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Every so often you might notice a internet explorer window open on it’s own or maybe your computer seems to be far slower these days than when you first purchased it. Do you remember a time when you were zipping around your files with everything opening straight away and now you have to wait?
This guide will tell you some handy programs that you can run on your computer to try to reclaim some of that lost speed, and maybe even rid your computer of some unwanted guests while you are at it.
-----------------------
NOTE:
Make sure that you let other people that are using the computer know what you are doing, if you follow any advice from this guide, it’s important that people have the chance to back up any of their files and that they know why a program is on the computer so they don’t turn it off.
-----------------------
The Final Solution:
Firstly, the sure fire method of getting back that lost speed is a Format, I know what you’re thinking, you think it takes too long, you aren’t sure where your disks are.
- Organisation:
Whenever you get a new computer or piece of software you are going to use, try to place all the manuals and disks in one place. Put them in a nice big box and in the loft or somewhere out the way. You don’t use disks too often for most applications so it’s unlikely you are going to even need them once a month.
If you know where everything is and what you need to install, it makes the format process go much more smoothly.
- Back ups:
Really you should keep a copy of anything important on another device or on some media like a DVD or CD, you’ll be glad you did when it comes to reinstalling programs after a format and also it means if you get a virus that could cause a lot of harm to your computer or files, you will know that you have another version of it somewhere else that is safe.
Defrag:
If you have decided that a Format isn’t the way you want to go with your computer a good Defrag should be your choice. This process will rearrange the order of your files on the hard drive so that they access much faster.
Don’t worry about your folders being moved, everything will appear where it was when you started the Defrag, the arrangement that is changed isn’t something you will see in your folders, but you should notice it by some programs loading faster.
Windows has it’s own defragmenter which you can get to by right clicking on the hard drive you want to defrag in My Computer, Scroll down to Properties, click the Tools tab at the top and then the Defragment Now button. This will take you in to the Defragger, first Analyse the drive. Once it finishes it will tell you if you need to Defragment.
- Warning:
Defragging a drive can take up to a few hours, so be sure that the computer will be free for at least that long. The time it takes will depend on how Defragmented the drive is, how many files you have and the size of the drive.
Cleaning:
When ever you use your computer there are a lot of files that are being used and moved around without your knowledge, your computer does it’s best to try to keep it clean but there are always some files that are left over and will just sit on your drives doing nothing. The internet is one of the biggest offenders for this as your computer often assumes you will revisit a page and so saves a lot of the data from them in case you do, but if you don’t that data might not get cleared off for a while.
Again Windows does have it’s own little feature to deal with most of these issues. Right click again on your hard drive in My Computer, go down to Properties and you should see a Disk Cleanup button, click that. Uncheck The box next to compress old files and make sure all the others are checked, then click Ok.
Although this does the job it does it at a very basic level and if you really want to make sure your computer is clean download the 30 day trail version of this Software.
Ashampoo® WinOptimizer Platinum 3:
This works much the same as Disk Cleanup only it will go much deeper in to your computer and get rid of other files that are no longer needed. It is able to clean up your registry without you having to do anything technical, it also has a start up tuner so you can see what’s booting up when your computer starts and you can stop it if you don't want a certain thing using resources at start up.
- Warning:
Make sure you read the instructions that the program provides before you start clicking, this will help you get the most out of the trail and prevent you from doing anything bad to your computer.
Gaming:
Tune XP:
IGN have several articles on the settings to improve FPS on higher end games like battlefield 2 and Half life2, I wouldn't suggest just getting it and trying things out as you may do real damage to your set up. Click here for a Tweaking Guide (although based on Battlefield 2 you would set Tune XP the same for most games)
Unwanted Guests
Unfortunately these days you can’t go on the Internet without some protection, it almost seems like most sites are out to get you or to put some advertising programs on your computer. It’s very important that while using the Internet you have something that will limit the amount of information travelling on and off of your computer without your knowledge, the following Free programs will help you defend against the hordes of advertising on various sites.
Ad-Aware SE Personal: This is a Free Spyware and Malware Scanner, you should make sure you update it before you run it and you should scan your computer at the very least once a week.
AVG: If you don’t already have a Virus Scanner, you need to download and install this one, it does a very good job of keeping your computer free from infection and can deal with just about anything that you might already have. Again update it before you scan each time and run at least once a week.
