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How to: Wake up your slow PC!


metalmonkey47

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This thread is only for people running Windows OS 98-7. Basically, everyone :rofl:

 

This thread is a basic explanation on restoring your slow PC to it's original (or close to it) processing power.

Generally, as a PC evolves through the years as programs are updated and installed, the number of processes running in the back ground tend to build up and put a giant drain on your available resources. You'll find when running through the following steps, that you may see a HUGE difference in the way your computer runs, or you may not. It all depends on your specific situation.

 

I'll put this as simple as I can for you non-tech savy guys to understand.

 

 

Step 1.

 

https://www.malwarebytes.org/

 

Download and install the program above. It's one of the best programs for detecting and removing hidden malware and virus's that hide in your computer. A quick scan is all you'll need. Doing this regularly is a great form of preventative maintenance to insure that your computer is always running clean and free of malicious bastards hiding in the background.

 

Step 2.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Download and install this program as well. This one does two things for you.

 

A; It gives you the option to use the "cleaner" feature you scan your system files and old internet databases for old, outdated, and unnecessary files that are no longer needed. You can select and un-select the options you would like the system to scan through. It will work as just cleaning temporary system files, or you can delete your internet cache, cookies, history, etc. There's a lot it can do for you. This won't help speed up your computer, but it will give you a little more free space.

 

B; There is a section as well for cleaning the registry. This tool removes old entries that are no longer valid. Before selecting "fix selected issues" after you scan, a prompt will show up asking you to backup the registry. ALWAYS select 'yes'. I've never seen an issue with this program and the registry going corrupt, but it's always nice to have a backup just in case. You will typically have about 1-200 results show up. Some may have more, some less. You may have to run and scan the registry a few times in order for it to clean out the stubborn entries.

 

 

Restart your computer.

 

Step 3.

This step is a little more advanced, so if you're not comfortable working on your own computer, do NOT make any changes here. What you're doing here is eliminating un-necessary processes running in the background and hogging your processor resources.

 

Here, you will open the start menu and select "Run." If you're running Windows 7 or Vista(I think?) you will not see this. You'll type the next command into the "Search Programs and Files" bar.

 

Type in 'msconfig' into the prompt and press enter. You'll see a window like the following open up. It varies from your operating system, but they're all basically the same.

 

Select the "Startup" tab.

 

msconfig_tabs.gif

 

 

 

Here, you're going to see a list of processes that are run on system startup. the ones with the checkmark are programs that open on startup.

 

Browse through this list and un-check any boxes that belong to programs that don't need to be running. These will be programs like the following examples I have running that I stopped...

 

  • Yahoo Messenger
  • Skype
  • Google Updater
  • Quicktime
  • Majicdisk
  • DivX Updater
  • ETC.

That's just a small list of programs I stop. Do NOT close programs with names that you do not recognize. If you have questions about a process, ask me and I can tell you what to do. Don't close any that belong to your anti-virus or any programs you want to continue running.

 

Click apply, restart your computer and enjoy. Hopefully, this helps out a tad bit. I usually see a noticeable difference on friends computers, but each is different.

 

 

 

For the time being, I'm going to leave it at this. Theres a few more steps I may add in the future, but this should help ya out for now.

Edited by metalmonkey47
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Nice write-up! I agree with most everything you talk about, CCleaner is awesome. However I would add 2 things:

1. Make sure you using a up-to-date quality browser such as Firefox or Chrome.

2. Malware isn't responsible for as much damage as everyone thinks it is. Most Times I refresh a PC its just the build up of usage from multiple programs being installed and removed like you talk about. Nothing beats a good clean windows install and a ghost image made of the fresh state. Ghost actually wipes your windows install drive and completely re-writes your OS to the fresh state when you made the ghost. Most other programs (E.G. System Restore) only remove and restores a few of the latest things to your OS. I start by making a small partition to install windows on and make a second of the rest for data & documents (about a 20/80% split of HD size) After the install and ghost image creation you can now wipe your entire OS without erasing data at will in about 5-10min :)

