How To Keep Your Pc Fast And Safe

[ivantoar 0]

Well guys, this is maybe a really basic tutorial that everybody knows, but I just thinking to share it here as maybe not everybody in this forum know about it (correct me if I'm wrong LOL). Ok, lets start it out.

Defrag Your Harddisk(s)

Frequency : weekly/monthly

 

Defragging your harddisk makes access to files faster. Do regular defrag to get maximum performance of your harddisk. Personally, I don't recommend defragging using Windows' default disk defragmenter, try using program such as Defraggler, JKDefrag, or etc. (Defraggler is my favourite!)

 

Tweak and clean registry

Frequency : daily

 

Registry is important part of Windows, by cleaning registry with tools such as Eusing Registry Cleaner, it will search for invalid registry, errors and perform cleanup.

 

Delete junk and unneeded files from harddisk(s)

Frequency : weekly/monthly

 

Junk and unneeded files or programs suffocates your PC and waste diskspace. Regularly delete them and use Windows' Disk Clean up to perform such of these actions, or 3rd party software such as CCleaner to get even better result.

 

Delete Prefetch files

Frequency : weekly/monthly

 

The prefetch folder is used to help speed up the loading of programs XP will load programs it thinks you need before you ask for them yourself. But time to time it will overloads, so go to your Windows folder, look for prefetch folder and delete all files in that folder.

 

Clean and optimize RAM

Frequency : frequently/when needed

 

When you close program, sometimes it fails to release itself from memory. By time to time, it consumes precious space in RAM and makes PC slower. Clear or optimize your memory using tools such as RAMBooster.

 

Install antivirus and antispyware program

Frequency : once LOL...

 

Install antivirus and antispyware program to keep your PC safe. If you find out that paywares are too expensive, there's also great free antivirus such as Avira, AVG, etc. and regularly update them (My recommendation is install Avira, Spybot, AdAware, and Spyware Blater. They're rock!). Note : Spyware blaster don't remove spyware, it prevents spyware installed in your PC. Spybot detects most dangerous thread, but AdAware detects more dangerous cookie, so use both.

 

Scan PC for threats

Frequency : monthly/when needed

 

After downloading antivirus, it is a must to do a regular scan. Make note to update the program before scanning and turn off System restore before removing virus.

 

Optimize visual effects, virtual memory, and processor usage

Frequency : once/when new memory sticks added

 

First, go to Control Panel->System->Advanced (tab)->Performance, click settings.

Disable un-needed visual effects that you dont need such as animation when maximize and minimizing and other (yours to choose).

 

Then go to advanced (tab), set both processor scheduling and memory usage to program if you want to make foreground program runs faster, and background to make background process faster. (I recommend program).

 

Wait, not done yet change virtual memory, select drive that contains paging file. Set initial size 1.5 times as your actual RAM (if you have 1 GB ram, set it to 1500. 1000x1.5 = 1500) and set maximum size 2 times of initial size.

 

Disable useless startup

Frequency : when needed

 

We don't need all programs to run at startup, it will take time to run, so go to run, type "msconfig" without quotes. Then a new window comes up, go to startup, untick un-needed programs and click apply (some program is REALLY required to run at boot, dont mess up with something you dont know. Google the process name to specify whether it is safe to disable or not).

 

Disable Windows service

Frequency : once/when needed

 

Not going to say much about this, we dont need useless Windows services, so better turn it off to gain performance. Go to run, type msconfig, go to services, untick un-needed services and click apply, then go again to control panel->administrative tools->services. Stop the same services you untick.

 

Lists of service which safe to stop can be searched in Google or in here : http://www.optimizingpc.com/optimize/windowsservices.html

 

Sorry, there's too many, I can't type it all!

Hopefully it helps

[Josti 0]

Great tut!This time not only the defrag part in it. Using RAM defrag progs a while, but when it's really needed you should just buy extra RAM modules. Sometimes even new other parts of your system.

[Saint_Michael 3]

#1 when it comes to defragging you could go a few months without doing anything with it, because if you defrag every week your not going to see any change. You would have to have your computer sit for a year without a defrag to see any change. Software I recommend besides the windows defrag program is defraggler, it is more diverse and it is free.#2 Same thing with your registry, but be warned these registry cleaning programs don't do all that much and you need to know what your doing if you manually clean the registry yourself As usual you would have to have your registry sit for awhile before you can notice any changes. However, one program I recommend is Glary Utilities, excellent registry clean among other cleaning utilities as well.#3. I would agree somewhat that you wanted to delete old and junk files and unused software, but again if yo uhave a large hard drive you can let your recycle bin get mighty full for awhile before deleting anything.#4 Well I think a few thousand people have to disagree with you on deleting hte contents from that folder, heck most sites don't even recommend and besides it doesn't do anything in performance if you delete the contents. Rather it makes your computer worse off.#5 RamDEF XT will soft that problem, but of course closing programs that your are not using or closing the processes in the Task Manager will help as well.#6-#7 Thats a given.#8 this is for those computers that are really old and that you RAM can no longer handle, however, once a year you want to reinstall your computer to give it a fresh slate and that would solve most problems. On the other hand, you could just replace certain hardware to get your machine going again.#9. Heck disable all programs that boot on the start up and it will cut off quite a few seconds in loading your computer up.#10 Just like the registry, you need to know what your doing in order to not cripple your computer to the point of a re-installation.

[ashxu 0]

Defragging didn't really do my computer anygood....anyway, i'll try RAMbooster, this might solve my many game crashes.Thanks!