STRATEGIES TO USE WHEN YOUR COMPUTER
SLOWS TO A CRAWL
A Seminar Presented by Bill Wilkinson http://urlsnip.com/881027
November 2006
Hardware
1. Check Your Computer s Fans (overheating)
2. Check Your RAM and Motherboard Health
(comprehensive memory tests)
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
3.Check Your Hard Drive s Health http://tinyurl.com/y6hkmu (based on S.M.A.R.T)
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/ (if not sure type of drive)
4. Power Supply Issues (swapping; higher end video card with separate power supply)
5. Listen for the Beeps (r/o hardware problem; Phoenix and ATM)
Software
6. Turn off programs that run at start-up (default with program; msconfig; Startup Folder; Registry)
These links will provide up-to-date lists of all the programs:
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
ALTERNATIVE TO LOOKING IN THE REGISTRY:
StartupRun http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/strun.html
Autoruns (Microsoft) http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/autoruns.html
CCleaner http://tinyurl.com/y26snk
You DO want your antivirus program and firewall to run at startup. DO NOT disable them!
Assertive action to expedite startup:
Startup Mechanic http://tinyurl.com/dbeef
StartupMonitor http://tinyurl.com/33jpz
7. Adjust Your System for Best Performance (vs. best appearances)
8. Clean Out Your Scheduled Tasks Folder
9. Disable Services that Run in the Background
10. Empty the Prefetch Folder
11. Dump the Splash Screen (screen remains black until Shell or User prompt)
12. Change Your Virtual Memory Settings
13. Delete Two Environmental Variables (certain basic system data that control behavior of various programs e.g. temporary files)
14. Reduce Disk Space Allocated for System Restore
15. Reduce Disk Space Allocated for the Recycle Bin
16. Clean Up the Old Stuff on Your Hard Drive (look at All Programs, Add/Remove and special software)
Alternative to Add/Remove Programs: MyUninstaller: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/myuninst.html
17. Remove Old Internet Files
Windows Software Tools
18. Use Windows Disk Cleanup
19. Install a Free All-Purpose Cleaning Tool
CCleaner: http://tinyurl.com/6xoc5
20. Remove Temporary Files
21. Use Windows Chkdsk
22. Use Windows Disk Defragmentation (Sparingly)
In its June 26, 2006 issue, PC World reported that its Test Center saw no significant performance improvement after defragmenting with any program.
Always Chkdsk prior to Defragmentation
23. Install Critical Patches From Microsoft
24. See What s Running At Any Given Moment (Processes)
25. Stop the Microsoft Indexing Service
26. Increase the Speed of Your Computer s Shutdown
27. Eliminate Many of the Slowdowns that Occur During the Time Between Startup and Shutdown
Anti-spyware Programs:
A variety of popular programs contain spyware. In fact, Spyware-Guide
(http://www.spywareguide.com/product_list_full.php) lists 2191 programs (as of
November 7, 2006) whose primary purpose is to add spyware to your computer.
According to many experts, you should have a "cocktail" of anti-spyware
programs installed on your computer, including ALL of these.
SpywareBlaster 3.5.1: Prevents Spyware from being installed on your computer.
http://tinyurl.com/3vcux
Spybot-Search and Destroy 1.4: Identifies and Removals Adware and Spyware.
http://tinyurl.com/2b7s7
Ad-Aware SE 1.06: Identifies and Removals Adware and Spyware.
CWShredder 2.19: The best defense against malware that tries to hijack your
browser. http://tinyurl.com/pgxct
Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner 1.13.03 detects a multitude of spyware,
adware, Trojan horses, keyloggers, and trackware components. The scanning
process only takes a fraction of a second and tells you how to uninstall the invasive
spyware or puts you in contact with the spyware developer for the most up-to-date
and safe uninstall instructions.
Microsoft s Defender (Beta 2): (XP and 2000 only) http://tinyurl.com/flws9
The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (Windows XP only)
http://tinyurl.com/hsxvt
Have only one antivirus program:
AVG Anti-Virus 7.1.394:
http://tinyurl.com/czbmx
Avast4Home:
As a complement to your installed anti-virus program.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Virus Repair Utility. If your anti-virus program is not able to quarantine or
remove a virus from your system, select the virus that you need to remove from
your computer and download the solution for free. Since this program is Webbased,
it can be used as a complement to your installed anti-virus program.
Have only one software firewall
Zone Alarm 6.5.722: a highly recommended Firewall that sets up a barrier against
incoming and outgoing spyware.
http://tinyurl.com/qbzqd
Windows Firewall does not protect your computer from outgoing spyware and
therefore is not recommended.
You can use more than one registry cleaner. Here are three of the best FREE
products and one commercial program that is probably the best in the
industry.
RegScrubXP is a very popular utility designed to delete unnecessary information
from the System Registry of Windows 2000 & XP operating systems.
http://tinyurl.com/cz4ed
Tweak Now Registry Cleaner 2.9.2: Deletes obsolete files from your registry.
http://tinyurl.com/8e9xu
EasyCleaner went through some growing pains a few years ago, but has matured
nicely into a small suite of system-maintenance tools that works well.
http://tinyurl.com/63732
RegSupreme 3.1: This is probably the best commercial registry cleaner
product on the market today. Only $12.95!
http://www.jv16.org/