Optimizing Your Pc For... Anything Really Want your PC to fulfil its potenial?

Optimizing your PC

I will separate this guide into sections to make it easier to navigate. Ok, you want your PC to run faster but you don't want to upgrade it physicaly? No problem. You would be suprized how inefficent Windows is, and it is easy to make it run a lot faster if you know what your doing. Please note, this guide is intended specificaly for Windows XP, though some parts may be relevant to other windows installations.

Part 1 - Cleaning

No! I don't mean getting a duster and cleaning the dust you fans pull in (thought that isn't necisarily a bad idea), I mean wiping the rubbish from your hard drive. If you have been using your PC for a while then you probably won't have noticed the massive performance decrease from Viruses, Ad-Ware, Spy-Ware, Messy Registery, Manualy Deleted Instalations, etc but I can assure you your PC is. Follow through this guide to get rid of this rubbish.

Not all viruses destroy files, some just sap your PC's performance and can go unoticed for a very long length of time. Choosing a decent virus checker is vital to keeping your PC healthy. Now, you might think that because you instaled some standard checker and disabled updates that your PC is safe. Well, you are far from the truth. Some virus scanners may be blind to certain types of viruses. That is why you must pick a reliable checker. Having ICSA Certification is a great way to know that your virus checker is doing its job. If your scanner is not listed on their site (ICSA Certified Virus Checkers the you should uninstal it now and download the trial of Panda Anti Virus Platinum, which is a ICSA certified product, and the virus checker I use. You can find Panda's site at http://www.pandasecurity.com/germany/homeusers/. Once you have got a certified checker, run a FULL system scan and remove any viruses that may have accumlilated.

Spy ware and Ad ware is another major problem, and the main culprit for degrading performance on PCs. If you use a Peer to Peer program it is highly likely that you have unknowingly instaled some spy/ad ware (don't say I didn't warn you) and running through these steps is vital. Download these to spyware checkers Ad-Ware SE and Spybot: Search and Destroy, update them and do a full scan. Remove any problems you find. If you find the horrible, horrible Cool Web Search spy ware you will need to download this program CWShredder to remove it.

Now that we have removed all imenent dangers it is time to remove the unharmful, but anti-performance problems, such as unwanted registery enteries. Download this wonderful tool CCleaner and run cleaner/fix selected issues for each of the tabs in turn. This is a very useful program, but you may just want to check what it is removing before you carry ou the 'Run Cleaner' command.

Part 2 - Updating

If you have never updated anything, (which is a very bad habit to get into) you will have no idea how obselete you PCs software will have become. While this does not directely improve performace you should still carry out these steps.

Updating Windows is always a good place to start, as it will always have errors. Go to windows update and install all availible updates. However, DO NOT INSTALL SERVICE PACK 2!! Unless your PC has a specific problem that it will fix. SP2 is known for ruining a large proportion of the machines it is installed on and sometimes it may even require a reformat and a fresh windows install to be carried out to put it right. Instead, you should instal SP1 (now called SP1a by microsoft).

SP1 makes changes to the way windows handles certain things, which can downgrade performace. Never fear, downlaod this small fix and run to remove that minor problem SP1 Fix.

You should also update all drivers for you PC's hardware from the manufacturers site to ensure compatibility and latest bug fixes. Installing the latest verson of DirectX is another great way to improve performance graphically.

Part 3 - Optimizing

And we come to the last part of the guide that will explain to you how to carry out some vital procedures that will increase your PC's performance tenthfold. They should all be carried out to provide maximum performance boost.

Uninstalling useless windows components is a good way to improve perfomance and clear clutter. You will no need these two 'features' windows decides to install ever. Go to "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "Add or Remove Programs", select "Add/Remove Windows Components", uncheck: Indexing Service and MSN Explorer.

It is very important that you should run a diskdefagmentor becuase if you have never used one, you will have no idea how slow you PC will have become from fragmentation. If you do not have a comercial defragmentor such as the excellent Diskeeper (which can be found at Diskeeper you will have to run the standard windows version. Got to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmentor and run it overnight (as it can take a very, vey long time depending on the size of your hard disk(s).

And that brings us to the end of this guide, I hope you have enjoyed it and it has proved worthwhile.

Go to System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\

{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000] and create a new DWORD value called "EnableUDMA66" and set it to "1" to enable UDMA66. This will increase your computer's performance by a slight margin but it's better than nothing. This tweak only works on Intel chipsets that support UDMA66 mode.

thx man this one worked really well for me I definately give it a thumbs up

Go to System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\

{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000] and create a new DWORD value called "EnableUDMA66" and set it to "1" to enable UDMA66. This will increase your computer's performance by a slight margin but it's better than nothing. This tweak only works on Intel chipsets that support UDMA66 mode.

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how do you tweak for udma100? or is it the same?

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