Computer Repair

It seems that the longer you own your computer, the slower it gets! Lots of individuals will maintain their pc until it gets so slow that they feel they need a newer, faster model. Some feel like the reason it’s getting slower is because it is acquiring older, when that’s just not the case. Your pc ought to run just as fast as the day you brought it residence in the event you follow these 10 Easy Steps to Speed Up Your Pc.
Empty the Temp directory regularly. Each time you launch a program, it creates a temporary file, until you either save or close the file. The reason it does this is in case your system crashes or gets turned off (prior to saving the file), it’ll be feasible to recover the unsaved file you had been working on. This is a great concept, but rarely works. Each time your system crashes, locks up, or gets turned off whilst you have open files, these temp files get produced and just sit there within the Temp directory. Then, each and every time you launch a program, it looks via all the temp files (to see if 1 wants to be recovered) and slows the open method, and in some rare cases, even locks up when attempting to launch. In any event, the launch process is slowed.Other ways of getting unneeded temp files is by installing programs. Most programs that get installed extract temp files (necessary in the course of the installation) to the temp directory, but plenty of times do not get deleted when the installation is total.Windows also uses the temp directory for its temp files, for recovery purposes and ongoing use.Following a short although, the temp directory fills up with hundreds (and I’ve even observed thousands) of temp files that usually get scanned over when Windows starts up and when programs launch. This slows everything down immensely.Rule of thumb for Temp Files: Should you do not have any programs open (and nothing minimized in the bar below), then you shouldn’t have ANY temp files within your temp directory. If you do, delete them.To delete Temp files, make sure NO programs are open, and…
In Windows 95, 98 or Me, go to C:\Windows\Temp and delete everything inside the Temp folder.In Windows 2000 or XP, it is just a little trickier. Very first, ensure that you are able to see hidden folders. Double-click My Personal computer. Click on the Tools pull-down menu, and then on Folder Choices. Click on the View tab. Scroll down and click on Show Hidden Files and Folders. Click Ok. Now you can go to the C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp folder. Delete every thing here. Also, look within the C:\Windows(or Winnt)\Temp or Tmp folders. Delete every thing here, as well. Note: this assumes that your logon ID is Administrator. If the primary account isn’t Administrator, or if there are more than one account, substitute “Administrator” for the account names, and delete the temp files from all the C:\Documents and Settings\(account name)\Local Settings\Temp folders.Empty the Temporary Internet Files frequently. This is comparable to the Temp directory, but for images and cookies whilst browsing websites. Each time you go to a site, your browser will look through your list of temporary Web files, to see for those who have all the images necessary to view your requested web page. If it is a extremely lengthy list, it’ll delay your view time. Nonetheless, if you have a dial-up, this is the lesser of two evils. Should you already have the needed images, it really is quicker (for a dial-up) to look through your temporary Internet files, than to download new images every time you go to a site.On the other hand, for those who have a broadband Internet connection (highspeed CableModem, DSL, Wireless, etc.), and you would like a little a lot more snap within your surfing, then you ought to delete your Temporary Internet Files on a normal basis, and select to Check for Newer Images on Every Pay a visit to to a internet page.To empty Temporary Internet Files, go to your Control Panel, by click on the Start\Settings\Control Panel (or in Windows XP, just Start\Control Panel) and double-click the internet Choices icon. Select to Delete Cookies, and to Delete Files. This can clear all of your Temporary Internet Files.To have World wide web Explorer often check for new images and content on each and every go to to a web page, to the right of the Delete Files button, is the Settings button. Click this button and pick Each and every Go to to the Internet Page. This alternative by no means has World wide web Explorer look by means of your Temporary World wide web Files to see in the event you already have the images required. This way, Internet Explorer will just automatically download every image, each time, without looking through a list. When you have a great Web connection, this is the better approach to go. Do not forget to delete your Temporary Web Files each as soon as in a while (see above).Check your hard disks for problems. There are two different kinds of disk checks: one is a file check, which checks the state of your operating system, checks all of your files, your file structure, and other software checks. If you will find software program problems (like a corrupt FAT (file allocation table), etc., this check will attempt to fix it. The other can be a physical hardware disk check. This checks the surface of your hard disks, to see if you’ll find poor sectors (sections) of your hard drive, to see if your drive is physically experiencing issues. This disk check will attempt to repair the poor sectors, but if it cannot, it will mark the sector as bad and attempt to move the file(s) or file “pieces” to a good sector(s) of the disk. By marking the sector as bad, it knows not to write any future files to this section of the difficult drive.To run a disk check (or scan disk), here are the actions:
