Cleaning Up Windows

I am pretty firmilliar with the basics on cleaning up the garbage on windows like adjusting the start up options and using the System Tools. I ocassionally delete the left over folders left in the Program drive that are empty, after Uninstalling.

Without Reformatting what other steps might I take to help speed up and make this Windows XP Sp2 Run faster. I know there might be some settings that make the Processor Scale Down and Up, is this something that would help if i turn this off? And, is there a bunch of Windows Cache that I dont touch when using the System tools that i could possibly clean up?

The reason I ask is because the more I use this comptuer... even without any new programs, it runs slower and slower. I will do the Clean Ups I know, and then it will help a little but will never seem to run as fast as the Original Fresh Install.

Use the search feature integrated on the main page (www.antionline.com)

This has been written about over and over. Personally, I'd say 70% of people that are connected to the internet have slowed their computer down from:

1.) Not maintaining it
2.) Laziness
3.) Lack of knowledge

Common among internet users. Search it:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...wn&btnG=Search
1,800,000 results
http://antionline.com/search.php?searchid=128717

Where is Blackviper when you need him?
http://www.blackviper.com/

CCleaner, Spybot, Ad Aware 2007, and HiJackthis are friends....

FYI: Your HDD (hard drive) has an RPM level (just as a car). When you begin to add more programs, your HDD has to look through a lot more data. Your disks can only spin at a rate of, example 7,200 RPM's. Naturally, the more data (programs, music, crap) you have on it, the longer it takes for it to scan through and match your inquiry.

www.ccleaner.com
download and use weekly Crap Cleaner
defrag on a regular basis
my advice for a quick and easy helping hand in th ebattle to keep your PC running smooth

But nowadays, we have to consider that there is going to be some BAD S/W on our system, and we might want to think about removing that too ??

so, fo those of you who haven't yet seen, read and inwardly digested it ........
My tutorial to help remove that which we did not install

it is not a be all and end all
but it does help
and it does promote good PC behaviour :p

Take a look at this site:

Particularly XEN by Paul Brown.

http://ronmaylin.co.uk/results.html

And this one:

http://www.auslogics.com/

Try defragmenting the Registry. XP should take care of itself mostly, but problems do arise.

Advanced Windows Care and Smart Defrag from here:

http://www.iobit.com/

OK, they are in beta but I have been running them for several weeks without issues.

adding memory will also greatly improve performance??

Min 1gig recommended

MLF

Nice links...

FYI: Defragment places files and data in order. For example, if you save a text document as example.txt, and later install some program such as IWantToBeSmart.exe. Your HDD puts things in order by time (first come - first serve). Right now your HDD reads:

example.txt
IWantToBeSmart.exe

Now lets say you want to change something in example.txt, and you save it. You now have:

example.txt
IWantToBeSmart.exe
example.txt

What disk defragment does is place everything back in order with the files that correspond.

example.txt
example.txt
IWantToBeSmart.exe

Another consideration is the programs that are on the startups list. There's a program called Autoruns (free for the download, Google should find it). It allows you to see what is being started and lets you edit.

There are a lot of annoying companies, Adobe, HP to think of two of my favorites(NOT) that feel that their crap has to be running in the background, looking for updates etc etc.

You can look at the processes list (CTR ALT DEL) bring up the task manager. Look at the site Eldergeek.com and he has a known processes list. See if you can turn some of them off.

There are a trio of other concepts I thought I might mention:

1. Freespace
2. Page File
3. Databases and local mail repositories

1. Freespace:

Windows likes a lot of "elbow room" so it is advisable to have at least 20% of a Windows partition free. As soon as you fall below this, performance drops off and when you get below 10% it really starts to crawl.

Also, your defragmenter will not work efficiently without space to operate in. ;)

2. Page File:

By default, Windows will set this to 1.5 x physical RAM. If you have 1Gb, you do not need more than a futher 1Gb in normal usage. Also, if you set the virtual memory manually, it will remain contiguous. If you let Windows manage it, then fragmentation will occur and the file will be locked on booting Windows, so your defrag won't work, unless you schedule a job to run on bootup.

I also tweak the Registry to clear the page file on shutdown. This has some security advantages, but basically means that you start with a "clean sheet"

3. Databases and Mail repositories:

Apart from clearing crap out of them and archiving, they generally have a "compaction" tool. You should run this periodically. Your normal defragmenter just sees them as a single file, and doesn't do anything ;)

Don't forget the services (services.msc). There are alot of these on by default that don't need to be. If you're not sure if you need it or not, just google it.

Delstar:

http://www.blackviper.com/ :)
He explains what can be turned off, without any errors or issues.
Posted it some posts above.