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Nice write-up! I agree with most everything you talk about, CCleaner is awesome. However I would add 2 things:

1. Make sure you using a up-to-date quality browser such as Firefox or Chrome.

2. Malware isn't responsible for as much damage as everyone thinks it is. Most Times I refresh a PC its just the build up of usage from multiple programs being installed and removed like you talk about. Nothing beats a good clean windows install and a ghost image made of the fresh state. Ghost actually wipes your windows install drive and completely re-writes your OS to the fresh state when you made the ghost. Most other programs (E.G. System Restore) only remove and restores a few of the latest things to your OS. I start by making a small partition to install windows on and make a second of the rest for data & documents (about a 20/80% split of HD size) After the install and ghost image creation you can now wipe your entire OS without erasing data at will in about 5-10min :)

 

X2 cool.gif

 

I completely agree. Nothing beats a nice, clean new install. It's just a little more complicated and a longer drawn out process. Most people that could do a full fresh install don't even need this write-up tongue.gif

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X2 cool.gif

 

I completely agree. Nothing beats a nice, clean new install. It's just a little more complicated and a longer drawn out process. Most people that could do a full fresh install don't even need this write-up tongue.gif

 

Lolz, Your fully right! I got a little carried away with the fresh install info but damnit, I have been running no anti-virus or anti-malware on a clean XP install with Firefox for 3 years without a problem! I am a internet whore too! I get frustrated with all the anti-virus hype out there, to me its like replacing my muffler bearings ;)

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I suck at computers but this write up is very helpful. My similarly computer illeterate family (my dad especially) hates our windows vista dell xps410 codenamed Hal 2000. Is there any way to just wipe it to factory? Certainly one of you have got to know how to hack. Not maliciously in this case but could you get into my parents computer and speed it up? Ha or anyone local want to give it a shot? I could compensate you in some way or another just would be nice to get thier computer quick again for them. Too many pirated songs and video games lol

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As an IT admin, I approve this post!! laugh.gif

 

 

Also consider mydefrag!! Hard drives do not store data perfectly on hard drives, when it gets full the data starts to fragment, or "scatter" all over the drive.

http://www.mydefrag.com/

 

Defragmentation will simply just "line up" or organize your data, making it easier and quicker for the computer to find it.

 

The problem is this can sometimes cause a lot of ware on an old hard drive, so its best not to do it frequently.

 

 

 

/returns to lurking

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I suck at computers but this write up is very helpful. My similarly computer illeterate family (my dad especially) hates our windows vista dell xps410 codenamed Hal 2000. Is there any way to just wipe it to factory? Certainly one of you have got to know how to hack. Not maliciously in this case but could you get into my parents computer and speed it up? Ha or anyone local want to give it a shot? I could compensate you in some way or another just would be nice to get thier computer quick again for them. Too many pirated songs and video games lol

 

 

Your best bet is to take these steps. You CAN get it wiped, but I'm not sure if you can restore it to factory on your specific system. There is a way it can be accessed across the internet through some programs, but it's super slow and laggy. Would take HOURS to get something done.

 

Maybe a local Ratsuner can help ya out.

 

As an IT admin, I approve this post!! laugh.gif

 

 

Also consider mydefrag!! Hard drives do not store data perfectly on hard drives, when it gets full the data starts to fragment, or "scatter" all over the drive.

http://www.mydefrag.com/

 

Defragmentation will simply just "line up" or organize your data, making it easier and quicker for the computer to find it.

 

The problem is this can sometimes cause a lot of ware on an old hard drive, so its best not to do it frequently.

 

 

 

/returns to lurking

 

I never defrag. lol

 

I run Windows 7, which was advertised in the beta form as a OS that would never require it, because when it's idling it defrags itself. Not sure how well it works though.

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Buncha noobs. If you were some what computer literate you wouldn't need to do that at all.... :rofl:

 

This is what the computer literate do. Its not magic. We just know what to do and what everything is called.

