I have one of those cool uncles who can soup up any old car using only a screwdriver and some chewed gum. He just gets underneath the hood and starts making adjustments here and there turning a rumbling clunker into a purring kitty. When asked what he did, he just shrugs and tells you he just made some minor adjustments to the timing belt or whatever ( I personally know diddly squat about old cars). It is amazing what a few minor adjustments can do.

Computers are the same way, sometimes what is needed are a few minor tweaks to the system to get a faster computer. A few clicks of the mouse, a couple strokes of the keys and you could have your computer blazing at start up and keep it from getting sluggish in its performance. Here are Three simple tweaks to increase your computers speed.

1:turn off the the windows indexing service:

If you are ever wondering what your computer is doing when you are not looking, it is usually busy indexing your files so that your CPU can supposedly find them faster when it needs to. The problem is, is that even the most insignificant little files end up being indexed, taking up valuable hard drive space and further fragmenting your drive. Most tech’s have deemed this windows feature as unnecessary and suggest disabling it.  Here is how to do it…

First: double click on My Computer, then go to the View menu (on the top) and point to the Explorer Bar and click on search.

Next: Click change preferences and then click without indexing services.

Last: When prompted, click No, do not enable indexing services, then click Ok

2: switch from FAT 32 to NTSF

If you have Windows XP, you have the option of converting your hard drive configuration from FAT to NTSF. While it takes up a bit more space, NTSF offers better compression, encryption and security than the older compression system. Switching to NTSF is easy and will enhance the performance of your hard drive. Here is how you do it:

Click on your command prompt.

Type in chkdsk to find out how your drive is configured (it should tell you on the first line)

If it not NTSF already, type in the following: X:/:FS:NTSF

The “X” represents the hard drive you want to convert (usually it is the C drive)

3:Getting rid of unnecessary start up processes and programs

Truth be told, your computer only needs a total of six programs in order to boot up and get moving. Of course if you check out your  Task Manager right after boot up (Ctrl ALT Delete) you will probably find a vast array of different programs running already. Managing your start up programs and processes is one sure way to help increase the speed of windows.

To do this, open your Start Menu, click on Run, and then type “msconfig.exe” into the command screen.

This will bring up the “system configuration utility”window.

Now, in the services and startup menu, uncheck  all of the programs and services that you do not need.

When performing this tweak, it is important to know that there is a little bit of risk involved, especially if you end up getting rid of a process your PC needs to boot up. I found a good list of unnecessary programs here.

Also,  if you do not feel like getting all uber geek with your computer, a good registry fixer will help you manage your start up programs and processes  without making you get all technical up on the joint.

Programs that are stored onto your Hard Drive can end up being a convoluted mess if you happen to be the type of PC owner who loves to  download, delete and then download again. Whe you download a new program, your computer automatically goes for the nearest blank space on your hard drive to insert pieces of the program and when that area is filled up, it jumps to the next space and continues to do so until the entire program ends up scattered throughout hard drive. This practice ends up slowing down your computer and the best solution for you is to Defrag your Hard Drive.

Think of as a parking garage for digitized information

To get a more visual grasp on what is going on, let us imagine that our Hard Drive is a giant parking garage and that a  program is a fleet of cars (each car being a different piece of information)  that we just brought in and need to park. Now our PC, playing the role of the Valet, has the task of parking this new fleet of cars in the already crowded garage. While it would be nice to line them up in a nice, neat row the PC valet has no time for this and merely grabs each car in turn and parks each of them in the nearest available spot that it happens to come upon, scattering the fleet all over the structure.  While this is not the most efficient way to do things, it is the fastest way to do it at the time and the PC valet gives itself a nice pat on the back for a job well done.

But, then when we come back with our ticket wishing to retrieve our fleet of cars (i.e. open a program),  the PC is now forced to rush all over the garage like a maniac in order to get all the cars that we need.  This of course takes time and ends up making the retrieval process slow. If only the poor PC valet was not rushed so much and had time to move around all the cars in the garage so that all the ones that belonged to the same program were parked closer to each other. If it was allowed to do this, then retrieving a certain fleet of cars would end up being a much quicker process.

In this scenario, the disk defragmenter can be seen as a team of crack Valets that had been hired by the management to get things nice and organized. When initiated, they come in and began to move all the cars around so that all the ones that  belong to the same program fleet  are parked as close to each other as possible. This process takes a bit a time, shutting down the garage for a hour or two. But when it is done, the place is now nice and streamlined and the the lowly PC valet does not have to run all away to Timbuktu and back in order to grab each car that it needs for a specific program.

How to Defrag

The steps to defragmentation are relatively simple ones to follow. Before you do it, you want to first make sure all other programs are shut off. Now go, to your Start menu on the bottom left hand corner, click it and then click on Programs, move your pointer to the Accessories tab, then down to System Tools where you will find the DIsk Defragmenter option about halfway down the list. Click on it, wait a few seconds and a prompt screen should pop up displaying your various hard drives. Choose the drive you want to re organize (most likely the C drive) and then initiate the process.