Spy Bot search and destroy: I first came across this program when one of my computers was infected with some spyware that some other programs I had tried a the time couldn’t get rid of it, on most forums I had posted my problem this was the reply to fixing my issue. It worked a treat and I have been using it ever since.
It is very easy to use and the definitions for finding the Spyware is updated at least 2 times a week which means if you keep it up to date you can protect before you are likely to come across something new.
Some Extra Advice
If you are reading this on Internet Explorer you might want to take a look at this Review by cjh and have a good look at the section on “phishing” as this is one major advancement FireFox provides. You will notice a heavy drop in the number of spyware and viruses on your computer even if you don’t follow any of the rest of this guide and just change to FireFox.
I hope that this guide is of some use to some of you, and that you notice an improvement or manage to get rid of some nasty elements on your computer. If anyone has a problem which what they are doing while running any of the software I suggested please say and I will try to answer any questions as I use all of these myself.
This guide will tell you some handy programs that you can run on your computer to try to reclaim some of that lost speed, and maybe even rid your computer of some unwanted guests while you are at it.
-----------------------
NOTE:
Make sure that you let other people that are using the computer know what you are doing, if you follow any advice from this guide, it’s important that people have the chance to back up any of their files and that they know why a program is on the computer so they don’t turn it off.
-----------------------
The Final Solution:
Firstly, the sure fire method of getting back that lost speed is a Format, I know what you’re thinking, you think it takes too long, you aren’t sure where your disks are.
- Organisation:
Whenever you get a new computer or piece of software you are going to use, try to place all the manuals and disks in one place. Put them in a nice big box and in the loft or somewhere out the way. You don’t use disks too often for most applications so it’s unlikely you are going to even need them once a month.
If you know where everything is and what you need to install, it makes the format process go much more smoothly.
- Back ups:
Really you should keep a copy of anything important on another device or on some media like a DVD or CD, you’ll be glad you did when it comes to reinstalling programs after a format and also it means if you get a virus that could cause a lot of harm to your computer or files, you will know that you have another version of it somewhere else that is safe.
Defrag:
If you have decided that a Format isn’t the way you want to go with your computer a good Defrag should be your choice. This process will rearrange the order of your files on the hard drive so that they access much faster.
Don’t worry about your folders being moved, everything will appear where it was when you started the Defrag, the arrangement that is changed isn’t something you will see in your folders, but you should notice it by some programs loading faster.
Windows has it’s own defragmenter which you can get to by right clicking on the hard drive you want to defrag in My Computer, Scroll down to Properties, click the Tools tab at the top and then the Defragment Now button. This will take you in to the Defragger, first Analyse the drive. Once it finishes it will tell you if you need to Defragment.
- Warning:
Defragging a drive can take up to a few hours, so be sure that the computer will be free for at least that long. The time it takes will depend on how Defragmented the drive is, how many files you have and the size of the drive.
Cleaning:
When ever you use your computer there are a lot of files that are being used and moved around without your knowledge, your computer does it’s best to try to keep it clean but there are always some files that are left over and will just sit on your drives doing nothing. The internet is one of the biggest offenders for this as your computer often assumes you will revisit a page and so saves a lot of the data from them in case you do, but if you don’t that data might not get cleared off for a while.
Again Windows does have it’s own little feature to deal with most of these issues. Right click again on your hard drive in My Computer, go down to Properties and you should see a Disk Cleanup button, click that. Uncheck The box next to compress old files and make sure all the others are checked, then click Ok.
Although this does the job it does it at a very basic level and if you really want to make sure your computer is clean download the 30 day trail version of this Software.
Ashampoo® WinOptimizer Platinum 3:
This works much the same as Disk Cleanup only it will go much deeper in to your computer and get rid of other files that are no longer needed. It is able to clean up your registry without you having to do anything technical, it also has a start up tuner so you can see what’s booting up when your computer starts and you can stop it if you don't want a certain thing using resources at start up.
- Warning:
Make sure you read the instructions that the program provides before you start clicking, this will help you get the most out of the trail and prevent you from doing anything bad to your computer.
