● FastFast

● Easy

● In plain English!

By Howard Fosdick , Fosdick Consulting Inc. © FCI 2011 June 3 Version 1.2 By the author of the popular free guide --

How to Secure Windows and Your Privacy (Using Free Software)

By Howard Fosdick Fosdick Consulting Inc. © FCI 2011 June 3 Version 1.2

Distribution: You may freely reproduce and distribute this guide however you like – but you may not change its contents in any way, nor may you alter the authorship attribution (even by adding yourself as its “editor”).

This product is distributed at no cost under the terms of the Creative Commons License for publications with the Attribution and No Derivative Works restrictions:

● “You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work”

● “You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work) “

About the Author: Howard Fosdick is an independent consultant who works with operating systems and databases. He’s written a couple hundred technical articles and several books, founded software users groups, invented concepts like hype curves and open consulting, and frequently presents seminars and at conferences.

Disclaimer: This paper is provided without warranty. Fosdick Consulting Inc. and the author accept no responsibility for any use of the data contained herein. Trademarks: All trademarks in this document are the property of their respective owners. Acknowledgments: Thank you to the many reviewers without whose expert feedback this guide could not have been developed. I regret that space does not permit listing everyone individually. Why Tune Up Windows?

Windows computers slow down with use. They accumulate unneeded programs, waste space, and lose their speed and responsiveness.

All these problems are easily fixed. This guide shows you how.

Invest some time, and your computer will run as fast as the day you bought it. A two- or four- year old computer will run much faster. You may even be able make that old computer in the basement or attic useful again.

This guide was written as a consumer service. It is non-commercial. This is important because Microsoft provides excellent tools – but their commercial motives steer you towards buying the latest versions of their software. They'd rather you buy a new computer – with new copies of Windows and Microsoft Office -- than optimize the performance of what you already have. Ditto for the computer manufacturers.

All view your computer as a disposable consumer device. But why dispose of a computer that can meet your needs if you simply tune it up?

If you're non-technical, this guide is for you. There are lots of ways to tune Windows, but this guide presents only those that are easily understood and implemented. It focuses on simple actions with high payback. All the software utilities it recommends are free.

This guide also teaches you how to view and understand your computer's performance. This helps you target your tuning efforts where they will do the most good. You'll learn how to identify and fix performance problems.

I omit technical details. Where they're unavoidable, I present as simply and clearly as possible. Screen photos help you follow the recommendations. The goal is to tune Windows with the least effort.

This guide focuses on Windows 7, Vista, and XP. Its recommendations also apply to Windows Server 2008, 2003, and 2000. Older versions of Windows -- ME, 98E, 98, or 95 – should probably be replaced rather than tuned. See Appendix A.3.

Please email recommendations for improvement to the author at contactfci at the domain name sbcglobal.net. All comments are welcome! Thank you. Contents

1. Preliminaries ...... 6

1.1 You Need “Administrator Rights” to Tune Windows...... 6

1.2 How to Navigate Windows ...... 7

1.3 How to Make Backups ...... 8

2. How To...... 10

2.1 Eliminate Malware ...... 10

2.2 Choose and Run Efficient Programs ...... 12

Run Fewer Applications at the Same Time How to Choose Efficient Applications Efficient Replacements for Common Programs How to View Performance

2.3 Add Memory ...... 17

Add USB Memory to Use ReadyBoost

2.4 Turn Off Visual Effects ...... 21

2.5 Prune the Start-Up List...... 22

2.6 Turn Off Unused Services ...... 25

2.7 Uninstall Unused Programs ...... 27

Remove Unused Windows Components

2.8 Erase Unneeded Data Files ...... 30

Clean Up Your Email

2.9 Erase Unneeded Windows Files ...... 33

Delete Obsolete System Backups XP, Windows 2000 and 2003 Users: Defragment Your Disk Now

2.10 Add Linux ...... 35

2.11 Advanced Techniques ...... 36

Should You Clean the Registry? Should You Disable Windows Features? 3. How to Identify and Solve Performance Problems...... 39

3.1 How to Review and Analyze Performance ...... 40

3.2 How to Understand Processor Use ...... 40

3.3 How to Understand Memory Use ...... 42

How to Resolve Memory Shortages

3.4 How to Understand Disk Use ...... 44

Understanding Disk Performance Understanding Disk Free Space

3.5 How to Understand Network Use ...... 46

Appendices ...... 47

A.1 Where to Download Free Windows Software ...... 47

A.2 How to Defragment Your Disk ...... 48

A.3 What About Windows ME, 98, 95, and NT ? ...... 50

A.4 Glossary ...... 52 1. Preliminaries

1.1 You Need “Administrator Rights” to Tune Windows

While you can implement some of the recommendations in this guide by logging into Windows with any user id, others require a special level of security clearance called administrator rights.

To see if your user id has administrator rights:

1. Click on Start or the “Windows button” and then select the Control Panel 2. Double-click on User Accounts and Family Safety and/or User Accounts 3. Verify that your user id belongs to the Administrator Group or that it is designated as a Computer Administrator or Administrator

If you're working with your own computer, your user id probably has administrator rights. If not, use Windows' unique Administrator user id. Windows 7 and Vista require you to “enable” the Administrator user id before you can log in with it. To do this, right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. (You'll find Command Prompt either right off the Start Menu or under Accessories off the Start Menu.)

When the Command Prompt appears, type in this command:

C:\Windows\System32> net user administrator /active:yes

Next, set a password for the powerful Administrator account. This command sets the password to mypassword17:

C:\Windows\System32> net user administrator password mypassword17

You can exit the panel like this:

C:\Windows\System32> exit

For more examples, see this article for Windows 7 and this one for Vista.

If you're in a corporate or organizational setting, you may have to ask your computer support person to assign your user id administrator rights.

Now you can log in and start tuning Windows. 1.2 How to Navigate Windows

Going forward, I'll write the steps to procedures like the one above using a simple shorthand:

Start → Control Panel → User Accounts → Ensure your user id belongs to the & Family Settings Administrator Group or is designated as a and/or Computer Administrator or Administrator User Accounts

Just follow the steps from left to right using Windows' menu system.

I'll follow common convention in initiating actions with the Start button, though it is more properly referred to as the Windows button in Windows 7 and Vista:

Windows Versions

Unfortunately there are now so many Windows versions, editions, and “Service Pack” updates that it is impractical to describe the peculiarities of each.

Where this matters is in:

● Navigating to the settings panels ● The appearance and options on the settings panels

This guide focuses on Windows 7, Vista, and XP. It describes their differences where important. But even so you'll notice minor discrepancies. Usually you'll be able to match your navigation and panel settings to those in this guide regardless of minor differences.

In working with this guide, it's easiest to find Control Panel items if you use the All Control Panel Items view in Windows 7 and the Classic View in Vista and Windows XP.

If you have trouble either locating a panel or understanding its options, access the Windows Help and Support system:

Start → Help and Support

Enter the panel name. The Help system will explain the settings on the panel and provide a pointer you can click on to access the panel. (The pointer looks like an arrow inside of a little box.) 1.3 How to Make Backups

Before making any changes to your system, you should always back up:

● Your data ● Windows itself

Now, if anything unexpected happens, you won't lose critical data.

How to Back Up Your Data

Backing up your data is easy if you keep it in a single folder, such as Windows' recommended folder. For Windows 7 and Vista this is your portion of the “users folder” (C:\Users), while for XP this is the My Documents folder. All you have to do is copy the folder to an external writable device such as a USB memory stick or flash drive, or a writable CD or DVD. Then put the backup in a safe place.

You should create backups on a regular, periodic basis. How often you need to create them depends on how often your data changes, as well as how critical your consider your data.

Please back up your data right now, before proceeding, so that you are protected in the very rare event that something goes wrong while following this guide.

How to Back Up Windows

There are several different ways to back up Windows itself. One of the easiest is called System Protection (or System Restore). Access this feature by:

Start → All Programs → Accessories → System Tools → System Restore

From the System Restore panel, choose the option to create a Restore Point. Then you'll name and create the Restore Point. This backs up the Windows' key components including its Registry of settings and vital information.

