10 Easy Steps to Speed Up Your Computer - Without Upgrading

[youssef_edward3000 at yahoo.com]

It seems that the longer you own your computer, the slower it gets! A
lot of people will keep their computer until it gets so slow that they
feel they need a newer, faster model. Some feel like the reason it is
getting slower is because it is getting older, when that is just not
the case. Your computer should run just as fast as the day you brought
it home if you follow these 10 Easy Steps to Speed Up Your Computer.

1. Empty the Temp directory regularly. After a short while, the temp
directory fills up with hundreds of temp files that always get scanned
over when Windows starts up and when programs launch. This slows
everything down immensely.

Rule of thumb for Temp Files: If you dont have any programs open (and
nothing minimized in the bar below), then you shouldnt have ANY temp
files in your temp directory. If you do, delete them.

To delete Temp files, make sure NO programs are open, and

a. In Windows 95, 98 or Me, go to C:WindowsTemp and delete everything
inside the Temp folder.

b. In Windows 2000 or XP, it is a little trickier. First, make sure
that you can see hidden folders. Double-click My Computer. Click on
the Tools pull-down menu, and then on Folder Options. Click on the
View tab. Scroll down and click on Show Hidden Files and Folders.
Click Ok. Now you can go to the C:Documents and
SettingsAdministratorLocal SettingsTemp folder. Delete everything
here.

2. Empty the Temporary Internet Files regularly. To empty Temporary
Internet Files, go to your Control Panel and double-click the Internet
Options icon. Choose to Delete Cookies, and to Delete Files. This will
clear all of your Temporary Internet Files.

3. Check your hard disks for problems.

a. For Windows 95, 98, or Me, double-click My Computer. Right-click
the C-drive and click on Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose
to check the computer for problems. If you choose to do a Thorough
Scan, this will do the hardware check for physical disk damage or
sector damage. Choose to fix any errors it finds.

b. For Windows 2000 and XP, double-click My Computer. Right-click the
C-drive and click Properties. Click on the Tools tab and choose to
check the computer for problems. Click on Check Now. You will then
have two check boxes. The top option is for the file check, and the
second option is for the hardware (physical disk) check. Check either
one, or both. At least check the top one. Hit ok, and reboot. This may
take some time, but let it run.

4. An even more thorough disk check, would be to use a 3rd party
utility. One of my favorites is TuneUp Utilities 2004. It does cost
$39.99, but they do offer a FREE download trial of 15 days. This
program does a really good job of fixing software and physical hard
drive problems. It also tunes up your system for increased speed, and
streamlines your operating system for peak performance. Download it
HERE... http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

5. Or, you can do a few of the performance tweaks yourself, if you
have Windows XP. By default, EVERYTHING is turned on in Windows XP. It
isnt very streamlined for performance, but rather for appearance. You
can turn off a few of the unnecessary features, and Windows will still
work just fine, and maybe a little faster.

To do this, right-click on My Computer and click on Properties. Click
on the Advanced tab. Under the Performance section, click on the
Settings button. On the Visual Effects tab, you will see a list of
check boxes. By default, these are all on. You really dont need any of
them for Windows to run. Go through the check boxes one by one, and
determine which ones you can and cant live without.

6. Turn off Active Desktop. Active Desktop turns your desktop into a
web page, and allows you to have things like a real-time calendar, and
up-to-the-minute weather or stocks. These are nice, but really slow
down your computer. And even if you dont use Active Desktop for
anything, just having it active can cause a performance decrease. Turn
it off.

a. In Windows 95, 98 and Me, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-
up menu, choose Active Desktop. Inside that option, uncheck Active
Desktop. If there is no check next to it, then it isnt on. Dont choose
it. Instead, just click the desktop again to get out of the menu.

b. In Windows 2000, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu,
choose Active Desktop. Inside that option, uncheck Show Web Content.
Again, if there is no check next to it, then it is not on. Do not
check it.

c. In Windows XP, right-click on the desktop and in the pop-up menu,
choose Properties. On the Desktop tab, choose Customize Desktop. Now,
on the Web tab, make sure that there are no websites chosen here. If
there arent any, then Active Desktop is not on. Cancel and go back to
the desktop.

7. Install and run a good AntiVirus program to keep out viruses that
can take over your system. One of my favorites is AVG. It is not only
a really good AntiVirus program, but it is also FREE! If you dont have
any AntiVirus software on your computer, get AVG AntiVirus NOW by
downloading HERE... http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

8. Get rid of Spyware. A lot of computer users have Spyware and dont
even know they have it, much less how to get rid of it. If your
computer has been taking you to websites that you dont want to go to,
or if you get pop-ups when you arent even on the Internet, or if your
computer has been running extremely slowly lately, for no reason, you
probably have Spyware.

On all of the computers that I setup, I install two different
AntiSpyware programs: AdAware SE and SpyBot. These two programs are
highly recommended by TechTV (G4) and other computer authorities
(including my own research on Spyware) and work very well together.
They compliment each other and catch Spyware that the other misses,
but together, do a very good job.

Get SpyBot HERE... http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp.
Download all updates and run the Immunize option a couple of times.

AdAware SE does a good job when you keep up on the updates and
manually scan your system with AdAware. Get it HERE...
http://www.lapeertechgroup.com/downloads.asp

In some cases, when the Spyware has become too entwined into your
system, even a computer repair technician cant get rid of the Spyware.
At this point, it is better to just backup only what you need and have
the operating system reinstalled. Believe me, when your computer gets
to this point, you dont want to just put a band-aid on it. Just start
from scratch with a clean system. Its the best way to go.

9. Streamline MSCONFIG. One thing that really causes a HUGE
performance decrease is to have unnecessary programs running in the
background. Some of these programs can be seen in your System Tray
(located next to the clock). These are tiny programs that are robbing
you of memory and processing power. Some of them you need, while most
you dont. Some of the programs you DONT need are printer icons, CD
burning icons, shortcuts to programs (such as video settings), AOL,
any Instant Messaging Programs, etc. Just because these programs arent
always running, doesnt mean that you still cant print, burn CDs or
Instant Message. They can all be run from a shortcut.

You can use a utility, called MSCONFIG, to turn OFF unnecessary Start
Up items.

a. In Windows 98, Me, and XP, click on StartRun and type msconfig.
Click on the Startup tab. This is a list of everything that is running
in the background, some of which show up in the System Tray. Now, be
careful, some of these you do need. Some items to keep are Ctfmon.exe
(XP), Scan Registry (Win98, Me), Task Monitor (Win98, Me), System Tray
(Win98, Me), LoadPowerProfile (Win98, Me), Rundll.32, any AntiVirus
programs (such as McAfee, Norton, or AVG). Others, you can uncheck,
such as NeroCheck, ypager, qttask, AOL, and any other Instant
Messaging programs, or printing programs. Remember, if something
doesnt work, because you turned it off, it can always be turned back
on. You just have to reboot every time you make a change here. But, as
you uncheck the unnecessary programs that run in the background, you
will see that Windows loads much faster, that there are less icons in
the System Tray, and that your system is much more snappy and quick to
respond.

Read more about computers at http://tips-made-easy.info/computer