For Windows 95, 98, or Me, double-click My Personal computer. Right-click the C-drive and click on Properties. Click on the Tools tab and pick to check the computer for problems. If you select to do a Thorough Scan, this may do the hardware check for physical disk harm or sector harm. Otherwise, the Standard Scan does the software program file check. In either case, you can choose to have the scan automatically fix any errors it finds. The Thorough Scan does take very a bit longer. You may want to let this run over night. Only do the Thorough Scan once you feel there might be a difficulty together with your drive itself, or in the event you haven’t run it in a few months, otherwise, run the Standard Scan as soon as a week or so.For Windows 2000 and XP, double-click My Computer. Right-click the C-drive and click Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose to check the computer for difficulties. Click on Check Now. You may then have two check boxes. The leading choice is for the file check, and the second option is for the hardware (physical disk) check. Check either one, or both. A minimum of check the leading 1. Once more, in the event you think you could be having issues with the tough disk itself, then check the second one, as well. And just like the Windows 98 Thorough Scan, this will take quite a bit longer to run, so let it run over night. 1 thing, although: For Windows 2000 and XP, you won’t have the ability to run the check right then. After clicking the Begin button (as soon as the check boxes are checked), you’ll have to reboot to run the disk check. It’ll ask you if you want the system to run the CHKDSK on reboot. Pick Yes and reboot. Just prior to getting back into Windows, the system will do its CHKDSK, and depending on which alternatives you chose, will take either several minutes, and at times up to an hour or so, to run. Let it run.An even much more thorough disk check (and tune-up), would be to use a 3rd party utility (a stand-alone program outside of Windows) to check everything for you, automatically. 1 of my favorites is TuneUp Utilities 2004. It expenses $39.99, but they do provide a Free download trial of 15 days, to check it out to see if it speeds up your pc and/or fixes any problems. This program does a really good job of not only checking your computer’s file structure, master boot record, file allocation table, and files, but also an extremely great job of detecting and fixing bad sectors of your physical disk drives. And not just that, it also tunes up your program for increased speed, checks and cleans your registry, adjusts memory for you, tweaks your Internet settings for faster downloads and browsing (regardless of whether you use a dial-up or broadband), and streamlines your operating program for peak performance. I highly advise this program. In the event you don’t have it, you are able to download it HERE.If you do not want to get the TuneUp Utilities 2004, you’ll be able to do a couple of of the performance tweaks yourself, if you have Windows XP. By default, Everything is turned on in Windows XP. It is not extremely streamlined for performance, but rather for appearance. You can turn off a few of the unnecessary features, and Windows will still work just fine, and perhaps just a little faster.To do this, right-click on My Pc and click on Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Under the Performance section, click on the Settings button. On the Visual Effects tab, you’ll see a list of check boxes. By default, these are all on. You actually don’t need any of them. If you select among the radio buttons at the leading, say, Adjust for Greatest Performance, then all the check boxes will turn off. This will noticeably speed up your pc. You’ll be able to go via the check boxes 1 by one, and determine which ones you are able to and can’t live without. The one that can make the greatest impact is the really last 1 inside the list. This is the Themes. If you turn it off, it will free of charge up lots of system resources and provide you with very a bit much more memory to work with, but Windows XP will look a lot more like Windows 2000. For many people, this isn’t a difficulty. It’s all eye-candy, anyway. Your pretty green pasture picture will disappear your pretty green and blue buttons and job bar will go to a gray. If you can live with these things, then you may have much more performance. You’ll locate that menus open up much more quickly and every thing responds more instantly.Turn off Active Desktop. Active Desktop turns your desktop into a internet page, and allows you to have issues like a real-time calendar, and up-to-the-minute weather or stocks. These issues are truly neat, but your system takes a performance hit when they are running within the background all of the time. As well as should you don’t use Active Desktop for anything, just having it active can trigger a performance decrease. Turn it off.