Please make a new system Restore Point right now.

If you ever have to recover Windows, just select the option to restore your computer from the same System Restore panel. Then select the correct Restore Point to restore.

Always keep your original purchased-program discs. In a worst case scenario, you can always re-install if you have the original distribution media. Backing Up with the System Restore panel (XP)

Restoring with the System Restore panel (Windows 7 and Vista). The option to create a Restore Point is in the last line at the bottom of this panel. 2. How To's

2.1 How to Eliminate Malware

Malware is any program that has been installed on your computer without your knowledge or consent. Malware includes viruses and other harmful programs:

Malware Threat: What It Does:

Spyware It spies on your behavior and reports this data to a remote computer Adware It targets you for advertisements Trojans These scam their way into your computer Rootkits These steal Administrator rights and can do anything to your computer Dialers These secretly use your communication facilities Keyloggers These record your keystrokes (including passwords) and send this data to a remote computer Botware This turns your computer into a bot, ready to secretly carry out instructions sent from a remote server Browser Hijacker This modifies your web browser to redirect you to unwanted web sites or present annoying ads Backdoor Permits secret access to your computer

The first step in tuning Windows is to eliminate any and all malware from your system.

Until you do this, you really don't have a secure, stable, and consistent environment to work with. Hidden malware programs siphon off your computer's resources and compromise its performance -- as well as your security and privacy.

As this article proves, no single anti-malware product identifies and eliminates all threats! You must install and run more than one – effectively cross-checking anti-malware products against one another -- to really know that your system is clean.

This applies even if you use Microsoft's own products such as Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows Defender, or Windows Live OneCare, and even if you've bought commercial products like Symantec / Norton or McAfee.

Here's why:

1. There are many different kinds of malware. Each security program has its strengths and weaknesses in what it identifies and eliminates. No one product finds all problems!

2. New malware threats constantly arise. Programs vary in how long they take to recognize these new, so-called “zero-day” threats.

3. Some products focus on real-time threat prevention or blocking, while others are better at scanning disks and detecting and removing already-installed malware. I recommend that you have one anti-malware product that tries to prevent installation in real-time, and that you also occasionally scan your disks with two other anti-virus products. If you need additional software to achieve this full level of protection, select from this table of well-known free programs. You can find product reviews here and here. Download via the provided links:

Free Product:

AntiVir Personal Edition avast! Home Edition AVG Anti-Virus ClamWin PC Tools Antivirus and ThreatFire Antivirus (Free Editions) Malwarebytes a2 Free Ad-aware Free Spybot Search and Destroy

Be sure that whatever products you install automatically download new malware definition files. This is how anti-malware software keeps up with new threats. Most products automatically download new definitions by default and have a panel setting where you can verify this.

A firewall is a program that intercepts any attempt to secretly communicate with your computer. Firewalls thwart penetration of your computer by malware. A Windows computer must run a firewall at all times when connected to the Internet!

By default the firewall is turned on in Windows 7 and Vista. XP varies. You can verify the firewall is on through the Control Panel. For Windows 7 go to:

Start → Control Panel → All Control Panel Items → Windows Firewall or for Vista and XP use:

Start → Control Panel → Windows Firewall

In working with this guide, it's easiest to find Control Panel items if you use the All Control Panel Items view in Windows 7 and the Classic View in Vista.

You can also ensure the firewall is turned on through the Action Center in Windows 7 and via the equivalent Security Center in Vista and XP.

Securing Windows against malware – and keeping it secure – is a big topic. For complete information and step- by-step instructions, download my free guide called “How to Secure Windows and Your Privacy (Using Free Software).” The guide complements this one and includes easy explanations, screen photos, and free software recommendations. 2.2 How to Choose and Run Efficient Programs

One of the easiest ways to improve Windows' performance is to use it efficiently. Many people don't realize that their behavior causes Windows to slow down. Sometimes you can get the same work done faster if you simply reconsider how you use your computer.

Run Fewer Applications at the Same Time

When Windows slows down, help the system out by reducing the burden you're placing on it. Close unneeded windows. Edit one document at a time instead of four; web surf with one browser window and two tabs instead a ten. Open three windows at a time instead of a dozen. You get the idea.

Schedule resource-intensive programs to run when you're not using the computer. Windows Update (also known as Microsoft Update or Automatic Updates) and anti-virus disk scans are examples. Don't allow these programs to automatically update themselves during start-up or you might have a long wait. Schedule them for off-hours instead through their scheduling panels. Or, use Windows' Task Scheduler, which you can access as follows:

Windows 7: Start → Control Panel → All Control Panel Items → Administrative Tools → Task Scheduler Vista: Start → Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Task Scheduler

XP: Start → Control Panel → Scheduled Tasks

How to Choose Efficient Applications

Another easy way to improve Windows' performance is to choose efficient applications.

Resource requirements vary greatly among products that perform the same tasks. Selecting applications based in part on their efficiency is the best performance tip you'll ever hear.

How can you tell which applications are efficient? Start-up time is one clue. Another is whether the program responds quickly to your requests. Is the program quick or sluggish? Later in this section I'll show you how to view application performance scientifically. You don't have to be technical to do it.

An Example

Here's a simple example that shows how to choose efficient applications. Say I want to write a brief memo. Out of habit I might start Word 2003. But on my computer it's always seemed that this product runs a bit slowly. It just doesn't have the snappy responsiveness I'd like.

Could I use a faster alternative? (Except for Word, all the products I'll look at are either free or come bundled with Windows).

A competing word processor is one alternative. I downloaded the popular AbiWord and found it faster than Word.

What else might work? Perhaps Notepad. It's a text editor rather than a word processor, so it will only meet my needs if they are minimal (Notepad doesn't provide basic features like text emphasis and simple formatting, for example.) But Notepad's performance excels. The program is but a single file on disk, it loads quickly, and it consumes very little of the computer's processor and memory.

I also tried Windows' Wordpad. It offers more features than Notepad yet is still very fast. If a text editor lacks features I need, maybe a web page editor would suffice. Most offer the same easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) interface as Word. And they have basic typesetting and formatting features. I tried Kompozer to compare it.

One last idea. Instead of using Word 2003, why not try an older version of the same product, like Word 97? Microsoft has a reputation for increasing resource requirements across versions. Here's a good chance to test this assertion in a practical context.

Here's what I found from monitoring these applications while they run. These are not scientific measurements (I've simplified and excluded some important factors). But informal measurements work just fine for determining what performs best on my computer and meets my needs:

Product: Startup Time: * Memory Use: ** Disk Space: (1st time / Subsequently)

Word 2003 8 sec / 3 sec 11 M n/a (part of Office 2003) Kompozer 0.7.10 6 sec / 3 sec 17 M 21 M AbiWord 2.6 6 sec / 2 sec 8 M 21 M Word 97 3 sec / 2 sec 6 M n/a (part of Office 97) Wordpad 1 sec / 1 sec 4.8 M 210 K Notepad 1 sec / 1 sec 2.4 M 68 K All times were measured on the same computer immediately after booting without other apps running. K stands for Kilobytes, M for megabytes, and G for gigabytes. * First Time start-up with no process in the Start-Up List ** After starting the product with no document being edited

This little experiment shows that you may be able to increase performance by replacing resource-intense applications with lighter ones when they meet your needs. Try using:

● A competing program ● A program of a different kind that still accomplishes the task ● An older release of the same program

Next time I have a dozen windows open and I get the urge to write a quick memo, I'll use Notepad instead of reflexively starting Word. If I need basic formatting I'll use Wordpad or maybe AbiWord.

