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Computer Speed up

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by krimsalt_

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Hello, i am new in the world of computer technicians (only worked with comps for 4 years now) and i have a request from a friend of mine, they need me to speed up their computer. All my knowlege tells me that i just remove a bunch of processes on the startup list in msconfig, and also i do some heavy duty virus and spyware scans as well as a disk defrag and cleanup.
is there anything else missing? and if so please inform me what else i should be doing to "speed" up the computer
thx, :)

11 replies

by thechas

Aside from keeping the system clean, the most important thing to do to speed up a computer is to have enough RAM. But, keep in mind that you can also have too much RAM and actually slow things down that way to.

For XP, 1 GB to 2 GB is usually plenty.

The standard 32 bit XP configuration and many 32 bit motherboards can only use a maximum of 3 GB of RAM.

The next thing to do, is clean out and defragment the registry. Part of the reason that a computer runs faster when you perform a clean installation of Windows is that it now has a clean and compact registry.

There are a number of good registry cleaners available.

Other things you can do, is remove hardware and disable motherboard ports that they do not use. Always remove hardware and ports from device manager before physically removing or disabling the hardware.

Chas

by ozi eagle

Hi,

As well as what Chas suggests delete any tmp files.

These are generally found in Docs & Settings\\local settings\Temp. Anything in this folder can be deleted.

You may need to change the folder options under tools to allow viewing of hidden files and folders.

Herb

by ssanders

The first few steps to speed up a computer you have mastered (i.e. msconfig disabling start up programs, spyware removal)

2nd- The quickest and most efficient way to speed up a computure is by adding RAM

3rd- you can always modify the page files by right clicking on my computer >properties >advanced > performance > settings > advanced > change.... rule of thumb is to usually have multiples of 8 and have the maximum no more than 3 times the initial size (but first check your free space on the hard drive to see if you can use the extra space for page filing) this will help take stress off your cpu and use your free space on your hard drive as a type of virtual memory.

4th- you can delete all temp file from Documents & Settings\\local settings\Temp

5th- in your device manager under your IDE controlers make sure that your primary and secondary(if slaved) IDE channel are set to DMA if available under advanced settings this will significantly speed it up if it was previously set at PIO mode.

6th- under your Internet Explorer properties make the disk space used for temp internet file at 50MB or lower

7th- you can also set the priority of a process that is running by right clicking on a process in the processes tab under your task manager. note- this will only speed up the process you are running by setting the cpu usage higher for the process, it will not speed up the whole computer.

I know there are more tweeks here and there to speed up the computer but this is all i can think of off the top of my head and not actually working on a computer
hope this helps!

by mark_stanley80

I have built several systems and I am the go-to guy for most of my friends when they have computer problems. I always recommend that you add more memory to speed up the processes. You will see more increased speed by adding memory than any other hardware or software optimizations you could ever make to an existing system.

by wesley.chin

What is the OS?

See if there is a BIOS update available.

The best time to defrag in at Bootup, before the GUI starts loading.

by ssanders

Speed List
The first few steps to speed up a computer you have mastered (i.e. msconfig disabling start up programs, spyware removal)

2nd- The quickest and most efficient way to speed up a computure is by adding RAM

3rd- you can always modify the page files by right clicking on my computer >properties >advanced > performance > settings > advanced > change.... rule of thumb is to usually have multiples of 8 and have the maximum no more than 3 times the initial size (but first check your free space on the hard drive to see if you can use the extra space for page filing) this will help take stress off your cpu and use your free space on your hard drive as a type of virtual memory.

4th- you can delete all temp file from Documents & Settings\\local settings\Temp

5th- in your device manager under your IDE controlers make sure that your primary and secondary(if slaved) IDE channel are set to DMA if available under advanced settings this will significantly speed it up if it was previously set at PIO mode.

6th- under your Internet Explorer properties make the disk space used for temp internet file at 50MB or lower

7th- you can also set the priority of a process that is running by right clicking on a process in the processes tab under your task manager. note- this will only speed up the process you are running by setting the cpu usage higher for the process, it will not speed up the whole computer.

I know there are more tweeks here and there to speed up the computer but this is all i can think of off the top of my head and not actually working on a computer
hope this helps!

by retro77

Another advanced one is to disable services you dont need/use. Like if you dont use a wireless network, then disable Wireless Zero Configuration service.

by noorman

You need to backup the registry (after a clean-up with f.e. Registry Mechanic), then you can do a registry defrag/compression.
I use the freeware ERUNT from this German guy (http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/)
, but you could f.e. also use the complete Registry Mechanic which also has a "Compact Registry" to do (I think) the same ...

Anyway, the NTREGOPT from the ERUNT package does give me a nice speed-up now and then (after I 've run it), that 's what I know about that.

What has been mentioned before about services that are running which you don't need is true too.
Disable them (list can be found on the Web under Tweaking Windows) and you will find a lot of new resources (CPU cycles and free RAM) that will give you more Speed !

.

by info

Make sure to do the following steps:
Clear your temporary internet files and delete cookies.
Delete programs that you don't use.
Try running routine maintenance programs.
If you download movies, music, games, or pictures then you should try and sift through the ones that are old and delete them or put them on a disc.
Delete your recycle bin.
Use registry cleaner to clean registry files,but make sure to use a good one. There are many websites that give user feddback of registry cleaners, here is one of them http://www.registrycleanersreport.com

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