If this is your first time Defragging your drive, do not be surprised if it ends up taking a long time to finish up. It is best to do it at the end of the day, when you have nothing left to do on the computer. Tooling around on the computer while it is trying to defrag your drive will end up slowing it down considerably, so go watch television or do some laundry instead.  Also, it might be a good idea to run the Disk Cleanup option first, in order to get rid of anything that you do not need to defrag anyway.

Defragging your Hard Drive is a good way to boost the operating speed of your computer, enabling it to run in a more efficient manner. It is recommended that you do this at least twice a month in order to ensure optimal PC performance.

You want a fast computer? Sure, we all want that. But, did you know that there are three easy steps that you can take in order to achieve this?  Follow these three little rules an you will have your PC  back up and burning through RAM in no time flat.

Step 1: Cleaning out your closet

If you do a lot of stuff on your computer, it is important to set aside time once a month in order to take stock, assess, roll up your sleeves, and get some cleaning done. If your hard drive is cluttered with documents, pictures, videos and mp3 files, you might want to burn what you do not really need to a disk and then erase them from your hard drive. Also check out your control panel and see if you have any programs that you are not using and remove them.  After this, you then want to go over to the tools menu of your start menu’s accessory tab and  click on “disk cleanup”. This will remove any garbage that has been sitting around as well as give you the option to remove all the temporary files  that you computer has downloaded from the internet.

After cleaning out your closet so to speak, it is now time to put everything else in those handy space saver vacuum bags that you see on television. Metaphorically speaking, the “defrag” option in your tools menu performs the role of space saver quite adequately. It will compress all your files into efficient little packages so that your computer can find them faster.

Step 2: Your Registry

While some people might snort at the idea that your registry can slog your computer down, I can attest that it really does, especially  if you are the type of person who likes to try out different programs and then try to remove them once you get sick of them. A computer’s registry can become bloated because of missing links,  wrong file paths, and corrupted registry keys.  I recommend that you try a free scan from RegCure and check out how many errors your registry does contain.  Do not be surprised if the number is in the high  hundreds.  If this is so, then I recommend downloading the full version and running a registry checkup on a monthly basis to ensure that your pc is in tip top shape.

Step 3: Spyware and virus alert

Getting viruses is probably the most annoying aspect of the cruising down the information highway. I especially hate those viruses that pop up and keep telling you that you have a virus, even though they are ones that are really infecting your computer. Once you get one of these guys into your system, it is almost impossible to get rid of them with anything short of reformatting your whole drive and starting over.  A good antiviral program is essential to keep these guys at bay and your computer running at full speed.  After trying all of the big ones, I recommend using AVG antivirus, which seems to provide the best service for the money.

Spyware is another insidious problem that can wreak havoc on your system as well as expose your personal information to third parties. Antispyware is easy to obtain online, with free dwonloads performing just as well as the stuff you might pay for. If you do get a free down load however, be sure to regularly update it. I really liked how the product Spybot  worked at keeping these nosy little bugs from running around in my PC.  Also, it is important to note, that Virus protection, and spyware removal programs are not the same thing. Be sure to get both products in order to keep your pc safe.

You can think of it as a sort of ships log…

Your Windows Registry is an extremely important system file that stores a huge collection of data pertaining to your computer. Like big brother in 1984, it keeps track of everything that goes on: where  all programs are stored, which dll’s (helper programs) are shared by whom, which programs are in your start up menu, and which programs need to fire up when you click on a certain icon, and much, much more. Everything you do on your PC is, in someway ot the other, stored in your registry. This blog entry’s URl  for example, is now stored somewhere in your registry, as are the dozen or so places online that you went before getting here. Anything that  you may have installed, or tried to uninstall in the past week or so is also lurking around in there somewhere.

A messy registry is a sign of an active PC…

The thing about Window’s registry, is that it tends to become cluttered with a lot of useless junk, especially if you are like me, a PC user who likes to dabble in a little bit of everything. I imagine that if you took a look inside my computers registry, it is going to look a whole lot like what my desk looked in the sixth grade, a big convoluted mess, with old papers and other junk stuffed everywhere (oh, wait my desk still kind of looks like that).

Why a messy registry can slow you down…

While the Window’s registry  will continually add new file paths and program changes to its log, it seldom, if ever cleans house and rids itself of unused file paths from deleted programs, bad entries  that lead to nowhere, or even corrupted kernals that just sit around and take up space. As time goes by, it becomes one big bloated mess that can slow your computer’s performance to a crawl as the operating system tries to slog its way through this disaster area of it’s own making.

How to fix it

Messing around with your registry can be tricky business, especially if you try to do it manually. Erase the wrong file path and you might find yourself unable to even boot your computer back up. A much safer route is to invest in a decent registry fixer that will automatically scan your registry and show you what is wrong, and what problems can safely be fixed without compromising your PC’s performance.  When using a registry cleaner, it is important to first make a back up file just in case you do something wrong and to always make sure you pay attention to what the cleaner is doing, and not just let it automatically fix everything.

A good registry cleaner could help you speed up your  computer, especially if you have a tendency to download a lot of different programs and use your PC for more than just checking your e-mail. Cleaning up all the clutter will enable your operating sytem to navigate its way through the registry and eliminating old or unwanted file paths will keep you from falling asleep as you wait for your PC to finish booting up.