CAN I IMPROVE MY COMPUTER PERFORMANCE ? OPERATING SYSTEM: PRE-WINDOWS 2000 COMPUTER SPEED: <800 MHz RAM: <250MB HARD DRIVE CAPACITY: <40-60 GB (less than 15% free space –I prefer 30%-40%) !!!!!NO!!!!!

MALWARE  DO YOU HAVE A GOOD FIREWALL?  DO YOU HAVE A GOOD ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM?  DO YOU HAVE SEVERAL GOOD ANTI-SPYWARE PROGRAMS?  DO YOU KEEP THESE PROGRAMS UP-TO-DATE AND USE AUTO UPDATE FEATURE WHERE AVAILABLE?  DO YOU RUN FREQUENT COMPUTER SCANS?

FIRST THINGS FIRST  CREATE A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT  BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER DRIVES  CREATE A YARDSTICK  BOOT UP YOUR COMPUTER  MEASURE THE TIME IT TAKES TO REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER BACK TO THE POINT WHERE YOUR DESKTOP IS FULLY RESTORED AND YOUR FIREWALL & ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM IS OPERATIONAL. SCAN COMPUTER FOR MALWARE

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST IDENTIFY AND REMOVE ITEMS THAT AUTOMATICALLY START ON BOOTUP:  UNNECESSARY PROGRAMS  UNNECESSARY PROCESSES & SERVICES  NON CRITICAL PROGRAMS THAT CHECK FOR UPDATES

CHECK Start/Run… “msconfig”/Startup tab. Task Manager (ctrl+alt+delete); check under Applications and Processes, respectively, for currently running programs. Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information/Software Environment; click on Startup Programs, Services, Running Tasks respectively.

CHECK – (cont’d) Right click My Computer/Manage/open Services & Applications, click on Services, (tab at bottom of window should be “Extended”), click on any service in right pane to read description of service. Right click on any service/Properties/General Tab/Startup Type box and chose Automatic, Manual, or Disable service.

CHECK – (cont’d) TWO UTILITIES TO CONSIDER FOR THIS JOB ARE: THE ULTIMATE TROUBLESHOOTER (TUT) from AUTORUN (free) FROM SYSINTERNAL (to be discussed later)

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST (cont’d) MOVE ALL UNNECESSARY FILES TO AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE This should include those graphics files that you don’t regularly use. To find out how much space is used on your hard drive, left click on My Computer. You can see how much disk space you have total and free for each partition on your hard drive. Write this information down so you can compare numbers later.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST (cont’d)  UNINSTALL UNUSED APPLICATIONS.  GET RID OF OLD, UNWANTED MESSAGES.  CLEAN YOUR MOUSE, KEYBOARD, AND COMPUTER CASE.  EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN.  REMOVE UNWANTED INTERNET BROWSER PLUG-INS.  CLEAN UP DISK SPACE AND RUN SCANDISK.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST (cont’d)  DISABLE INDEXING SERVICE (CHANGE FROM AUTOMATIC TO MANUAL) Indexing service in Windows XP is an unnecessary service that can be stopped without affecting system stability. However, if you use the search function of Windows XP a lot you may prefer to leave it enabled. The indexing service will help you to find your files faster when you're searching for them on your computer. To disable Indexing Service: Start/Control Panel/Administrative Services/Component Services/Services (Local), right click on Indexing Services, click Properties, General Tab: Startup Type: change to Manual. Reverse these instructions to return to automatic mode.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST (cont’d)  INCREASE VIRTUAL MEMORY SPACE. Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it's short of RAM. On the Start menu, click My Computer/View System Information/ Advanced tab. Under Performance, click Settings. In the Performance Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab. Find the Virtual memory area. Click Change. The Virtual Memory dialog box is displayed. Here you can change the page file settings. DO NOT exceed the limit given in the properties box of your windows system.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST (cont’d) PERIODICALLY CHECK HARD WARE/ SOFTWARE MANUFACTURERS’ SITES OF YOUR PC COMPONENTS FOR NEW DRIVER UPDATES TO FIX PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR PRODUCTS. DEFRAG COMPUTER PARTITIONS. CLEAN UP YOUR REGISTRY.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST (contd) ADD MEMORY, HARD DISK CAPACITY, LARGER MOTHERBOARD/ MICROPROCESSOR.