I'll also reconsider whether to unthinkingly upgrade my applications every time a vendor comes out with a new version. Unless the new version has new features you know you need, you may just acquire a slower product with little real benefit. In this example, Word 97 is way more efficient than Word 2003. Efficient Replacements for Common Programs

Here are free alternatives to popular but resource-heavy applications. Everyone's needs are unique, so you'll have to do your own testing to see which work best for you:

Application: Popular Resource Alternatives: Hog:

Browser Internet Explorer I've used K-Meleon for years. It's way faster than Internet Explorer. Opera also performs better. Word processor Word Use AbiWord or alternatives to word processors like file or web page editors Spreadsheet Excel Try Gnumeric or other free replacements on this web page Email Outlook Opinions are all over the map on this one. Based on this thread and this one in forums there are several faster alternatives. You might also try web-based email clients like Gmail. Web site generator Dreamweaver, Use web page editors like Kompozer or simple text editors like NetObjects Fusion Notepad PDF viewer Acrobat Reader FoxIt Reader or older Acrobat Reader versions perform way better and read PDF files just fine

Selecting resource-light applications impacts most the tasks you perform frequently. The bigger the difference in resource consumption between alternatives, the bigger the potential savings. With a bit of research and testing, you can really improve your computer's performance.

How to View Performance

How did I gather the performance statistics in the table above? Windows makes it easy.

The Windows Task Manager gives a quick view of performance. Access it by pressing three keys at once: Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Or, right-click anywhere blank in the Taskbar at the bottom of your screen and then select Task Manager if required: Task Manager's Performance Panel (Vista & 7) Task Manager's Performance Panel (XP)

Once you're in the Task Manager, you'll see several tabs. Click on the Performance tab and you'll see the panel above (Windows 7 and Vista is on the left, XP's version is on the right).

The top graph in the panel is labeled CPU Usage History. This tells how much of your processor (or “CPU”) is being used. The Task Manager draws this graph as you watch. You can actually watch the processor respond to your actions. Open an application... watch it spike. Close a window, watch it drop.

If you have a dual-core processor, you'll have two CPU graphs – one for each processor.

Look at the XP screen on the right side. See how the CPU recently went up to nearly 100% and is dangling there? That means this computer has no more processor left for other tasks. If you tell it to do some new work, for example, open a Word document, you'll have to wait because this computer is busy.

Which application is causing the 100% CPU use? Click on the Processes tab and you'll see all the processes (programs) that are running. Task Manager's Processes tab Panel (XP)

Double-click on the column heading labeled CPU. This orders all running programs by descending CPU use. Now it's obvious that a process called avgcsrvx.exe is consuming 97% of the processor. This is why you're waiting if you ask your computer to do anything else!

You can usually find out which application this process belongs to by clicking on the Applications tab in the Task Manager. This lists all applications that have an open window on your desktop. In this case the Applications tab lists AVG Anti-Virus Free so the obvious conclusion is that an anti-virus scan just launched and that's why this computer is slowing down. Looks like I should schedule that scan for some other time.

Click on the Task Manager's Processes tab. While the CPU column tells you how much of the processor any program is using, the Mem Usage column tells how much memory it uses. These are the two key resources you need to be concerned about on your computer: processor and memory. A shortage of either causes a slow- down.

Double-click on the Mem Usage column to sort programs in order of descending memory consumption. The “memory hog” programs instantly pop to the top of the list.

These Task Manager techniques work for Windows 7, Vista, and XP. The section of this guide entitled “How to Identify and Solve Performance Problems” explains how you can use the Task Manager to identify and fix performance problems. You can also use it to determine if you need to upgrade your computer hardware. For now, you have a quick way to see which programs are most efficient and which consume your computer's CPU and memory resources. 2.3 How to Add Memory

Computer memory consists of semiconductor chips. It holds programs while your computer runs them. It also holds some of the data on which the programs operate. Insufficient computer memory causes slow performance.

The telltale signs of low memory are display problems and out of memory notifications. Try to open a menu, for example, and it might materialize slowly, or if you click a menu item you might not get a response. New windows might appear blank when opened or their contents appear translucent or don't all paint at once.

If your computer lacks enough memory, one of the easiest and quickest performance enhancements you can make is simply to add extra memory. Used memory is very inexpensive through on-line sources like Amazon or Ebay, or at computer shows.

An alternative for Windows 7 and Vista users is to add a removable storage device, like a USB memory stick or flash drive, and turn on a Windows feature called ReadyBoost. I'll explain how this works in the next section.

A third alternative is to reduce Windows' memory use. This doesn't require any extra hardware but it does take some of your time. Sections in this guide that help you reduce memory use include “How to Eliminate Malware,” “How to Choose and Run Efficient Programs,” “How to Prune the Start-up List” and “How to Turn Off Unneeded Services.”

How much memory your computer requires for optimal performance depends on how you use it. Circumstances vary. One point everyone agrees on is that Microsoft's official recommended memory requirements for Windows are far too low.

This chart gives a quick take on how much memory works best for different Windows versions:

Windows Version: Microsoft's Official Memory Popular Performance Recommendation: Recommendation:

Windows 7 1 gigabyte 2 or more gigabytes (2 for XP mode or 64-bit systems) (4 gigabytes for XP mode and 64-bit systems) Vista (Home Premium, Business, 1 gigabyte 2 or more gigabytes Ultimate editions) Vista (Home Basic edition) 512 megabytes 2 or more gigabytes XP (Professional edition) 64 megabytes 512 or more megabytes (128 recommended) XP (Home edition) 64 megabytes 512 or more megabytes (128 recommended)

If your computer has less memory than the value in the right-hand column above, adding memory to the system -- if possible – will likely increase its performance.

32-bit versions of Windows 7, Vista and XP can only use up to a maximum of 4 gigabytes of memory. The limit is much higher for 64-bit Windows and varies widely by version and edition. Look up your specific Windows version and edition in this Microsoft chart.

To determine how much memory your computer has, go to:

Start → Computer (right-click) → Properties (or My Computer (right-click)) or

Start → Control Panel → System

To determine the maximum memory your computer can support and the kind of memory it requires, look in the manual that came with your computer when you purchased it.

If you don't have the manual, look up the computer manufacturer and model on a web site like Upgrade Memory or The Upgrade Place. These sites offer easy, interactive look-up to determine the maximum allowable memory and the kind of memory required for any computer. The Crucial web site scans your computer and tells you what your memory options are. You can order the memory immediately from these sites. Or just retrieve the information and shop around.

Before you buy, make sure your computer has an available physical slot into which to insert the memory stick. For desktops, open the case to verify this. Laptops have a panel on the bottom you remove to see if there is an open memory slot.

If you have trouble opening the computer or recognizing the memory slots, see the computer's manual. If you don't have it, look up your computer model at the manufacturer's web site. All computer manuals are on-line.

Adding memory is simple. Open the case, ensure you touch something metal so that you don't give the memory or computer an electrical shock, then seat the memory stick in an open slot. Youtube has several good videos that demonstrate adding memory to desktops and laptops.

How to Add USB Memory to Use ReadyBoost

If you can't add memory to your computer and low memory is an issue, here's an alternative if you run Windows 7 or Vista.

One way Windows uses your computer's memory is to store data from disk. Since memory access is way faster than disk access, accessing some data in memory instead of disk greatly speeds up performance.

When your computer does not have enough memory, the first thing Windows jettisons from memory is this disk data cache. Windows 7 and Vista can bring back the disk cache by storing it on fast removable storage devices through a feature called ReadyBoost.

Just plug in a USB memory stick or “flash drive,” SD card, or CompactFlash to speed up disk access. When Windows' AutoPlay dialog pops up, tell it you want to enable the device for ReadyBoost. Here's how that panel looks: Selecting ReadyBoost in the AutoPlay Dialog (Vista)

Sizing ReadyBoost Memory in the Disk Properties panel (Vista) The Disk Properties panel (above) for the removable device allows you to enable or disable ReadyBoost. You can also tune how much memory ReadyBoost uses on the device. Microsoft recommends you allocate one to three times the amount of your computer's memory to ReadyBoost. So if your computer has a gigabyte of memory, when you insert a USB memory stick you would set aside between 1 and 3 gigabytes for ReadyBoost in the USB device. You can access Disk Properties by right-clicking on the disk in the Computer or My Computer panel.

ReadyBoost only takes advantage of removable memory that supports fast data access. If you select ReadyBoost with an unsuitable device, Windows tells you it can't use the device in a reply panel.