In Windows 95, 98 and Me, right-click on the desktop and inside the pop-up menu, pick Active Desktop. Inside that alternative, uncheck Active Desktop. If there is certainly no check next to it, then it isn’t on. Do not choose it. Instead, just click the desktop once again to obtain out of the menu.In Windows 2000, right-click on the desktop and within the pop-up menu, pick Active Desktop. Inside that alternative, uncheck Show Internet Content. Once again, if there’s no check next to it, then it’s not on. Do not check it.In Windows XP, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu, pick Properties. On the Desktop tab, pick Customize Desktop. Now, on the Internet tab, ensure that there are no internet sites chosen here. If there aren’t any, then Active Desktop is not on. Cancel and go back to the desktop.Install and run an excellent AntiVirus program (frequently) to keep out viruses and Trojan horses that may take over your program. For those who have a virus(s), your system performance can be significantly decreased. Viruses can do all kinds of nasty points to your pc. They can take over your personal computer, erase your hard drive, use your computer as a server, provide you with a bunch of illegal music or programs and tell all of their friends to download it all from you leaving you holding the bag and supplying the pc space and bandwidth for their hobby. So, safeguard your self having a excellent AntiVirus program. 1 of my favorites is AVG. It’s not only a really great AntiVirus program, however it is also Free! If you don’t have any AntiVirus software program on your personal computer, get AVG AntiVirus NOW by downloading HERE. Should you already have an AntiVirus program, and you would like to make use of AVG instead, do not install AVG. Very first, uninstall your current AntiVirus program, reboot and install AVG. You do not desire to have two AntiVirus programs installed at the very same time. They are going to work against each other and can trigger problems.Get rid of Spyware. A lot of computer users have Spyware and do not even know they’ve it, much much less how you can get rid of it. If your computer has been taking you to websites that you don’t want to go to, or in the event you get pop-ups when you aren’t even on the internet, or if your computer has been running incredibly slowly lately, for no reason, you possibly have Spyware.On all the computers that I setup, I install two different AntiSpyware programs: AdAware SE and SpyBot. These two programs are extremely suggested by TechTV (G4) along with other computer authorities (including my own analysis on Spyware) and work really well together. They compliment one another and catch Spyware that the other misses, but together, do a really good job.SpyBot is not only a great program for acquiring rid of Spyware, but also as a preventative Spyware-catcher. It sits there and looks for identified Spyware coming into your system, as well as suspicious-looking content. If you use the Tea-Timer feature, it may be a little annoying, but ANY suspicious-looking program, trying to be installed on your system, is flagged and your permission is asked for it to be installed (now and often). In the event you don’t have this program installed on your pc, get it NOW by downloading HERE. Download all updates and run the Immunize choice a couple of times (for preventative purposes). Scan with it each and every day should you can.AdAware SE has a little far better Spyware database in it, but just isn’t setup as a preventative AntiSpyware program. It does do an excellent job whenever you keep up on the updates and manually scan your program with AdAware. In the event you do not have this program on your pc, get it NOW by downloading HERE. Download all updates and run the Intelligent Scan daily (if not, at the very least weekly).If, right after downloading and installing, updating, and running both of these AntiSpyware program, you still can’t get rid of your Spyware, you could need to enlist the services of a expert. Some Spyware is so intelligent that it looks to see if AntiSpyware programs delete the Spyware part of its programming and, if it is gone, reinserts it back in place. This could be really frustrating for the user (and in some cases, even for the expert). You will find stronger measures that can be taken to obtain rid of the Spyware, in circumstances like this, but can be really devastating to the user’s pc, if not handled perfectly. At this point, leave it to the professional. Call a local computer repair business and have them come out to your residence or business and get rid of the Spyware for you.In some instances, when the Spyware has become too entwined into your program, even a computer repair technician cannot get rid of the Spyware. At this point, it’s better to just backup only what you need and have the operating program reinstalled. Think me, when your computer gets to this point, you don’t want to just put a “band-aid” on it. Just begin from scratch with a clean program. It’s the best method to go.Streamline MSCONFIG. One factor that actually causes a Large performance decrease is to have unnecessary programs running within the background. Some of these programs could be observed within your Program Tray (located next to the clock, inside the lower-right corner of your screen). These are tiny programs which are robbing you of memory and processing power. Some of them you need, whilst most you do not. A number of the programs you Do not want are printer icons, CD burning icons, shortcuts to programs (like video settings), AOL, any Instant Messaging Programs, etc. Just simply because these programs are not usually running, doesn’t mean that you still cannot print, burn CDs or Instant Message. They can be run once you want them, from a shortcut.You are able to use a utility, called MSCONFIG, to turn OFF unnecessary Commence Up items.
