How To Make Your Computer
Faster
Computers are wonderful devices that allow us to do many things but things can
get rough once the garbage that comes in through our internet connection begins
to stop up our system. I have put together a step-by-step procedure for cleaning
all of this out. Follow the steps below and you will see a noticeable
improvement in your system. Enjoy!
1. Download Microsoft's Anti-Spyware program, Adaware, and Spybot Search and
Destroy. Microsoft's program can be downloaded at Microsoft Windows Defender.
Adaware can be downloaded at Lavasoft Downloads. Spybot can be downloaded at The
Home of Spybot-S&D. All of these programs are free.
2. Install Microsoft's anti-spyware program now, but not the other two.
3. Run MSconfig. To do this, select Start>Run and type msconfig into the space.
Select the Startup tab and get rid of all unnecessary programs. The way to
determine this is to go to ProcessLibrary.com and check it against their
database.
4. Boot into Safe Mode. To do this, restart the computer and press F8
continuously. Select the Safe Mode option from the list and continue to desktop.
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5. Delete any spyware programs from your add/remove. To do this, select Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs. Check all unknown programs against SpywareGuide.
6. Locate the temp folder in your computer and delete everything in the folder.
This is located, usually, in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\local settings.
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7. Still in Safe Mode, install Adaware and Spybot. Run Adaware, Microsoft's
anti-spyware and Spybot. Update to the most recent definitions in each program
and run them in full scan mode. Microsoft's program cannot be installed in Safe
Mode. You have already installed it.
8. Reboot into standard Windows mode.
9. Download HijackThis. You can get this program here Merijn.org. Install and
run it. Click Do A System Scan and Save A Logfile. HijackThis will analyze
processes that are running on your computer and alert you when there are things
running that should not be there. It will also let you know when there are
programs running that are not malicious but can safely be gotten rid of because
they are not needed.
10. Post the logfile in the Automated Log Analyzer at HijackThis.
11. After determining what's safe and isn't, check appropriate boxes and click
Fix Checked.
12. Run the Microsoft Anti-Malicious program, which you can download at the
Microsoft Download Center. This program is designed by Microsoft to detect and
remove programs whose sole purpose is harming your computer. The technical term
for this type of program is a rootkit.
13. Download and run BLBeta Expert. This can be downloaded at F-Secure
Blacklight. Make sure to carefully review anything it detects before removing.
BlBeta is another program that is designed to get rid of rootkits.
14. For Internet Explorer, click Tools> Internet Options> Security Tab. Click on
the Internet Globe icon and select Custom Level. Disable the following:
a. Download Unsigned ActiveX Controls.
b. Initialize And Script ActiveX Controls Not Marked As Safe.
c. Active Scripting.
d. Scripting Of Java Applets.
Also click High Safety under Java Permissions.
If this causes trouble viewing any favorite sites, click the Trusted Sites icon
of the Security Tab and use the Sites button to add the URL's of sites that are
exempt from these requirements. The purpose of these changes is to tighten the
security of your system so that not so many malicious programs make it to your
system.
15. For Firefox, type about:config in the address bar. Right click in the window
and click New and Integer. In the first box, type
privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins. In the second box, type 2. This will
prevent Flash popups in Firefox.
16. Open Regedit by clicking Start>Run and type in regedit.
17. Once Regedit is open, click the plus symbol next to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER
folder, the plus symbol next to Control Panel, and then click the Desktop folder
icon to display its contents. In the right pane, double-click MenuShowDelay to
change its value. (This Registry location is referred to as HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL\PANEL\DESKTOP\MENUSHOWDELAY.)
The default Value Data is 400, or 4/10 of a second. Change the Value Data to 0
for the least delay, and click OK. This will make menus appear instantly on your
computer instead of having a delay.
18. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\FILESYSTEM.
Right-click Filesystem, select New, and DWORD Value. Rename NewValue#1 on the
right-side pane to DisableNTFSLast-AccessUpdate. Double-click this new entry,
change the Value Data field from 0 to 1, and then click OK. This disables the
constant updating of the dates when a file or folder were last updated. This
will speed up the system.
19. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\EXPLORER.
Create a new DWORD Value called DesktopProcess, and set its Value Data to 1.
20. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
Double-click the AutoEndTasks string and change the value to 1. This causes all
of the components of the explorer to run in one process, making your computer
faster.
There is a caveat for some users here. Do not make this change if you are not
running at least a Pentium processor and 16 MB of physical memory.
21. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand SOFTWARE, expand Microsoft, expand
Windows, and expand CurrentVersion. Right-click Explorer, expand New, click Key,
and name the new key AlwaysUnloadDLL. Click AlwaysUnloadDLL, double-click the
Default string, and change the value to 1. Windows tries to keep some DLL's in
memory when the program uses them. If a user has low memory, this can cause
performance issues.
22. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
Double-click the HungAppTimeout string and change the value to 1000. Now,
double-click the WaitToKillAppTimeout, string and change the value to 2000. This
sets your system up to more efficiently handle application hangups. It also will
optimize the amount of time a system takes to close a program when you try to
end Windows.
23. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand System, expand CurrentControlSet, and
click Control. Double-click the WaitToKillServiceTimeout string and change the
value to 2000. This optimizes the time that it will take for Windows Services to
close when the system is set to shut down.
24. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, click Desktop, and
double-click the MenuShowDelay string in the right-hand pane. Change the value
to 100. This will cause Desktop menus to appear almost instantly.
25. Close regedit.
26. Set Recycle Bin to 1-3 percent of the hard drive space. To do this, right
click on the Recycle Bin. Select properties. Move the slider down to the desired
amount and click Ok. By default, the Recycle bin takes up too much of your
space.
27. To ensure DMA is in use, click Start, right-click My Computer, click
Properties, select the Hardware tab, and click Device Manager. Expand the IDE
ATA/ATAPI Controllers entry, double-click the entry for the channel where your
hard drive is installed (most likely the Primary IDE Channel), and use the
Transfer Mode drop-down menu to select DMA If Available if PIO Only mode is
selected. Click Ok, reboot, and recheck the setting to make sure it sticks. When
this is enabled, it will allow information from your CD/DVD to go straight to
memory, bypassing the system processor and speeding up the system.
You should notice markedly increased speeds in your computer. Remember that this
is not a "do once and forget it" procedure. Crud is constantly building up in
your computer, so make sure and set up a maintenance plan to keep your computer
clean.