|
This section focuses on techniques to make you computer
perform faster.
WARNING!!! Follow
this advice at your own risk, some steps could cause damage to
your computer if not performed correctly. The information
provided here is based on the assumption that your computer is
adheres to the following minimum spec (Windows XP/Windows 7,
Dual Core Processor, 1GB Ram)
Step 1. Check for the obvious things.
A) Check for space on your Hard Drive
Double click “My Computer” then right click
on the hard drive that your OS is installed on (if you didn’t
understand that, right click on drive C:), click “Properties”
If your free space is less than 1GB,
you need to free up some space (do not just delete anything, if
you do not know what to delete, call us in to do it for you).
B) Check your Task Manager
Close all open programs, on your keyboard,
press and hold “Ctrl” & “Alt”, then press “Delete”, this will
bring up either the windows task manager or a screen with a
button you can press for the task manager.
Click the tab that says “Performance”, in
here you will see two graphs on the left hand side. The CPU
Usage should be no higher than 10% and your PF Usage should be
no higher than 1gb, these amounts will change based on the PC
spec, so as long as neither graph looks to be towards the full
mark this wont be your problem.
Question: My CPU Usage is at 99%, what
shall I do?
Answer: Click the “Processes” tab and look
down the list in the CPU column to identify the file that is
hogging all the CPU, then do a Google search for the file, if
the file is legit and needed then there may be a problem such as
a memory leak so contact us for advice.
If the file isn’t needed (ie. old printer
software, virus) then you need to highlight the file in Task
manager and click “End Process”. Then you will need it
removing to stop it starting again, explaining how to do that
hear is impossible as there is too many scenarios.
*NOTE: Searching Google for filenames can
give misleading results from websites claiming legit filenames
are malicious in an attempt to sell their own spy ware removal
software, if you’re not sure of your results, ask us.
PF Usage information to follow shortly.
Step 2. Start-up Programs
1. Click [Start] - [All Programs] - [Startup]
- Anything listed in here that doesn't need to be there is
making your computer slower at starting up and then proceeds to
take up system resources. So if you use your burning
software once a month, there should be no reason for it to start
in the background every time you boot up. The same goes
for that camera software you use a few times a year after
someone's birthday (deleting these will not stop the
program from working, so don't worry). Once this is done,
reboot and return here...
2. Look at the bottom right corner of
the screen where you're clock is located, beside the clock
should be numerous icons that you can hover your mouse over to
get some information about what each icon is, anything
that doesn't need to be there is again taking up resources and
slowing down your PC, depending on what programs they are, you
should be able to navigate to the option by either left or right
click and then to preferences to disable any start-up options
that are activated (We recommend you don't disable your
antivirus/firewall, or any programs you're not sure about).
Again, changing these settings will not stop the programs from
functioning when you do decide to run them. Once this is
done, reboot and return here...
Warning. system instability can result from
the following task, please don't proceed if you are not
comfortable.
3. If you still want to dig a little
deeper to get your PC running at peak performance, click [Start]
- [Run] - In the box type "msconfig" without quotes and hit
Enter, click the [Services] tab and then put a tick in the
checkbox marked "Hide all Microsoft services" the resulting list
will show third party services that run on your computer, only
untick the services that you are sure shouldn't be there, ie.
old/uninstalled software, software you haven't authorised to be
installed on your PC, Virus' etc.
4. Click the [Startup] tab, again
this is a list of start-up programs but some of them won't show
where you have looked previously, do the same as you did in the
previous step and untick anything that doesn't need to be
starting up every time the computer does. Any programs
that you're not sure about can be identified by Googleing the
.exe file that is running.
|