ReadyBoost is very effective for machines with insufficient memory but of little value for computers with lots of memory. If your computer has less memory than the recommended amounts, try ReadyBoost as a quick and easy way to increase performance. 2.4 How to Turn Off Visual Effects

Great visuals are one of Windows' best features. They're also expensive in terms of computer resources. If you can do without some of Windows' “eye candy,” turning off the high-end visuals may help performance.

It's simple to turn visual effects off or on. So turn them off, and see if it helps your computer's performance and if the visuals are still acceptable. If not, you can always go right back to what you had before. Reach the panel to set visual effects by:

Start → Computer (right-click) → Properties → Advanced tab → Performance Settings button or My Computer

Windows 7, Vista, and XP all display a panel like the one below. The difference between the three versions will be in the visual effects listed. Turn off visual effects by selecting:

Adjust for best performance → Apply → OK

Turn visual effects on by the same process and choosing: Adjust for best appearance.

The Visual Effects panel (Vista) 2.5 How to Prune the Start-up List

Look down to the far lower right-hand corner of your display monitor. You'll see a horizontal row of icons. These represent programs that run every time you start up your computer:

What is all this stuff?

These programs remain in memory, consuming resources throughout your session – whether you use them or not. One simple way to increase Windows' performance is to ensure that only the programs you want to run get launched when Windows starts.

How do these programs and their icons get into the system tray or systray? Many insert themselves there when you install them – without asking. This inevitably leads to a situation whereby Windows accumulates all sorts of programs in its Start-up List that you really don't need.

Pruning these programs down to those you use reduces how long it takes to start your computer. And it increases overall performance for your entire session.

But let's be realistic: if your computer is performing fine, it can carry whatever load these programs impose, so it may not be worth the effort to disable them. If you need better performance, this is a great place to start.

Hover the cursor over any icon in the systray and you'll see what program that icon represents. Right-click on the icon, and most programs provide an option to exit the program. But here's the catch. In most cases this only ends the program for your current session. Next time you start up (or “boot”) Windows, the program launches again and reclaims it position in your systray!

To permanently stop unused programs from starting whenever you boot your computer, select:

Windows 7 and Vista: Start → All Programs → Accessories → Run...

XP: Start → Run...

In the “run box” that appears, enter the program named: msconfig

The System Configuration Utility panel appears. Select the tab labeled Startup.

There you'll see a checklist of programs that start every time you boot your computer and stay in memory whether you use them or not. Your goal is to eliminate any programs you do not use from this list by un- checking them.

Expanding the Command and Location columns in the panel enables you to determine what many of these programs are. Others, however, may not be familiar. In this case, just google on the Startup Item at issue.

Take a look at this example: The System Configuration Utility panel (XP)

Only the items checked will run when Windows boots. Any item I un-check will not run at next boot.

I can guess that the programs or Startup Item's that begin with the letters avg belong to the free anti-virus program, AVG Anti-virus. Obviously I should keep them checked. ClamTray I know belongs to the ClamWin anti-virus program. Again, a keeper.

But what is zlcient? Just go to Google and enter it as a search term. You'll quickly find that it belongs to the ZoneAlarm firewall. Another keeper. But googling on dumprep tells me it is not a necessary program, so I un- check it.

Try this with all the checked boxes and eliminate whatever programs you can from the start-up list. Error on the side of caution and keep any Startup Item you can't positively identify.

After you make changes and close the System Configuration Utility panel, Windows prompts you to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Click Restart in the message box to reboot. When Windows comes up again, verify that everything works as before. This ensures you really did turn off only programs you didn't need.

When you start the computer after making System Configuration Utility panel changes, Windows presents a dialog box that notifies you that changes were applied. To eliminate this message simply check the box for Don't show this message... again and then OK. Here's how this message looks with the box checked: This message box appears after rebooting if you change the Start-up List

It might take some googling and a couple re-boots, but in the end most people find they can eliminate many programs from the systray and the start-up list. The performance savings are usually worth the time. 2.6 How to Turn Off Unused Services

Windows has its own start-up list for Windows components. These Windows programs are called Services because once started they remain in the system for use by other programs. Like the Systray programs, most people do not use all the Windows Services started by the operating system.

Why? Since Services provide useful features, Windows starts them. It has no way of knowing which you may not need. If you turn off or disable a slew of unneeded Services, you save memory and processor resources.

Like pruning programs in the Start-up list, turning off unneeded Services takes time. It may take an hour or more to do a thorough job. Only make the effort if you need better performance. The section entitled “How to Identify and Solve Performance Problems” shows how to analyze your computer's performance so that you know whether effort you spend on this will be worthwhile.

Here's how to access the Services Panel:

Windows 7: Start → Control Panel → All Control Panel Items → Administrative Tools → Component Services

Vista & XP: Start → Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services (or Component Services)

Here's what the Services Panel looks like. You can see that those programs with a Status of Started have been started and are consuming resources. The Startup Type column lists one of these three possibilities:

Automatic - Automatically starts with Windows Manual - Automatically starts if another program requests this Service Disabled - Can not start up

The Services Panel (Windows 7) The settings panel for an individual Service (XP)

To see details for any Service, just double-click on its name. You'll see the Properties panel for the Service you selected:

The drop-down list box allows you to set a Service to Automatic or Manual startup, or to Disable it from starting altogether. The buttons immediately beneath the list box, labeled Service Status, allow you to immediately Start or Stop a Service.

As with pruning the Windows Start-up List the big question with Services is: how do you know which you can turn-off permanently (set to Disable), and which you can set to turn on only if needed (set to Manual)? Sometimes the Description field will tell you what you need to know, but in most cases, you need more information.

Unfortunately, the Windows' Services vary not only by version but even by edition and the updates you have applied to Windows (called Service Packs). These many variations make it impractical to list all the Services here. Instead, go to these web sites to see which Services you can set to Manual or Disable:

Version: Web Sites:

Windows 7, Vista, XP Black Viper Windows 7 Tweaking with Vishal Vista Speedy Vista XP The Elder Geek

2.7 How to Uninstall Unused Programs

You can reclaim lots of disk space and reduce some of the clutter in your system by deleting unused programs from Windows. This process is called de-installing or uninstalling.

This isn't just a matter of removing programs you installed but now no longer use. New Windows computers come with a ton of “useful” pre-installed software you'll never use. Deleting this junk reclaims lots of space and cleans up Windows' Start-up List.

Before uninstalling any program, find out where the program's files were installed. Do this by accessing the program in the programs menu:

Start → All Programs → (name of the program you want to uninstall)

Hover the cursor over the program name in the All Programs list, and Windows will display the folder into which that program is installed. Write down this “install folder” so that you can remember it after you have completed the uninstall process.

Since sometimes Windows programs remain on disk even after you have uninstalled them, this way you can go back and verify they really were removed from the disk. If not, simply delete their folder following the uninstall.

Depending on how your system's defaults are set, any of these navigations might get you to a panel to uninstall programs:

Windows 7: Start → Control Panel → All Control Panel Items → Programs and Features & Vista: Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features → Installed Programs panel Start → Control Panel → Programs → Programs and Features or the “Uninstall a Program” link

XP: Start → Control Panel → Add or Remove Programs

Whether you're looking at the Programs and Features or Installed Programs panel (Windows 7 and Vista) or the Add or Remove Programs panel (XP) you take the same actions.

Scroll through the list of installed programs and see which you never use and can uninstall. For each application, you'll see how much disk space it consumes on the right-hand side of the entry. You'll reclaim at least this much disk space by uninstalling that program. Highlight any program in the list you wish to uninstall and deinstall it. Removing a Program Through the Installed Programs panel (Vista)

Removing a Program Through Uninstall or change a program (Vista)

The Add or Remove Programs panel (XP) After the uninstall, verify that the application's folder was deleted from Windows through the Windows file manager. If not, you can delete it manually. Note that if you had saved any data in this folder it will be erased as well.

How to Remove Unused Windows Components

You may want to uninstall Windows features and components you don't use. Windows installs lots programs you may never use, especially if you select the Typical option during the install process. What can be removed depends on the Windows version: Windows 7 allows you to delete more Windows components than previous versions.

