spreadsheets, pictures, etc) or downloads on the drive. If you install programs to it, you may find that when you re-format you need to re-install those programs anyway because they had DLL files that were living in the Windows System

Activate DLL's File of your Computer using Run command

DLL's (dynamic link library), basically a combination of executables files that can be used by Windows programs to run properly. Some time you received a sudden pop-up message "System could not fine this DLL file" for example binkw32, maxkernl. Normally you received these types of messages when you installed any new application, computer driver program and some time due to computer mishandling. Actually some DLL files are deactivated due to new software's installation but don't worry you can reactivate these file with the help of a simple command called Regsvr32.

To activate the missing dll file go the Start then Run and type here "regsrv32 with missing dll file name" for example you missed "urlmon.dll" file then you will type in Run "regsvr32 urlmon.dll" and press Ok button. Your system will activate this missing file and hopefully you will not get this missing message again.

Windows Repair Installation

Some time windows missing the startup files due to the power failure, virus's attack and any illegal action by user. You can solve the windows startup problem with running the windows repair installation. Almost all windows serious problem can be solved using windows repair function. For repair windows XP, you should have the bootable windows CD.

• First boot your computer using bootable windows XP, CD. To boot from CD, first change the booting order setting in your system BIOS.

• When first blue screen will appear, do not choose any option here; simply press the Enter button to go for next option.

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• Next you will get "Windows License agreement" page, simply press F8 button to accept this agreement.

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• Now in second blue screen press the R on your keyboard to repair the windows XP installation. This recovery function repaired the all-missing windows features.

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• In half an hour windows will complete all recovery process. This recovery process will not disturbed your Desktop and My Document data. May be your some windows sitting will change after completing process.

Turn on a screensaver with adding a shortcut

• You can run screensaver on your system with a single click, If you have any screensaver file like .scr extension, or first download it using Internet, there are many free sites for screensaver downloading.

• If you have not any .scr file then please go to Start button, and click on Search button. Here in search windows type *.scr and search all screen saver file from your hard disk.

• Here you will find a list of screensavers in the results. Pick a screensaver you want. You can preview it by double-clicking it.

• Right click on the file, choose Send To, and then click Desktop (create shortcut).

• To activate the screensaver, double-click the icon on your desktop.

For better windows performance?

Today tip will help you to increase the performance of your computer by eliminating the needless visual effects. By default windows XP gives you many options in the graphics fields to enjoy maximum graphics. For example, you can add pictures on folders and drop shadow on icon to give you better look but it will effect on the performance of your computer, especially on an older computer. Window XP has many default graphics which is not so useful for a common user, if you re-adjust these graphics then there is less effect on the user activities but the performance of computer will be increase tremendously. Here I will tell you how to choose:

To edit these settings, first you should log onto your computer with administrative rights.

Click Start button and type sysdm.cpl in Run box then press Ok button for next.

Here a dialog box will appear with the title "System Properties", select "Advanced" tab.

Here click on Settings button under Performance area.

When you have done then "Performance Options" dialog box will appear with different options. Here select the Visual Effects tab and choose the settings you want to use for the appearance and performance of windows on this computer.

Turns off all the visual effects in the option of "Adjust for best performance" and when you select the option "Adjust for best appearance" it will gives you opposite effect ,Everything will turns on. Selecting "Let Windows choose what's best for my computer" triggers, as you might guess, different choices on different computers. And to pick and choose individual effects yourself, choose "custom" then decide which ones you want.

Kingston to capture consumer SSD market

Kingston to capture consumer SSD market

Kingston Technology has announced the release of its new? SSDNow V series solid state drives (SSDs). Kingston SSD target mass production for consumers who are seeking Value for Money(VFM) without compromising on performance.

These SSDs bundle many of the software.Kingston's new 2.5-inch SATA SSD features speeds up to 100MB/s read and 80MB/s write with capacities available in 64GB and 128GB. The 64GB SSDNow V series is available for US$149 and the 128GB one for US$263 aiming the low cost customers.





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Intel Core i9/i5/i3 Latest Processors

Intel Core i9/i5/i3 Latest Processors

Intel's upcoming flagship client processor, codenamed Gulftown will get the higher Core i9 marker. This 6-core chip will have every performance enhancing feature in the book available, including a total thread count of 12, and a 50% increase in L3 cache over Bloomfield, at 12 MB. This chip will retain compatibility with existing LGA-1366 socket, and X58 chipset, and will be available in Q1 2010.
Intel differentiate the processors in series of markers such as "i3", "i5", and "i7" on the merit of performance and features they offer.
see this image for better understanding.

Corsair launches HX650

Corsair launches HX650 Modular Power Supply

Corsair,the world renowned memory and power supply products giant announced it's new Professional Series HX650 modular powersupply.
HX650 is aimed at professional users enthusiasts and gamers who are looking for a highly efficient, quiet, modular power supply, but don't need the higher wattage.
HX650 is guaranteed to deliver 650 watts of clean and continuous power. It is 85% power efficient and comes with a "80Plus" BRONZE certification.The HX650W offers the same unmatched quality standards and 7 Year warranty.

The Corsair Professional Series HX650W features a sophisticated, energy-efficient design that ensures maximum energy savings and minimal heat generation.
The greater advantage of modular system is,it has selection of flat rounded cables which you can choose according to your choice and avoid unwanted cables hanging all over your cabinet.
It is guaranteed to sustain its full rated wattage even at 50°C.An intelligent fan speed system regulates the ultra-quiet 120mm double ball bearing fan.
The connectors include four PCI Express connectors, making the HX650W capable of quad-graphics for SLI setup.

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Nokia X6

Nokia X6 Launched

Nokia X6

Nokia has redefined the music.It has launched x6 and x3 the next generation music mobiles.
Nokia x6 is a powerful music mobile with 3.2 inch finger touch screen,whooping 32gb inbuilt memory and aspect ratio of 16:9.
The music is the major attraction in this stylish gadget with continuous playback of 35 hours.A 5-megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss lens will be like camera on go.The screen was optimized for photos,videos and internet.
It brings social networking communities like Facebook and allows 20 friends on virtual community called Lifecasting.
Overall this device takes music in a new dimension.



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