Gaming:
Tune XP:
IGN have several articles on the settings to improve FPS on higher end games like battlefield 2 and Half life2, I wouldn't suggest just getting it and trying things out as you may do real damage to your set up. Click here for a Tweaking Guide (although based on Battlefield 2 you would set Tune XP the same for most games)
Unwanted Guests
Unfortunately these days you can’t go on the Internet without some protection, it almost seems like most sites are out to get you or to put some advertising programs on your computer. It’s very important that while using the Internet you have something that will limit the amount of information travelling on and off of your computer without your knowledge, the following Free programs will help you defend against the hordes of advertising on various sites.
Ad-Aware SE Personal: This is a Free Spyware and Malware Scanner, you should make sure you update it before you run it and you should scan your computer at the very least once a week.
AVG: If you don’t already have a Virus Scanner, you need to download and install this one, it does a very good job of keeping your computer free from infection and can deal with just about anything that you might already have. Again update it before you scan each time and run at least once a week.
Spy Bot search and destroy: I first came across this program when one of my computers was infected with some spyware that some other programs I had tried a the time couldn’t get rid of it, on most forums I had posted my problem this was the reply to fixing my issue. It worked a treat and I have been using it ever since.
It is very easy to use and the definitions for finding the Spyware is updated at least 2 times a week which means if you keep it up to date you can protect before you are likely to come across something new.
Some Extra Advice
If you are reading this on Internet Explorer you might want to take a look at this Review by cjh and have a good look at the section on “phishing” as this is one major advancement FireFox provides. You will notice a heavy drop in the number of spyware and viruses on your computer even if you don’t follow any of the rest of this guide and just change to FireFox.
I hope that this guide is of some use to some of you, and that you notice an improvement or manage to get rid of some nasty elements on your computer. If anyone has a problem which what they are doing while running any of the software I suggested please say and I will try to answer any questions as I use all of these myself.
A lot of people i know always recommend firewalls, but i personally don't use them.
My main reason against Firewalls is because i am a PC gamer often you need to allow the game to run and then again when it tries to access the internet. For some games you can't get back to windows while they are running so you can't tell the firewall to allow it straight away.
For general use they are good and will prevent many problems, i only couldn't include them in my guide as i don't have any real personal experience with them.
My main reason against Firewalls is because i am a PC gamer often you need to allow the game to run and then again when it tries to access the internet. For some games you can't get back to windows while they are running so you can't tell the firewall to allow it straight away.
For general use they are good and will prevent many problems, i only couldn't include them in my guide as i don't have any real personal experience with them.
Also make sure you have a FIREWALL to stop those sado's hacking you, mines blocked 34329 intrusions of which 5057 were high rated. A must !!.
I use Zone alarm free version, if you go Link to Zonelabs you can get a free PC spyware scan and download Zone alarm firewall.
Dan
I use Zone alarm free version, if you go Link to Zonelabs you can get a free PC spyware scan and download Zone alarm firewall.
Dan
Every so often you might notice a internet explorer window open on it’s own or maybe your computer seems to be far slower these days than when you first purchased it. Do you remember a time when you were zipping around your files with everything opening straight away and now you have to wait?
This guide will tell you some handy programs that you can run on your computer to try to reclaim some of that lost speed, and maybe even rid your computer of some unwanted guests while you are at it.
-----------------------
NOTE:
Make sure that you let other people that are using the computer know what you are doing, if you follow any advice from this guide, it’s important that people have the chance to back up any of their files and that they know why a program is on the computer so they don’t turn it off.
-----------------------
The Final Solution:
Firstly, the sure fire method of getting back that lost speed is a Format, I know what you’re thinking, you think it takes too long, you aren’t sure where your disks are.
- Organisation:
Whenever you get a new computer or piece of software you are going to use, try to place all the manuals and disks in one place. Put them in a nice big box and in the loft or somewhere out the way. You don’t use disks too often for most applications so it’s unlikely you are going to even need them once a month.
If you know where everything is and what you need to install, it makes the format process go much more smoothly.
- Back ups:
Really you should keep a copy of anything important on another device or on some media like a DVD or CD, you’ll be glad you did when it comes to reinstalling programs after a format and also it means if you get a virus that could cause a lot of harm to your computer or files, you will know that you have another version of it somewhere else that is safe.
Defrag:
If you have decided that a Format isn’t the way you want to go with your computer a good Defrag should be your choice. This process will rearrange the order of your files on the hard drive so that they access much faster.
Don’t worry about your folders being moved, everything will appear where it was when you started the Defrag, the arrangement that is changed isn’t something you will see in your folders, but you should notice it by some programs loading faster.
