Tips to speed up PC

mercurial said:
you guys don't read. he said that he already scanned with AVG and no viruses were detected.
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One virus system does not always crack it. I run AVG and recently had slow dows and used AVAST which found some virusses and Adware that conned me around!

Removal of hardware with software and drivers still lurking in background may also be a culprit so is harddrive cables. Recently have major slowdowns and harddrive light constantly bright YET CPU load is low ?? I found that the one SATA cable was suspect and caused the continues reading and thus slow down but it did not show on CPU load. Replaced cable and are now smiling again!
 
yes but running multiple anti-virus apps is not healthy for ur system, infact, when u already have one installed and u want to install another, that new anti-virus app will pop a warning and say that u already have one installed and that it is recommended to uninstall that older one first. also, running multiple anti-virus apps will slow ur system down like hell. perhaps he didn't update his virus database/definitions? i update my AVG every single day.
he should also install spybot search and destroy. it's brilliant for adware, malware and spyware removal.
 
mercurial said:
yes but running multiple anti-virus apps is not healthy for ur system, infact, when u already have one installed and u want to install another, that new anti-virus app will pop a warning and say that u already have one installed and that it is recommended to uninstall that older one first. also, running multiple anti-virus apps will slow ur system down like hell. perhaps he didn't update his virus database/definitions? i update my AVG every single day.
he should also install spybot search and destroy. it's brilliant for adware, malware and spyware removal.
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Well I use both as active and since installation never had a conflict or problem. Only in the AVAST I disabled e-mail scanning! I also Lavasoft AD-aware and Spybot for cr@p detection and Hijackthis for detecting any changes to the system and BAD applications that "Appear" on the system. Works great as it does a scan and create a text file of contents on which can be uploaded their site for analysis and advice. Helped me many times in the past. They also have a forum that helps and give advice See www.hijackthis.de
 
spybot actively monitors the registry as well so as soon as an app tries to add/del or edit the registry, spybot comes up and asks you if u want to allow the change or deny it. this all in addition the usual removal of spyware, adware and malware. very good program and also has frequent updates. spybot comes highly rated and recommended by many and i am one of them.
 
Also, switch off System Restore, that will help speed things up.
And chose custom size virtual memory. 2000mb should be enough, that way windows wont keep increasing, decreasing the swop file.
 
kevinswan007 said:
Also, switch off System Restore, that will help speed things up.
And chose custom size virtual memory. 2000mb should be enough, that way windows wont keep increasing, decreasing the swop file.
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i concur. it was said to me that storing the pagefile on a different drive will increase speed access to the pagefile and hence speed up the drive. don't know if this is true.
 
SlinkyMike said:
No offense, but this is not very good advice - manually assigning virtual memory should be done with care, thumb-sucking a figure is a surefire way to create drama and System Restore is something you really want running.
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system restore wastes space and if u had bad settings under system restore, then u will be restoring those bad settings. system restore has never worked for me ever on any MS operating system.
 
I'd say format and then make an image of the HDD with Acronis. Nothing beats a fresh image when it comes to regaining speed.

Last time my dad used System Restore, it restored a virus onto a system I had just cleaned.:sick: Now all the Sys Restores are off on all the systems here.

damocci: Aside from a format, switching off unused services will get the speed improvements. Be careful though. One can mess up a system pretty badly if you switch off the wrong services.
 
HavocXphere said:
I'd say format and then make an image of the HDD with Acronis. Nothing beats a fresh image when it comes to regaining speed.

Last time my dad used System Restore, it restored a virus onto a system I had just cleaned.:sick: Now all the Sys Restores are off on all the systems here.

damocci: Aside from a format, switching off unused services will get the speed improvements. Be careful though. One can mess up a system pretty badly if you switch off the wrong services.
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absolutely
 
If you want a proper defragger (better than Diskeeper and no price-tag), use ScanDefrag. Select "Kessels Defragmenter" (open source). It will move recently accessed files to the faster part of your drive.

Like I said earlier, remove all icons from your desktop! you can just move them into a single folder on the desktop. it makes quite a difference. i think it is because windows doesn't need to load all the icons into memory.

If you don't feel like a re-install and don't mind loosing your settings, just create a new user account. you won't believe the speed.

I also use ClamWin (open source) virus scanner. It does not do on-access scanning, which means you have to manually scan any untrusted files before opening them. if you do not have the discipline, rather use another virus scanner. it doesn't take long to get into the habit though.
 
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andres101 said:
If you want a proper defragger (better than Diskeeper and no price-tag), use ScanDefrag. Select "Kessels Defragmenter" (open source). It will move recently accessed files to the faster part of your drive.

Like I said earlier, remove all icons from your desktop! you can just move them into a single folder on the desktop. it makes quite a difference. i think it is because windows doesn't need to load all the icons into memory.

If you don't feel like a re-install and don't mind loosing your settings, just create a new user account. you won't believe the speed.