In Windows 98, Me, and XP, click on Start\Run and type msconfig. Click on the Startup tab. This is really a list of every thing that is running in the background, some of which show up within the Program Tray. Now, be careful, some of these you do need. Some items to keep are Ctfmon.exe (XP), Scan Registry (Win98, Me), Task Monitor (Win98, Me), Program Tray (Win98, Me), LoadPowerProfile (Win98, Me), Rundll.32, any AntiVirus programs (like McAfee, Norton, or AVG). Others, you are able to uncheck, such as NeroCheck, ypager, qttask, AOL, and any other Instant Messaging programs, or printing programs. Bear in mind, if one thing does not work, since you turned it off, it can always be turned back on. You just have to reboot every time you make a change here. But, as you uncheck the unnecessary programs that run inside the background, you may see that Windows loads much quicker, that you’ll find much less icons within the System Tray, and that your system is significantly more “snappy” and quick to respond.In Windows 2000, MSCONFIG wasn’t supplied. You really need to download and run an MSCONFIG utility. Here is a web site that will let you download the MSCONFIG utility. Click HERE to Download. And if you copy it into your C:\Windows(or Winnt)\System32 folder, you are able to access it the very same way as Windows 98 or XP (by the Run command within the Commence menu). Or, you can just double-click it and use it that way, too. See above for what to leave checked and unchecked.After you reboot, you’ll have a window that says that the configuration utility was edited. Just check not to show that inside the future, a check box at the bottom.This just means that there was a alter made to the MSCONFIG.Defragment your tough drives. For those who have never completed this, or it has been several months given that the last time, this step is one of the most crucial points that can give you much more performance. As you use your computer, your drives turn out to be fragmented, by developing and deleting files. Just because a file is 10mb in size, does not mean that it really is sitting there on the drive (all 10mb) all in 1 spot on the drive. It fills in from the inside of the drive, outward, as the drive finds room. So your 1 file can be in pieces, in numerous spots on the hard drive. Do not be concerned, your file allocation table keeps track of where the pieces are, however, it takes longer to access a file that is in pieces (fragmented), than a file which is all in one spot on the hard drive. This is where defragmenting comes in. When you defragment your tough drive, this method copies all of the pieces to temporary spots on the difficult drive, and then fills in all the files (in their entirety) from the inside, out, to ensure that no files are split into pieces. This dramatically speeds up the seek time, in addition to speeds up the use of your files and programs. NOTE: to efficiently defragment a difficult drive, it likes to have 25% free of charge space. It can still do the defragmentation with only 15% free of charge space, but it takes really a bit longer. In the event you can, delete any unnecessary files before degramenting your drives.
To defragment your hard drives (in any Windows operating system), double-click on My Computer. Right-click on the c-drive and click on Properties. Click on the Tools tab and pick the bottom button, to Defragment Now… Click on the appropriate drive, and then on Defragment. This can take some time. Depending on your processing power, the quantity of RAM you’ve obtainable, the size and speed of your drive, and a couple of other points, this process can take 20 minutes, or hours. It is finest to let this 1 run over night, also, but it is well worth it.