● 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