I also use ClamWin (open source) virus scanner. It does not do on-access scanning, which means you have to manually scan any untrusted files before opening them. if you do not have the discipline, rather use another virus scanner. it doesn't take long to get into the habit though.
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i agree. especially with regards to moving icons/shortcuts into folders, i've been doing that for a while as well.
 
If none of the above helps, your CPU might be overheating. Some of those P4s were egg fryers so when the HSF becomes clogged with dust, it'll come to a crawl and take forever to boot. Might also be the hard drive starting to show its age but one can usually hear weird noises coming from it when it starts do give issues.

Defrag: JKDefrag
AV: AVG free + Avast (although I wouldn't recommend Avast on older systems, it's quite an accessing hog)
AS: Spybot, AVG anti spyware, Xoftspy
Maintenance: Wise Registry cleaner, CCleaner
 
gamad said:
What he said. It's the best cure ever;).

When reinstalling, try to not install as many apps as you did before. if you do, and u do uninstalls, make sure it's fully uninstalled. Do regular windows updates (but read about 'em, as there's been lotsa spying by MS lately. But ofcourse their progs aren't illegal, cause it's by MS :mad: )

And last but not least, my good friend that I've been using for a year now, System Mechanic Pro. It's the 1st prog that works for me. :D ... It has lotsa tools in it. Even a start-up booster, and a speed optimizer etc. And no, this is not an advert. :D. I got the same specs as u, and my PC boots in less than 45secs (maybe even less than 30secs, I'll time it next time;)). So it must be working ;) and it's the only prog that didn't crash my pc, yet. Before that, I rebuilt my pc every month.

!!(I forgot to mention, if you have MS Office, remove that from ur startup. I think that's the biggest drag, and should cut ur 10minute bootup by 8 mins.)!!
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I would suggest that if he wants a fast box he keep it OFF internet.
Reinstall Windows and upgrade with SP2.
Disable hardware you don't use in the BIOS.
Go into Services and disable stuff like Network Discovery and virtually all the services which start up (Genuine Advantage, Autoupdate, etc). Disable MS security Center.
Don't install any Antivirus, firewall, anti-spyware rubbish.
Use a seperate system to download updates or even better don't download any updates, Windoze updates just add bloat over functionality. Since you're not accessing the internet with that machine you don't need endless bollox security patches.
Reinstall only the apps you will use and only choose the options you will need.
Defrag your harddrives regularly or at least the Windoze system drive.
Download a utility called BootVis from MS and run it to optimise your startup.
Keep your Desktop empty of any shortcuts/apps.
Disable CDROM/DVD autorun.
Use oldest drivers for most components (as long as they are Windows certified).
Disable all control panels for g-fx cards, mice, pads, etc.
Get rid of any oversized wallpapers you may have. Choose one of the patterns Windoze comes with.

Upgrading to 2GIG of RAM won't help, unless he disables paging. Alternatively set up 1GB as a RAMDISK and keep the pagefile there, if you have 2GB.
 
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speed up get freeram xp pro,is one of the best utilitys around,Check google and you will know it is.I cant use it in vista but in my xp boot i still use it after 3 years,exxelenntai
 
30 secs

gamad said:
What he said. It's the best cure ever;).

When reinstalling, try to not install as many apps as you did before. if you do, and u do uninstalls, make sure it's fully uninstalled. Do regular windows updates (but read about 'em, as there's been lotsa spying by MS lately. But ofcourse their progs aren't illegal, cause it's by MS :mad: )

And last but not least, my good friend that I've been using for a year now, System Mechanic Pro. It's the 1st prog that works for me. :D ... It has lotsa tools in it. Even a start-up booster, and a speed optimizer etc. And no, this is not an advert. :D. I got the same specs as u, and my PC boots in less than 45secs (maybe even less than 30secs, I'll time it next time;)). So it must be working ;) and it's the only prog that didn't crash my pc, yet. Before that, I rebuilt my pc every month.

!!(I forgot to mention, if you have MS Office, remove that from ur startup. I think that's the biggest drag, and should cut ur 10minute bootup by 8 mins.)!!
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yip. Timed it and it's between 25 and 30 secs. :D Daht's soopafast.;)
 
20 seconds from full power down to full use on my Mac Pro. :) Although my system drive is 90% full, this slows it down a lot.
 
PeterCH said:
Disable CDROM/DVD autorun.
Use oldest drivers for most components (as long as they are Windows certified).
Disable all control panels for g-fx cards, mice, pads, etc.
.
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i'm not sure i agree with this. older drivers usually work slower and lack certain functionality and often have bugs. newer drivers offer better performance and stability. yes, there will be one or two instances when this won't be, but for 90% of the time, updating drivers is a good thing. disabling autorun i think is taking it too far. it's not gonna have an inpact on ur pc's performance.
 
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