In Windows 7 and Vista, remove unwanted Windows components through the Programs and Features panel shown in the middle screen photo above. Select the option to Turn Windows features on or off.

In XP, the Add or Remove Programs panel pictured above includes an option in the left margin labeled Add/Remove Windows Components. Use this to de-install unneeded Windows components. 2.8 How to Erase Unneeded Data Files

Disks provide permanent storage space for your programs and data. Running out of disk space means you won't be able to store more files. Getting really low throttles Windows' performance.

The best way to reclaim disk space is to erase files that you no longer need. Of course, this doesn't mean that you lose those files forever. Simply copy or “archive” the files to a writable media, such as a writable DVD, CD, or USB memory stick, and store the data offline. If you need it again, you can access the files by popping in the removable media that has the files.

Delete just a handful of your biggest unneeded files and you can quickly reclaim lots of space. When it comes to size, all files are not created equal.

Video files are the biggest, followed by audio files, then image files of various kinds (photographs, pictures, diagrams). Together, video, audio, and image files are referred to as multimedia files.

How much space these files consume varies widely. But to give you a quick idea of how much space you might reclaim:

● Video files often consume tens of megabytes per recorded minute. A DVD movie might consume 4.5 or 8 gigabytes on disk.

● Audio files might consume up to a megabyte or more per recorded minute. Many songs require a few megabytes each.

● Image files consume from a few kilobytes up to several megabytes each. Some require insignificant space while others can add up.

If all your multimedia data files are in one place (such as your Users folder in Windows 7 and Vista, or your My Documents folder in XP), it's easy to delete them.

If not, you may have to search for them. Fortunately the Windows Search panel allows you to search for Video, Music, or Picture files. These retrieve and list all the common multimedia file formats.

The Search panel has changed and moved around a good bit in the evolution from XP to Windows 7. In the initial Vista release and XP you can access it from the Start menu:

Start → Search

Then select the option to search for Pictures, music, or video. See the screenshot below. Finding pictures, music, and video files through the Search Panel (XP)

Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows 7 remove Search panel access from the Windows Start menu. Instead they have a Search box that appears on the Start menu and throughout the operating system. Microsoft calls this Instant Search. The new Search panel includes a menu bar in which you can select file types, including Picture, Music, Other and Advanced Search. This makes it easy to find your multimedia files if they don't all reside in your Users folder.

The Search panel (Vista)

Should you delete any other files? Well, it's always nice to have a clean, uncluttered system. But in terms of reclaiming space, smaller files don't consume much relative to modern disk sizes. Microsoft Office files are small, unless you've embedded multimedia within them. Text and log files are tiny. You might consider deleting old archive files and downloaded application files. These often end in the three letters: zip. You might also search for files ending in .bak or .old and delete them if appropriate, too. Finally, it's worthwhile to look in the “root directory” or C:\ to remove unwanted files as programs sometimes use this as a “dumping ground” for their temporary files.

Remember that after you delete any unneeded files, you must empty the Recycle Bin to actually reclaim their space. Assuming the Recycle Bin icon is on your desktop, all you have to do is right-click on the icon, then select the option Empty Recycle Bin from the pop-up menu. You should empty the Recycle Bin on a regular basis.

How to Clean Up Your Email

Email programs like Microsoft Outlook slow down if you never delete obsolete emails. So you should delete email you no longer need.

Most email programs allow you to sort emails in a folder by size simply by clicking on the size column. This enables you to find and delete the biggest emails at a glance. Email with photos or other multimedia attachments can be huge. Delete them and you'll save lots of space while speeding up your email system.

Many people don't realize that their email client saves a copy of every email they send. If this is the case with your system, delete obsolete sent email as well. Consider turning off this option.

Delete junk email or spam. Better yet, if your email program supports it, don't even allow it to receive and store these emails. This web site offers free spam filter programs you can install to block incoming junk mail.

Many people create two email accounts. One they keep private and only tell their friends or co-workers about. The other they use as a public email account for public forums and mailing lists. This way spam only comes to their public account and not their private email address, which stays clean.

After you're done deleting all the obsolete and junk mail, remember to empty the email application's trash folder to reclaim disk space. 2.9 How to Erase Unneeded Windows Files

Windows and other applications create many temporary files. They don't delete all these files after using them, and so over time your computer becomes cluttered and wastes disk space.

Windows' Disk Cleanup utility gets rid of many of these files. Access it through a button on the Disk Properties panel:

Start → Computer → right-click on the disk name → select Properties → Disk Cleanup (or My Computer)

Disk Cleanup doesn't do as thorough a job as some of the free Windows cleanup programs. CCleaner Is my personal favorite. Download, install, and run it, and you'll reclaim lots of disk space while enhancing Windows performance. Thereafter, run it on a regularly scheduled basis, perhaps once a week or once a month.

This screen shot superimposes two copies of CCleaner running at once (not something you would do) in order to show all the temporary and work files it deletes. When you click on its Analyze button, CCleaner lists all the files it will delete. Then click on the Run Cleaner button and CCleaner deletes all the files you check-marked and immediately reclaims their disk space. CCleaner cleans up after Windows and many common applications. How to Delete Obsolete System Backups

Section 1.3, on “How to Make Backups,” explained how to back up Windows' critical system files through the feature called System Protection. System Protection is also known as System Backup. You'll want to use this feature to create system backups after you make changes to Windows (for example, by installing new software).

System backups require much disk space, and Windows does not automatically delete them as they become obsolete. You may well be using 5 or 10 gigabytes of disk space to store obsolete backups.

Delete all system backups except for the most recent one by accessing Windows' Disk Cleanup utility:

Start → Computer → right-click on the disk name → select Properties → Disk Cleanup (or My Computer)

In Windows 7 and Vista, the Disk Cleanup panel has an button labeled Clean Up System Files. Click on it and Windows will delete all but the single most recent system backup.

In Windows XP, you must click on the More Options tab after you access Disk Cleanup. Then select the Clean Up... button under the label System Restore, and Windows will delete all but the most recent system backup.

It's not unusual to reclaim 10 or more gigabytes of disk space on computers that are several years old, which is especially welcome since these machines often have small disks compared to newer computers.

XP, Windows 2000, and 2003 Users: Defragment Your Disk Now

The previous three sections of this guide (2.7, 2.8, and 2.9), make your system more efficient by deleting unneeded files. This results in a situation in which used and unused storage areas are intermingled on your disk drive. You can make disk access more efficient by consolidating the used storage portions together into contiguous areas, a process called disk defragmenting.

Windows 7 or Vista automatically run the disk defragmentation utility weekly. You need do nothing.

If you run XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, or NT, you must manually run the disk defragmentation utility. Go to Appendix A.2 entitled “How to Defragment Your Disk” for instructions on how to do this. If you wish to regularly schedule the disk defragmentation in XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003, this article shows you how. 2.10 How to Add Linux

Linux is a competing operating system to Windows. Even though you might hear people claim that one or the other is much better, in fact both systems have their strong points and shortcomings.

Linux is relevant here because it requires far fewer computer resources – processor, memory, and disk – than Windows. One way to get better performance on a computer on which Windows is slowi is to install Linux. When you boot the computer, you'll have the option to use either Linux or Windows.

This chart contrasts the resource requirements of Windows and the most popular Linux version, called Ubuntu. While Windows resource requirements balloon with every release, the current version of Ubuntu requires the same resources as XP did way back in 2001:

Windows 7 and Vista Windows 7 and Vista Ubuntu Official Requirements for Consensus Requirements for Consensus Requirements Most Editions: Most Editions: for Current Version:

Processor 1 ghz 2 or more ghz 1 ghz Memory 1 g 2 or more g 512 m Disk 20 g to 40 g 40 g 8 g

Ubuntu complements Windows because you can easily install it on a Windows computer without altering Windows in any way.

Beyond good performance, Ubuntu Linux benefits include:

● Everything's free ● No malware problems ● It comes with a full set of home and office applications ● You can download any of thousands of free Linux applications from a web-based repository and install them simply by a few mouse clicks ● You can read and write Windows files ● Ubuntu's Open Office is highly compatible with Microsoft Office

While Linux is as easy to use as Windows, it is an entirely different operating system. So weigh these benefits against the time and effort it takes to install and learn new software. Ubuntu requires at least 8 gigabytes of disk space.