UTILITIES I USE CREATE A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER DRIVES CHECK FOR AND INSTALL MOST RECENT UTILITY UPDATES

UTILITIES I USE (cont’d) SECUNIA PSI ver PERSONAL SOFTWARE INSPECTOR Scans, detects, and identifies vulnerable programs for missing security patches, later available versions, and identify end-of-life programs and provides information and links to correct vulnerabilities  DOWNLOAD:  USER INSTRUCTIONS: shots/  readme.rtf after install in the Program folder. Also check the Help screen accessed from the overview page.

PERIFORM UTILITIES  ccleaner:removes unused files, cleans traces of your on line browser activities, provides a fully featured registry cleaner, cleans Temp and Temp Internet files from Windows applications and log files.  deflaggler:defrags hard drives  recuva:recovers or securely overwrite deleted files

PERIFORM UTILITIES  DOWNLOAD:  DOCUMENTATION: provides information about how to use all three programs, along with technical information and some notes for advanced users who want to control the software using scripting or tweak the power-user settings.  Also check out Tour and Screenshot links and FAQs

ccleaner

deflaggler

recuva

UTILITIES I USE (cont’d) GLARY UTILITIES Cleans common system junk files, as well as invalid registry entries and Internet traces. You can manage and delete browser add-ons, analyze disk space usage and find duplicate files. You can also view and manage installed shell extensions, encrypt your files from unauthorized access and use, split large files into smaller manageable files and then rejoin them. Includes options to optimize memory, find, fix, or remove broken Windows shortcuts, manage programs that start at Windows startup and uninstall software. Other features include secure file deletion, an Empty Folder finder and more.

GLARY UTILITIES  DOWNLOAD: _ html?part=dl- GlaryUtil&subj=dl&tag=button or and follow links.  DOCUMENTATION:After installing Glary Utilities, launch program and on main page click >Menu/Help (or click F1)

GLARY UTILITIES

UTILITIES I USE (cont’d) SYSINTERNALS SUITE This file contains 66 individual troubleshooting tools and help files developed by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to manage, troubleshoot and diagnose Windows systems and applications. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, These Utilities fall under the categories of File & Disk Utilities, Networking Utilities, Process Utilities, Security Utilities, System Information, and Miscellaneous.

SYSINTERNALS SUITE DOWNLOAD: us/sysinternals/0e18b180-9b7a-4c c47c5a aspx USERS INSTRUCTIONS: Click on any Utility listed on the download site; e.g. Autorun documentation can be found at us/sysinternals/bb aspx

SYSINTERNALS SUITE The Suite is a bundling of the following selected Sysinternals Utilities: PARTIAL LIST AccessChk AccessEnum AdExplorer AdRestore Autologon Autoruns BgInfo CacheSet ClockRes Contig Coreinfo Ctrl2Cap DebugView Junction LDMDump ListDLLs LiveKd LoadOrder LogonSessions NewSid NTFSInfo PageDefrag PendMoves PipeList PortMon ProcessExplorer PsLogList PsPasswd PsService PsShutdown PsSuspend RegDelNull RegJump RegMon RootkitRevealer SDelete ShareEnum ShellRunas SigCheck

SYSINTERNALS SUITE - AUTORUN This utility, which has the most comprehensive knowledge of auto-starting locations of any startup monitor, shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.  Autoruns' Hide Signed Microsoft Entries option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system and it has support for looking at the auto-starting images configured for other accounts configured on a system. Also included in the download package is a command-line equivalent that can output in CSV format, Autorunsc.

SYSINTERNALS SUITE - AUTORUN

UTILITIES I USE (cont’d) ERASER Eraser is an advanced security tool which makes sure all your passwords, personal information, financial records, etc. are permanently removed and deleted from your computer.  DOWNLOAD: html  DOCUMENTATION: See Help Topic (F1) on main page of Utility.

ERASER

UTILITIES I USE (cont’d) RAMBOOSTER RAMBooster monitors the amount of RAM your system is using and allows you to free it up. This will let your PC run smoother and faster, and you won't have to reboot as often. It will monitor the memory at all times, and if the amount of free RAM gets too low, it will automatically boost it for you, finding unused RAM and returning it to the free pool. RAMBooster will also monitor your CPU usage.

RAMBOOSTER DOWNLOAD: _ html DOCUMENTATION: Click on FAQ & Help under Help on the main page of the Utility.

RAMBOOSTER