Windows has it’s own defragmenter which you can get to by right clicking on the hard drive you want to defrag in My Computer, Scroll down to Properties, click the Tools tab at the top and then the Defragment Now button. This will take you in to the Defragger, first Analyse the drive. Once it finishes it will tell you if you need to Defragment.
- Warning:
Defragging a drive can take up to a few hours, so be sure that the computer will be free for at least that long. The time it takes will depend on how Defragmented the drive is, how many files you have and the size of the drive.
Cleaning:
When ever you use your computer there are a lot of files that are being used and moved around without your knowledge, your computer does it’s best to try to keep it clean but there are always some files that are left over and will just sit on your drives doing nothing. The internet is one of the biggest offenders for this as your computer often assumes you will revisit a page and so saves a lot of the data from them in case you do, but if you don’t that data might not get cleared off for a while.
Again Windows does have it’s own little feature to deal with most of these issues. Right click again on your hard drive in My Computer, go down to Properties and you should see a Disk Cleanup button, click that. Uncheck The box next to compress old files and make sure all the others are checked, then click Ok.
Although this does the job it does it at a very basic level and if you really want to make sure your computer is clean download the 30 day trail version of this Software.
Ashampoo® WinOptimizer Platinum 3:
This works much the same as Disk Cleanup only it will go much deeper in to your computer and get rid of other files that are no longer needed. It is able to clean up your registry without you having to do anything technical, it also has a start up tuner so you can see what’s booting up when your computer starts and you can stop it if you don't want a certain thing using resources at start up.
- Warning:
Make sure you read the instructions that the program provides before you start clicking, this will help you get the most out of the trail and prevent you from doing anything bad to your computer.
Gaming:
Tune XP:
IGN have several articles on the settings to improve FPS on higher end games like battlefield 2 and Half life2, I wouldn't suggest just getting it and trying things out as you may do real damage to your set up. Click here for a Tweaking Guide (although based on Battlefield 2 you would set Tune XP the same for most games)
Unwanted Guests
Unfortunately these days you can’t go on the Internet without some protection, it almost seems like most sites are out to get you or to put some advertising programs on your computer. It’s very important that while using the Internet you have something that will limit the amount of information travelling on and off of your computer without your knowledge, the following Free programs will help you defend against the hordes of advertising on various sites.
Ad-Aware SE Personal: This is a Free Spyware and Malware Scanner, you should make sure you update it before you run it and you should scan your computer at the very least once a week.
AVG: If you don’t already have a Virus Scanner, you need to download and install this one, it does a very good job of keeping your computer free from infection and can deal with just about anything that you might already have. Again update it before you scan each time and run at least once a week.
Spy Bot search and destroy: I first came across this program when one of my computers was infected with some spyware that some other programs I had tried a the time couldn’t get rid of it, on most forums I had posted my problem this was the reply to fixing my issue. It worked a treat and I have been using it ever since.
It is very easy to use and the definitions for finding the Spyware is updated at least 2 times a week which means if you keep it up to date you can protect before you are likely to come across something new.
Some Extra Advice
If you are reading this on Internet Explorer you might want to take a look at this Review by cjh and have a good look at the section on “phishing” as this is one major advancement FireFox provides. You will notice a heavy drop in the number of spyware and viruses on your computer even if you don’t follow any of the rest of this guide and just change to FireFox.
I hope that this guide is of some use to some of you, and that you notice an improvement or manage to get rid of some nasty elements on your computer. If anyone has a problem which what they are doing while running any of the software I suggested please say and I will try to answer any questions as I use all of these myself.
This guide will tell you some handy programs that you can run on your computer to try to reclaim some of that lost speed, and maybe even rid your computer of some unwanted guests while you are at it.
-----------------------
NOTE:
Make sure that you let other people that are using the computer know what you are doing, if you follow any advice from this guide, it’s important that people have the chance to back up any of their files and that they know why a program is on the computer so they don’t turn it off.
-----------------------
The Final Solution:
Firstly, the sure fire method of getting back that lost speed is a Format, I know what you’re thinking, you think it takes too long, you aren’t sure where your disks are.
- Organisation:
Whenever you get a new computer or piece of software you are going to use, try to place all the manuals and disks in one place. Put them in a nice big box and in the loft or somewhere out the way. You don’t use disks too often for most applications so it’s unlikely you are going to even need them once a month.