To get started with Ubuntu, take a look at the illustrated installation instructions here or here, or read the official dual-boot installation instructions here. Then download and install it.

You'll have a system that performs well even on hardware too under-powered for Windows. 2.11 Advanced Techniques

Should You Clean the Registry?

The Windows' Registry is its internal database that contains vital information Windows uses while it runs. It contains settings, configuration, status data, product parameters, and more. Windows requires a valid Registry to run.

Over time -- especially as you install and uninstall products -- the Registry gets out of sorts. It collects obsolete entries, invalid information, and other corrupted data.

Many web sites advocate cleaning the Registry. I do not recommend it unless you are technically adept.

There is little evidence that Registry-cleaning provides measurable performance benefit. And there is a bigger concern -- registry cleaners can't always know what should be changed or deleted. Applying incorrect changes could damage Windows (or even cause it not to run in an extreme case).

Registry cleaners use various techniques to address this concern:

● Most back up the Registry prior to running ● Others log everything they change and provide a program you can run to revert the Registry back to its original state if needed ● Some list recommended changes and ask you to approve each before applying them

If you clean the Registry, make a good back up first and ensure you understand how to recover with it. See the section entitled “How to Make Backups” for more information.

The free CCleaner program includes a registry cleaning option. First it scans the Registry. Then it lists each change it recommends and lets you un-check any you do not want applied. When you press the Fix Selected Issues button, CCleaner writes a file you can run to revert the changes back to the original if desired, then it applies the changes you selected.

Here are several more free registry cleaners. This web site reviews and compares five commercial registry cleaners.

The technically adept may also want to defragment the Registry by running Microsoft's free PageDefrag tool. Microsoft literature indicates registry defragmenting provides greater performance benefits than cleaning.

Should You Disable Windows Features?

A popular tune-up suggestion is to disable various Windows features. This saves the resources those features otherwise would consume.

Sometimes these techniques are rather technical. Other tuning “tweaks” are easy enough to apply but really don't provide much better performance.

Some of the tweaks you'll encounter include:

● Turn off Search Indexing ● Turn off automatic Disk Defragmentation (in Windows7 and Vista) ● Turn off User Account Control ● Disable Windows Hibernation ● Turn off Disk Compression ● Turn off Remote Differential Compression ● Turn off Anti-malware product real-time operations (such as those of Windows Defender) ● Turn off System Restore ● Turn off DFS Replication Service ● Turn off Fax and Scan ● Turn off Meeting Space ● Delete unneeded desktop icons ● Delete unneeded items from the Start menu ● Manually size the paging file ● Change more interface options in the desktop window manager ● Ensure you have the latest video drivers ● Ensure you have the latest device drivers for disks and other devices ● Update the system BIOS ● Turn off tablet PC Optional Components ● Use hot keys and quick-key shortcuts ● Wipe the disk and re-install Windows and all your applications ● Delete obsolete “favorites” from your web browser ● Clean up and optimize the Taskbar and Notification area ● Run Windows Update (Automatic Updates) manually rather than scheduled ● Buy a video card with more video memory ● Do your backups to a faster device (for example, to a second hard disk) ● Change laptop power settings ● Many, many more

I do not recommend turning off System Restore. Unless you are backing up Windows by some other means, you are disabling an essential feature. Ditto for User Account Control. Though many find this feature irritating, it is fundamental to Windows security. For more information on advanced ideas like these and how to implement them, visit these web sites:

InTechgrity (Windows 7) WinGeek (Windows 7) PC Tips Box (Windows 7) TechRepublic (Vista) PCStats (Vista) TuneXP (XP) PCStats (XP) Tweak3D (XP and earlier) WorldStart (all Windows versions) Tuning with Vishal (all Windows versions) 3. How to Identify and Solve Performance Problems

You need to be able to view and understand your computer's performance to:

● Resolve performance problems ● Identify where your tuning efforts will produce the biggest pay-off ● Determine if adding hardware will increase performance

This section teaches you how to analyze your computer's performance through the Windows Task Manager. First, some background on how your computer works ...

Windows computers consist of four resources:

1. Processor – The processor runs computer programs or applications. (The processor is also known as the central processing unit or CPU.) If you have a dual-core processor, your computer actually has two processors.

2. Memory -- Memory holds programs and data while they are in use by the processor. Memory is temporary storage – when you turn off the computer, any information in memory is lost.

3. Disk – Since data in memory is lost when you turn off your computer, disk provides permanent storage for programs and data. Disk storage holds more data than memory but is much slower to access data.

4. Network Connection – The key characteristics of your computer's Internet or network connection are speed, consistency, and reliability.

If your computer has a shortage in any of these basic resources – processor, memory, disk, or network connection – this could create a bottleneck that throttles the computer's overall performance. Identifying and fixing the bottleneck fixes your performance problem.

If your computer doesn't have a bottleneck, understanding performance in terms of these resources helps you target your tuning efforts to best effect. Different parts of this guide lead you through the steps required to optimize resource use. 3.1 How to Review and Analyze Performance

Windows versions offer several different performance monitors. This guide focuses on the Windows Task Manager because it is common to all Windows versions and is fairly well standardized. It is easy to use and provides all the performance data you need for tuning.

Access the Task Manager by either:

● Simultaneously pressing three keys: Ctrl, Shift, and Esc (or Ctrl, Alt, and Del) ● Right-clicking anywhere blank in the Taskbar at the bottom of your screen, then selecting Task Manager from the pop-up menu

Task Manager's Performance Panel (Vista & 7) Task Manager's Performance Panel (XP)

The Task Manager's Performance tab shows you whether a processor or memory limitation is holding back your computer's performance. Here's how this panel looks. Windows 7 and Vista are on the left and XP is on the right. The panel tabs allow you to view use of various computer resources (processor, memory, disk, and networking). This is a real-time view – a view of events as they occur. The next few sections show you how to read and understand the information from these panels. 3.2 How to Understand Processor Use

The chart labeled CPU Usage History in the Performance tab panels above tracks what percentage of your processor is in use over time. You can watch as this chart draws before your eyes. Since the Task Manager panel stays on top by default as you work, you can start and run applications while you watch how they affect CPU use. Each CPU gets its own performance curve, so a dual-core processor displays two charts.

You need to address your processor usage if it either:

● Remains high on a consistent, sustained basis ● Frequently spikes to 100% and stays there for any appreciable time ● Consistently remains above 5% or 10% when you're computer is idling (you're not doing anything or running any applications)

Sections in this guide that show you how to reduce the load on the processor include “How to Eliminate Malware,” “How to Choose and Run Efficient Programs,” “How to Turn Off Visual Effects, ” and “How to Prune the Start-Up List.”

An alternative is to get a faster processor, (which for most people means buying a new computer). For now let's explore how to understand processor use from the Task Manager.

Click on the Task Manager's Processes tab to see exactly how much of the processor different application processes currently use. This shows if any application is hogging the processor. You can also tell if a program has gone haywire and has frozen your system at 100% CPU usage. If you identify a program that has frozen the system at 100% CPU, you need to figure out why or how it happened to avoid the problem again.

Use the Task Manager's Applications tab to map between the processes listed in the Processes tab and the applications you're running in screen windows. If you highlight an Application listed in the Applications tab panel, you can right-click it, then choose Go To Process from the pop-up list, and the Task Manager will switch you back to the Processes tab panel with the process for that Application highlighted.

The Applications tab panel only lists processes on your computer that display a visible main window. This is why there are many more processes in the Processes tab panel than Applications in the Applications tab panel. Many Windows processes run without placing a visible window on your display.

Here's an example of how CPU analysis works. In the Performance tab panel illustration above for XP, you'll notice that the CPU Usage History recently swung up to near 100% and is dangling there. Something happened during this chart and our processor is being 100% consumed. What could it be?

