How do you improve the performance of your PC? What are some things that you do to help it
start quicker, load quicker, and perform better?

Here is what I do on my PC. Note: I have Windows Vista, all of these
features should work with other Windows Operating Systems except the 4th
one, this only works with Windows Vista.

1. Remove Unnecessary Startup Programs - I recommend you to remove
the unnecessary programs that automatically launch whenever you start your
computer. This helps your computer start up quicker. To remove the
unnecessary programs go to Run >> type in <u>msconfig</u> to launch
the System Startup Configuration options. Once that is launched you can
click the “Startup” tab. That will show you a list of
services/applications that launch whenever you start your computer. Just
uncheck the programs that you don’t need. For example, you don’t need MSN
Messenger to startup whenever you load your computer so you can uncheck it.
Once you are done with that you can click “Apply”, and then click “OK”
so your settings get applied. You may need to restart your computer for the
settings to take effect.

2. Organize Your Desktop! - Okay, I admit, when I got my new HP PC
and I had a lot more RAM I was able to accomplish a lot more on my 1 GB RAM
desktop than I could with my 128 MB RAM desktop. I got lazy and stopped
organizing files on my desktop. I just downloaded setup files and let them
stay. Don’t do this! Remove the unnecessary files off of your desktop, and
organize everything. You don’t need 50 icons on there, just keep 4.
Organize everything into folders and put them under “My Documents” or
somewhere you can find. Having a lot of icons makes your desktop load
slower. If you keep it organized it will help your computer start up quicker
and use less memory.

3. Defragment Regularly - I like to defragment my computer weekly.
Here is what it does (quoted from Microsoft’s help file)

Fragmentation makes your hard disk do extra work that can slow down your
computer. Disk Defragmenter rearranges fragmented data so your hard disk can
work more efficiently.

You can find the Disk Defragmentation tool by going to the Start Menu—>
All Programs—> Accessories—> System Tools—-> and clicking Disk
Defragmentation.

4. Use Windows ReadyBoost (for Vista users) - I use my Sandisk Cruzer USB
Flash Drive to speed up my Windows Vista. There is a feature called
ReadyBoost which uses the memory on your flash drive to speed up your
computer. It only works with certain USB Flash drives, so make sure that
your flash drive says something about ReadyBoost if you want it to work with
Vista.

Okay. That’s all I use! I’m sure there must be more ways to make your
computer run more efficiently. How do you all do it? Please post your
tips/suggestions so that we can all benefit from each other.

Don’t forget that you can speed up your computer by also switching out your firewall and antivirus!  On my Windows XP laptop, it was running ridiculously slow and when I went to go reinstall the firewall/antivirus (OneCare v2.0 at the time) I noticed the thing was a lot faster!  So I found lightweight programs like Comodo Pro Firewall and Avira Anti-Vir that are powerful, but still have a small enough of a footprint that they do not drag my computer down every time it boots!

BuckeyeFanatic25 - 05 June 2008 09:42 PM

Don’t forget that you can speed up your computer by also switching out your firewall and antivirus!  On my Windows XP laptop, it was running ridiculously slow and when I went to go reinstall the firewall/antivirus (OneCare v2.0 at the time) I noticed the thing was a lot faster!  So I found lightweight programs like Comodo Pro Firewall and Avira Anti-Vir that are powerful, but still have a small enough of a footprint that they do not drag my computer down every time it boots!

You’re right!  I downloaded McAffee because Comcast provided it to me for free with their service.  McAffee inspected almost every packet that came on to my computer and left my computer.  This really slowed down my computer and the internet speed also.  Once I removed it my computer started working faster and webpages loaded quickly also.  I did use an alternative firewall to keep my computer safe, it doesn’t slow it down.

Here are some freeware utilities that I seem to use on a fairly regular basis.

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.5.2
Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven’t intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been “hijacked” (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don’t see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D;is free, so there’s no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

SpywareBlaster 4.1
Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software.
Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
Restrict the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer.

CCleaner 2.09.600
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! 😊

JkDefrag v3.34
JkDefrag is a disk defragmenter and optimizer for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008/X64. Completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. Included are a Windows version, a commandline version (for scheduling by the task scheduler or for use from administrator scripts), a screensaver version, a DLL library (for use from programming languages), versions for Windows X64, and the complete sources.

JkDefrag Option GUI
JkDefragGUI is an Graphical User Interface which allows you to easily select all the features JkDefrag, a freeware defragmentation tool made by Jeroen Kessels has to offer. But is can do a lot more. JkDefragGUI can schedule a defragmentation, install JkDefrag or it’s screensaver but can also do some small maintenance to your computer. It can be used to schedule a defragmentation of your systemfiles like pagefile and registry files. JkDefragGUI also supports CCleaner which can be used instead of the internal cleaning function. It can also erase any information which is left behind on your harddisk after erasing files. JkDefragGUI was created for people who don’t have the skills of an advanced user but still want to use the powerful features JkDefrag has to offer or for those people who like a GUI instead of using the command line. JkDefragGUI is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, U3 memory pens and with BartPE pre-installed environment.

DTaskManager Process Manager 1.5.1
DTaskManager, obviously, is a Task-Manager, but specifically engineered to give additional functionalities that the Windows bundled TaskManager (and other third party products) do not have.

RegCompact.NET 2.0
RegCompact.NET 2.0 (last freeware version) will enhance your system?s performance by optimizing the arrangement of data stored in your system?s registry hives.

Also, several good guides for tweaking services can be found at BlackViper.

Those are good programs to have there is also Malwarebytes’ which is pretty good and ATF which does about the same as CCleaner. And your right on switching programs to lightweight they help to speed up your computer and dont hog system resources. Norton hogs system resources and I would not recommend this to anyone. I do a scan disk and disk clean and defrag to which hels your computers performance.