 

About defrag, windows 7 does it every week. But I think you might have to set it up yourself.

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This is what the computer literate do. Its not magic. We just know what to do and what everything is called.

 

About defrag, windows 7 does it every week. But I think you might have to set it up yourself.

 

:rofl: Just playin man... When i got on a pc, dos 3.3 was the shit... I still have a sealed box with windows 3.1 (maybe it was 3.11) in the attick

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I never defrag. lol

 

I run Windows 7, which was advertised in the beta form as a OS that would never require it, because when it's idling it defrags itself. Not sure how well it works though.

 

Oh? My laptops running win7, I didn't know that was a feature. I will look into it. cool.gif

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Ill just leave this right here...........

 

apple-products.jpg

 

Ipods are cool! until you realize you can buy an mp3 with more space for cheaper and supports more formats.

 

Iphone I used to have a valid excuse of them being only on AT&T but that changed, still I avoid Itunes on windows like the plague.

 

A Mac, if you come to OSU engineering with a mac, the first thing they tell you is "install windows on it". Awesome you just paid too much for your pc... Oh and OSX has no security when installing it so its "free" to install on other devices.

 

It all confuses me.

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I am running Ubuntu Linux. No issues, and it is pretty much free.

I am also using Open Office for word processing, spreadsheets, and the like. It opens the latest version of MS Word files, it does not force you into buying another newer version of Word, every time Microsoft thinks you should.

It is also free.

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I-pod...I-phone...Mac....No thanks, too restricted due to format and lack of removable storage, I will stick with my Evo Shift and 32 gig card. Do not piss off the Alpha android!!

 

aa.jpg

 

I like my HTC inspire cool.gif

 

Android FTW!

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  • 7 months later...

I know this is an old post but as an over the phone PC Rep and ex-microsoft support rep. there are just some things that should be noted.

 

1) Msconfig is for troubleshooting purposes. If you want to disable most programs from loading at startup, going into the options of the program and turn off the selection that says "Load at Startup", yahoo messenger and other chat programs all have this.

2) From Windows 2000 on the OS maintains a file list of your hard drive which uses up system resources. Turn off System Indexing For Faster File Searching.

This is accomplished by right clicking a hard drive and unchecking it in Windows XP onward. You may receive an error from the system about file access, just click "Ignore All" and let Indexing be turned off for everything it can. The process takes a while (this also speeds up fresh installations).

3) Windows managed swap files use up system resources. Right click My Computer, choose properties (or open system properties in the control panel) go the Advanced Tab, under Performance click Settings, go to Advanced tab again. Choose a Custom Swap file size, set to 1.5x your Ram. 1 MB is 1024 kilobytes, 1 gigabyte is 1024 megabytes. So if you have 8 gb of ram, multiply 8x1024x1.5=122888 gig swap file.

 

If you do have programs loading at startup that you cannot get rid of, the open Registry Editor. Most all programs load from HKLM\software\microsoft\windows\current version\run or HKCU\softwaremicrosoft\windows\current version\run.

 

A trick is to use msconfig to deselect the programs you do not want loading, reboot and then open Regedit. A temporary key is created call _Run, and you can delete that key, but its best if you just turn the program off inside its options. Note that if you do the msconfig/_Run trick that msconfig is restored to Normal Startup minus the entries you left unchecked.

 

Be careful using malware/spyware programs as often times entries can be identified as a Virus or Malware that are actually crucial to a program you have on the computer, especially if the program uses ActiveX/Scripting or .NET Framework.

 

Ccleaner works sweet. Be careful of the options you use, as it has choices that reset windows size settings, the startup menu and can delete you desktop shortcuts.

Googles searches for Tweaks, Tricks and Tips to improve Windows Performance are very helpful.

Whatever options chosed, make use of the Web, and understand what you are getting rid of before taking action.

 

Hope this helps everyone out.

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