We click on the Processes tab and see the panel below. Then we click twice on the column label CPU to sort the rows in descending order by CPU use. A process called avgsrvx.exe has 97% of the CPU. Watch this panel for awhile to verify that this is really the offender. (You'll know if its CPU continues to be very high.) Then click on the Applications tab, and you see that one of the applications currently running is named AVG Anti- Virus Free.

This leads us to conclude that the AVG anti-virus scanner is running and totally consuming our processor. This is not unusual behavior for a virus scanner. We can let AVG scan to conclusion or we can access the AVG control panel and terminate it normally if we need to reclaim the processor for other work. Task Manager's Processes Panel during 100% CPU Usage (XP)

If we didn't launch the AVG scan ourselves, we can assume it is probably a scheduled job. If we don't like that it barged in on top of us and suddenly slowed our work down, we now know how to fix it so it doesn't happen again. Just go to Windows' Scheduled Tasks panel or AVG's own scheduler and change when the scan runs. 3.3 How to Understand Memory Use

You can view and analyze your computer's memory usage with the same Task Manager panels.

Before using the Task Manager panels, you need to understand how Windows manages memory. Your computer has a certain amount of memory installed. This memory is a valuable, limited resource, so Windows increases the amount of memory available to it by using a chunk of disk space as if it were memory, too.

The actual amount of memory on your system is called physical memory. The total of this physical memory plus the disk area Windows pretends is memory is called virtual memory. The disk area Windows uses to simulate memory is called the paging file.

If nearly all the physical memory in your computer is in use, that's fine. Programs use as much physical memory as possible to maximize their performance. But if Windows is using a lot of paging file memory, that means your system could benefit either from adding memory or memory tuning. Heavy use of the paging file slows your computer down, because disk access is very slow compared to physical memory access.

Here's how to read the Task Manager's Performance tab panels shown above to tune memory.

In Windows 7 and Vista, the Performance tab panel tells how much physical memory is installed in your computer under the label Physical Memory (MB) / Total. The example system above has 1534 megabytes of real memory (about 1 ½ gigabytes).

The label System / Page File tells how big the paging file is and how much of it is in use. For the example above, here are the numbers:

Physical Memory (MB) System Total 1534 Handles 18834 Cached 940 Threads 733 Free 36 Processes 61 Up Time 33:58:44 Page File 1113M / 3308M

1113 megabytes of a 3308 megabyte paging file are in use (about 1 gigabyte of a 3 gigabyte paging file).

If the amount of the paging file in use approaches its maximum size, you need to tune memory or buy more of it. The paging file usage should be a good bit lower than the maximum for the file. I like to see a system where less than half the paging file is in use.

For XP, you also use the Performance tab panel to view memory use. The amount of physical memory your computer has is under the column heading Physical Memory (K) and it is to the right of the label Total. The amount of virtual memory in use is under the column heading Commit Charge (K) and it is to the right of the label Total. The label Peak shows the largest amount of virtual memory used since you started your computer.

For the example above, here are the numbers:

Commit Charge (K) Physical Memory (K) Total 449560 Total 522544 Limit 1279036 Available 171528 Peak 452604 System Cache 206152

Compare the virtual memory total (Commit Charge (K) / Total) against the physical memory total (Physical Memory (K) / Total). If the virtual memory total is larger than the physical memory, your computer has been forced to write data to the disk paging file and is slowing down. If it is a couple times the size of physical memory, your system is greatly under-performing.

Watch these numbers for awhile to ensure you see a real trend instead of a brief temporary phenomenon. The largest amount of virtual memory ever used (Commit Charge (K) / Peak) tracks the maximum virtual memory used during the session.

How to Resolve Memory Shortages

There are many resolutions to memory performance problems. You can tune the memory by reducing your use of it. Click on the Task Manager's Processes tab, and you'll see how much memory each process uses. Double-click on the Mem Usage heading, and the Task Manager sorts the processes in order of descending memory use. This makes it easy to see which processes are using the most memory. Remember that you can relate the processes to the applications you're running by clicking on the Task Manager's Applications tab.

To tune memory, opt for alternative programs to those in the list that are using most of the memory. Or, run the programs that use the most memory at different times to avoid them all contending for memory at the same time. You might be able to configure some “memory-hog” programs to use less memory. Finally, you could reduce the number of programs your computer loads into memory when it starts. The sections in this guide entitled “How to Elminate Malware,” “How to Choose and Run Efficient Programs,” “How to Add Memory,” “How to Turn Off Visual Effects,” “How to Prune the Start-Up List,” and “How to Turn Off Unused Services” tell how to conserve memory and use it efficiently.

The alternative to tuning memory is to buy and install more physical memory (if possible). The section in this guide entitled “How to Add Memory” tells how to do this. 3.4 How to Understand Disk Use

There are two aspects to disk use:

1. Disk performance – how long it takes for your computer to read data from the disk and write data to it

2. Free disk space – whether you have enough disk space for good computer performance and for your personal storage needs

Understanding Disk Performance

You can't do much to alter the physical characteristics of your disk drive or its performance. But you can at least see which processes perform the most disk activity. With this knowledge you can assess whether the disk input/output or disk I/O has become a bottleneck. If so, you can use the same strategies to resolve this as you might with processor and memory contention – run disk-heavy programs at different times, configure them to do less disk I/O, or seek alternative programs.

You could also buy a faster disk drive. Or, move the data files the heavy I/O program uses to a faster USB memory stick. Flash drives are faster than disk because they don't have any moving parts.

The speed hierarchy of device data access, from the fastest to the slowest, is:

To see how much disk activity is occurring and which processes are doing it, go to the Task Manager's Processes tab panel. Click View in the menu bar, then choose Select Columns... from the pop-up menu. You can add the number of disk reads and writes to the panel by checking the boxes for I/O Reads and I/O Writes. To see the number of bytes transferred check the boxes for I/O Read Bytes and I/O Write Bytes. Click OK to close the box and now this data appears for each process on the panel.

Understanding Disk Free Space

To find out how much free space is left on your disk drive(s), go to:

Start → Computer (or My Computer)

If you don't see the details for disk space, select View from the top menu bar of the Computer Panel, and then Details from the drop-down list.

Disks that have less than a few gigabytes of free space are running low. Windows needs space for its temporary and work files, which expand and contract during its operations. Features like virtual memory, the Recycle Bin and System Restore mean Windows always needs some free disk space available.

Also consider whether the total free space you have across all disks on your computer is enough for your own future data storage needs.

Video, audio, and image files consume the most disk space. Office files, textual documents, and spreadsheets consume little disk space. You can estimate your future disk needs by thinking about how many new files you'll store and what they will contain. Compare this to how much free disk space you have left.

If you're low on free disk space, this guide tells how to delete unneeded programs and files to free up space. See these sections: “How to Uninstall Unused Programs,” “How to Erase Unneeded Data Files,” “How to Erase Unneeded Windows Files,” and the appendix on “How to Defragment Your Disk.”

Another solution is to add more storage to your system. You could:

● Install a second internal disk ● Plug in an external USB disk ● Plug in a USB memory stick

The latter two alternatives are quick and easy because you simply plug in the new device through a USB port and you're done. Windows automatically recognizes any USB devices and makes them immediately available. 3.5 How to Understand Network Use

The Task Manager's Networking tab panel graphs networking use. If you select View in the menu bar and then Select Columns... from the drop-down list, you can add the column Bytes Per Interval to see the throughput for your network connection. Bytes/Sent Interval and Bytes/Received Interval break down network data transfers by direction, as data coming into or being sent from your computer.

The Networking tab panel shows how fast your network connection is and whether your computer is fully utilizing it. Use it to tune the load you place on your network interface. For example, if the network connection is being fully utilized you can see if competing processes are using the connection at the same time. Perhaps you could schedule the programs to run at different times or in off-hours when you're not using the computer.

The Networking tab panel also shows if your Internet connection is frozen or broken. You can reinitialize it by right-clicking on the network icon in the systray and selecting Repair from the pop-up menu. Windows will attempt repair the network connection. If this doesn't work you may have to reboot Windows or turn your modem off and on again to reinitialize the connection. Appendices

A.1 Where To Download Free Windows Software

Windows' popularity means you can download free programs for any task.