If you know where everything is and what you need to install, it makes the format process go much more smoothly.
- Back ups:
Really you should keep a copy of anything important on another device or on some media like a DVD or CD, you’ll be glad you did when it comes to reinstalling programs after a format and also it means if you get a virus that could cause a lot of harm to your computer or files, you will know that you have another version of it somewhere else that is safe.
Defrag:
If you have decided that a Format isn’t the way you want to go with your computer a good Defrag should be your choice. This process will rearrange the order of your files on the hard drive so that they access much faster.
Don’t worry about your folders being moved, everything will appear where it was when you started the Defrag, the arrangement that is changed isn’t something you will see in your folders, but you should notice it by some programs loading faster.
Windows has it’s own defragmenter which you can get to by right clicking on the hard drive you want to defrag in My Computer, Scroll down to Properties, click the Tools tab at the top and then the Defragment Now button. This will take you in to the Defragger, first Analyse the drive. Once it finishes it will tell you if you need to Defragment.
- Warning:
Defragging a drive can take up to a few hours, so be sure that the computer will be free for at least that long. The time it takes will depend on how Defragmented the drive is, how many files you have and the size of the drive.
Cleaning:
When ever you use your computer there are a lot of files that are being used and moved around without your knowledge, your computer does it’s best to try to keep it clean but there are always some files that are left over and will just sit on your drives doing nothing. The internet is one of the biggest offenders for this as your computer often assumes you will revisit a page and so saves a lot of the data from them in case you do, but if you don’t that data might not get cleared off for a while.
Again Windows does have it’s own little feature to deal with most of these issues. Right click again on your hard drive in My Computer, go down to Properties and you should see a Disk Cleanup button, click that. Uncheck The box next to compress old files and make sure all the others are checked, then click Ok.
Although this does the job it does it at a very basic level and if you really want to make sure your computer is clean download the 30 day trail version of this Software.
Ashampoo® WinOptimizer Platinum 3:
This works much the same as Disk Cleanup only it will go much deeper in to your computer and get rid of other files that are no longer needed. It is able to clean up your registry without you having to do anything technical, it also has a start up tuner so you can see what’s booting up when your computer starts and you can stop it if you don't want a certain thing using resources at start up.
- Warning:
Make sure you read the instructions that the program provides before you start clicking, this will help you get the most out of the trail and prevent you from doing anything bad to your computer.
Gaming:
Tune XP:
IGN have several articles on the settings to improve FPS on higher end games like battlefield 2 and Half life2, I wouldn't suggest just getting it and trying things out as you may do real damage to your set up. Click here for a Tweaking Guide (although based on Battlefield 2 you would set Tune XP the same for most games)
Unwanted Guests
Unfortunately these days you can’t go on the Internet without some protection, it almost seems like most sites are out to get you or to put some advertising programs on your computer. It’s very important that while using the Internet you have something that will limit the amount of information travelling on and off of your computer without your knowledge, the following Free programs will help you defend against the hordes of advertising on various sites.
Ad-Aware SE Personal: This is a Free Spyware and Malware Scanner, you should make sure you update it before you run it and you should scan your computer at the very least once a week.
AVG: If you don’t already have a Virus Scanner, you need to download and install this one, it does a very good job of keeping your computer free from infection and can deal with just about anything that you might already have. Again update it before you scan each time and run at least once a week.
Spy Bot search and destroy: I first came across this program when one of my computers was infected with some spyware that some other programs I had tried a the time couldn’t get rid of it, on most forums I had posted my problem this was the reply to fixing my issue. It worked a treat and I have been using it ever since.
It is very easy to use and the definitions for finding the Spyware is updated at least 2 times a week which means if you keep it up to date you can protect before you are likely to come across something new.
Some Extra Advice
If you are reading this on Internet Explorer you might want to take a look at this Review by cjh and have a good look at the section on “phishing” as this is one major advancement FireFox provides. You will notice a heavy drop in the number of spyware and viruses on your computer even if you don’t follow any of the rest of this guide and just change to FireFox.
I hope that this guide is of some use to some of you, and that you notice an improvement or manage to get rid of some nasty elements on your computer. If anyone has a problem which what they are doing while running any of the software I suggested please say and I will try to answer any questions as I use all of these myself.