Computer Performance Tips

Computer Performance Tips

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Fix Video Problems

One common cause of some maladies (ranging from odd-looking shapes and colors on screen to an unreliable mouse to spontaneous rebooting) is a bad video driver. Troubleshoot for this by replacing your current driver with Windows generic VGA driver. Select Start, Settings, Control Panel, Display, Settings, Change Display Type. Under Adapter Type, select Change, Show all devices, and from the Manufacturers list, select (Standard display types). You may have to reboot. If the problem disappears, you've found the culprit. Its time to get the latest driver for you video card from the manufactures website.

Shutdown Windows Icon

Want an easy way to shut down Windows? Ryan Pfeifle of Thousand Oaks, California, suggests this approach: Right-click the desktop and choose New, Shortcut. Then type c:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows (your path may differ), click Next, type a name for the shortcut, and click Finish. Double-click this icon anytime to exit Windows.

To create a keyboard shortcut for exiting, right-click the icon, select Properties from the menu, click the Shortcut tab, and click in the Shortcut key box. Press the keys you want to use to activate your shutdown shortcut (they must begin with Ctrl-Alt, Ctrl-Shift, or Shift-Alt).

If you want a shortcut that restarts Windows rather than simply shutting it down, change the command line in the Target box to read c:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindowsexec (your path may differ).

MSCONFIG

You can speed up your startup time and make your computer perform better by turning off those little system-level tasks you don't need. Every application that launches at startup uses power and memory that your computer needs for other tasks. Windows provides a program to let you choose what loads at startup. To run MSCONFIG, follow these steps.

1. Go to the Start menu.
2. Choose Run.
3. Type in msconfig.
4. Press OK.

Now that you are in MSCONFIG, go to the Startup Tab. Only uncheck any programs that you are familiar with. Otherwise, you may inadvertently turn something off that you need to compute normally. When you are finished selecting programs, click OK. Next time you start your computer, it should launch faster.
If you turn off a program that you need, simply restore it. Open MSCONFIG and click on the General tab. Selecting the box stating Normal Startup - restores all drivers and software.

CD-Rom Cache

If you don't use your CD-ROM often you can free up some of your computer's memory to do other tasks. The CD-ROM has something called cache memory that is set aside for the CD-ROM to use. It helps the CD-ROM run more efficiently if it's frequently in use. To free up some of this memory for other programs to be able to use, follow these instructions:

1. Right-click on My Computer
2. Choose Properties
3. Choose the Performance tab
4. Click the File System button
5. Choose the CD-ROM tab
6. Adjust cache memory down as far as 244.

You'll have to restart your computer for the setting to take effect. If you find your CD-ROM runs poorly, just go back in and raise the cache memory until you find an acceptable level.

Turn Off Windows 98 Logon Screen

If you're the only user on a computer, odds are you don't need a logon screen to appear every time you boot up. Eliminate the need to input your user name and password with these steps.

1. Open Control Panel.
2. Double-click on the Network icon.
3. In the Primary Network Logon, choose Windows Logon.
4. Press OK.
5. In the Control panel link the Passwords applet.
6. Click Change Passwords tab.
7. Press Change Windows Password button.
8. Type in your current password in the Old Password box.
9. Leave both the New Password and Confirm New Password boxes blank.
10. Click OK.
11. Select the User Profile tab and make sure the "All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop settings" is selected.
12. Click OK.
13. Restart Windows.

This tip doesn't work if you use Windows NT or use profiles.

Free Up Space, Control Your Cache

By default, both the Recycle Bin and Internet Explorer's Cache want to consume ridiculous amounts of your hard drive space. Right click on the Recycle Bin, select Properties, and on the Global tab, decide how much space you want the Recycle Bin to consume, either for all drives in your system, or on a per-drive basis. (It's a percentage of the total space. I adjust the slider way to the left, so I'm using "only" a few hundred megs of space for trash.)

Similarly, open Internet Explorer, and select Tools/Internet Options. Under Temporary Internet Files, click the Settings button and select a reasonable size for this cache area. Generally speaking, if you have a fast connection, 5 Mbytes to 10 Mbytes is adequate; 25 Mbytes or so is usually enough with a slower dial-up connection.

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