This guide links to all the free applications it mentions. You can also go to any of these well-known web sites to download free software:

The Free Country Cnet's Download.com Major Geeks Tucows Microsoft's Sysinternals web site has good but geeky utility programs

Download only from reputable web sites and scan anything you download with your anti-virus program before installing it.

Web sites offering “pirated” or illegal software often serve up viruses and malware too. Stealing music, videos, or software is not only illegal, it may expose your computer to harm. A.2 How to Defragment Your Disk

Over time, chunks of disk storage that are used become scattered all over the disk, intermingled with unused portions. Defragmentation consolidates in-use disk storage. This speeds disk access and increases system performance.

“Defraging” is a simple operation that requires little effort on your part (though it may tie up your computer for an hour). Do it sometime when you can launch the operation and then go do something away from the computer for awhile.

By default Windows 7 and Vista automatically defragment your disk weekly. You don't have to do anything.

In XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and NT, the Defrag utility does not run by default. You'll definitely want to run it after you've completed the recommendations from sections in this guide that delete data from your hard disk: 2.7 How to Uninstall Unused Programs 2.8 How to Erase Unneeded Data Files 2.9 How to Erase Unneeded Windows Files

To manually defrag, access all Windows' disk tools by:

Start → My Computer → right-click on the disk you want → Properties → Tools (or Computer)

This illustration shows the Disk Properties' General tab panel on the left, and the Tools tab on the right:

Disk Properties' General tab panel (XP) Disk Properties' Tools tab panel (XP)

The General tab panel on the left shows the size of the disk and how much space is used and free. Note the Disk Cleanup button. This is Windows' built-in disk cleanup tool. It's easy to use – just press the button – but not nearly as thorough as free products like CCleaner described in “How to Erase Unneeded Data Files.”

The Tools tab panel on the right above allows you to check the disk for errors. Click on the Error-checking / Check Now... button. You want to verify the integrity of the disk prior to defrag'ing. Windows responds with this:

The Check Disk panel (XP)

Check both options and click Start. If Windows is currently using the disk, it will ask you if it's ok to automatically run the disk check next time Windows boots. Select Yes and disk check runs next time you start up Windows.

After completing a disk check, you are ready to defragment the disk. Simply click the Defragment Now... button in the Tools tab panel above. Windows responds by presenting the Disk Defragmenter panel below that displays information about all your computer's disks. Highlight the disk you want to defragment, then click the Analyze button in the lower left of the panel. The bar chart illustrates how fragmented the disk space is:

Windows responds with a message box telling whether you need to defragment the disk. If the message says You should defragment this volume, click the Defragment button and Windows will go to work. If Windows does not recommend defragmenting the volume, just click on the Close button and don't bother to defrag. Unlike Disk Checking, you can continue to use the disk and its files while defragmentation runs. A.3 What About Windows ME, 98, 95, and NT ?

If you purchased a consumer computer prior to the introduction of Windows XP in 2001, it probably runs Windows ME, 98SE, 98, or 95. Or perhaps it runs Windows NT.

Can you use the techniques in this guide to tune-up these computers? And will the computer be of use if you do?

Yes, you can tune up these Windows versions using the advice in this guide. Some of the settings panels differ but the techniques still apply. Perhaps the single biggest difference is that the Task Manager does not have all the useful features of the current Task Manager. Download this equivalent free program to view and analyze performance instead.

The big problem with older Windows versions is their vulnerability to malware. Microsoft no longer provides security updates for them. Free anti-malware programs increasingly no longer support them. The anti-malware products that do run on these systems overwhelm their limited CPU and memory resources.

This makes it difficult to secure old Windows computers to connect them to the Internet.

If you don't need an Internet connection these old computers might still be useful. Examples I've seen include a writer who uses an old Windows computer in her second bedroom as a word processor, and a farmer who runs a dedicated application that requires Windows 98 and won't run on newer versions. Neither is Internet-connected.

A Better Alternative: Install Puppy Linux

An alternative to tuning old Windows versions is to install Puppy Linux instead. This Linux version is specifically designed to run on older computers. Since it is immune to malware (like all Linuxes), you can connect to the Internet without worries. This increases performance because the processor doesn't have to support the overhead of Windows' anti-malware programs. (Just turn on Puppy's bundled firewall.)

What can you do with a computer running Puppy Linux? This chart gives an idea:

Area: Tasks:

Office Word processing, spreadsheets, email, web page editing, file editing, view PDF files, calculator, personal information manager Internet Web surfing, web research, email, social networking, instant messaging and chat, file transfer Multimedia Play audio off the web, play an audio CD, convert and mix audio, scan photos, view, edit, and manage photos, view and edit images More Download free software from the web, read Microsoft Office files. You can use USB memory sticks, burn CD's or DVD's, and use wireless Internet connections – as long as you have the supporting hardware.

A better question is: what can't an older computer running Puppy Linux do? This depends on the limitations of your hardware. Systems manufactured prior to 2000 usually can not: ● Perform more than a single task at a time ● Smoothly run web video (like YouTube) ● Store many multimedia files ● Web surfing might be slower, depending on the speed and consistency of your Internet connection and the presence of graphics in the web pages you view ● If you want features based on hardware popularized after 2000, you'll have to add the hardware. Wireless Internet connections and DVD's are examples.

Be sure to add as much memory as possible to any computer you revitalize with Puppy Linux. The section entitled “How to Add Memory” tells how to do this.

Old memory is cheap and Puppy Linux is designed to leverage it to overcome the processor limitations of old computers. Puppy runs entirely from memory if the computer has just 256 megabytes. This eliminates slow disk access and speeds up all operations.

Puppy Linux can turn an old computer in your basement, garage, or attic into something useful. Use these computers for safe web surfing, as an extra machine for the kids, as backup if your primary computer fails, or to perform specific tasks.

The main screen shows what you can do with Puppy Linux on an older computer A.4 Glossary

You can find definitions and explanations of any technical term at Wikipedia.

Backup – a copy of your disk data on some other media (CD, DVD, USB flash drive, etc) that you keep somewhere safe away from the computer

Bottleneck – a shortage of one resource that slows down computer performance

Control Panel – the Windows panel that gives you access to all its tunable settings

CPU – Central Processor Unit – the computer component that executes or runs programs or applications

Defragmentation – making used disk allocations contiguous to speed data access

Disk – A hard disk or disk drive permanently saves programs and data. Most drives today stores gigabytes, or billions of characters of data

Dual-Core Processor – a computer with a dual-core processor has two CPU's

Gigabytes -- abbreviated G or GB –one million bytes or characters of data (officially 1,024,000 bytes)

Gigahertz – abbreviated ghz – one billion times per second. Commonly used for measuring processor speed.

Kilobytes – abbreviated K or KB --one thousand bytes or characters of data (officially 1,024 bytes)

Linux – a competing operating system to Windows that typically requires fewer computer resources and can co- reside with Windows on a computer

Malware - any program that has been installed on your computer without your knowledge or consent. You can not tune Windows until you remove any hidden malware first

Megabytes -- abbreviated M or MB –one million bytes or characters of data (officially 1,024,000 bytes)

Megahertz – abbreviated mhz – one million times per second. Commonly used for measuring processor speed

Memory – stores programs and data while the computer is in use. This information is lost when the computer is shut down. Memory consists of a number of semiconductor chips permanently mounted on a memory stick.

Processor – see CPU

ReadyBoost – a Windows 7 and Vista feature that allows you compensate for insufficient computer memory by adding a USB memory stick (or flash drive), SD card, or CompactFlash.

Registry – storage maintained and secured by Windows that contains vital operational data, such as settings, configuration, licensing data, and the like. Windows can not run without a valid Registry.

Restore Point – a backup of vital Windows operating information you create via the System Protection feature (called System Restore in XP)

Service – a Windows program that is part of the operating system and provides services

Start-up List – the list of programs that start when Windows boots

Task Manager – a Windows component for measuring real-time performance. Access it by CTL + SHIFT + ESC.

Uninstall – aka de-install -- the process of removing a program from a Windows computer