Community Newsletter: Q&A: How do I get my PC back in shape?
- 5/10/07 8:43 PM
spring cleaning your pc
by hotfootrun - 4/27/07 11:11 PM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
this is in response to a member of the c-net community reader who asked the question how she could go about cleaning her pc so that it runs faster. I would suggest making the internet options an icon on her screen or a short cut. this is a good way to clean up alot of cookies , temp. files , and form data. This helps alot of the time and then there are those occasions when you need to clean your hard drive which is what i think she meant to say when she metioned having 200mb of memory,not memory but your hard drive capacity. lats but not least an occasional defrag to help put things in there proper place or free up space.There are also programs that can do some of that for you but the other stuff maybe manual meaning youl have to do it yourself.get rid of programs you no longer have a use for as well,smoe programs have viruses or trojan horses attached to them or just outdated and not compatible.Bottom line if you dont use it be done with then. Some of the suff that i just mentioned could be helpful in your efforts keep your pc running optimal. any further and none of that stuff works just buy a new pc hopfully this helped a little
microsoft compatibility software
by paultaut - 4/27/07 11:22 PM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Windows support has a piece of software which can be downloaded to your current computer which checks it out for Vista compatibility.
So run this puppy before purchasing that new Vista pre-loaded computer to see if you are willing to give up X,Y,Z......etc.
I believe I saw the correct address in ComputerShopper but don't remember it.
Your Clean-up
by cookie7746 - 4/27/07 11:23 PM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Sandy,Hi,.... use a program called CCleaner (it is for FREE, and very easy to use, just TYPE it into your Home-page's 'search-bar'..to find it in the List)....to clean out All the 'junk'..out of your computer.
Use the "Run Cleaner" option, 1st.....then, the "Issues" option.
It (the "Issues" option) will fix everything, for you.
You Just may have to 'run' it a couple of times...until no more 'issues' apear..( same with the "Cleaner" option).
Ok... for the amount of 'cookies' we all tend to get..may I suggest, that you do this?
Go to Control Panel, find INTERNER OPTIONS icon.Right-Click (with Mouse)on it....you will see an 'option window' appear (will say..OPEN/CREATE SHORT-CUT)......take the 'short-cut' option...(this will place ICON, on your DESK-TOP..and, be easier to use, from there, a real short-cut).
Ok, when that is done, CLOSE Control Panel right down...
To go back your DESK-TOP.
Ok, now, OPEN the Internet Options icon (on your Desktop).
Go the PRIVACY page/tab.
Open it, and then SLECT the ADVANCED button.
This will take you...to next step..which is the ADVANCED PRIVAY settings.
Select/TICK...."Over-ride automatic cookie handling".....
Then down below, TICK the "ALWAYS ALLOW SESSIONS COOKIES".......Click OK...to CLOSE.
Now, see the ADVANCE tab, TopRight Corner... (still in Internet Options)?
CLick this....... to bring up page up.
Scroll DOWN....List...UNTIL you find "Empty Temporary Internet Files when Browser is closed".
Tick it.
You, now, are ready, to use Internet Options.....to clean your computer..of 'cookies'.
This is 'HOW" I do mine.
Open Internet Options.....on the GENERAL page, half-way down...you see buton "SETTINGS"....click, on it....( will take you to next step).......click on "VIEW FILES".....this will make "TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES" page appear.
Select the "EDIT" option (TOP LEFT, of PAGE)......this will cause a 'drop-down window' to appear......select "SELECT ALL" (fom this window)....this will 'highlight' everything....in TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES page.
To the LEFT,.....in the COLUMN, there.......you should see...FOLDERS TASKS..(with options.....Copy the selected items/DELETE the selected items.
DELETE one, naturally.
You will get 'warning window'...to confirm the DELETE.....click OK.
Wait for computer, to DELETE, then...close.
You are done, you think !
Not quite.
Ok now, is the 'tricky part'.
In having shown you 'how' I DELETE, you have to develope the same 'habit' as I have..and, that is to DELETE the 'cookies' (as just shown) EVERY time you USE/LEAVE the Internet.
Doing it this way...will most CERTAINLY keep your COMPUTER .......clean/clear...of ALL 'cookie clutter'.
Hope this is exactly what you are looking for, to help you out?
Spring cleaning
by frankdrennan - 4/27/07 11:33 PM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I assume from your email that you mean that you have a 200MB hard drive - this is the device where all your data and programs are stored. This being so, one thing to check is how much free space you have on the drive. Right click the Start button, select Explore and navigate to My Computer (you can also get here by clicking on the My Computer icon in the start menu or from the same icon on your desktop). Assuming you have a simple drive setup, you should have a "C:\" listed. When you click on this, Windows should show you the amount of available and free space. If not you can right click C:\ and select Properties from the list.
If your PC is very slow it may be that there is little free space (although a 200MB drive gives a lot of storage capacity and if you are an occasional PC user I'd be surprised if you've filled it up). Once you get to this stage let me know the results and I'll take you through the next steps.
Other potential causes of slow performance can be operating system corruption problems, and various types of virus / malware / etc.
Please give me a brief explanation of what you use the PC for and the type of software you have loaded.
As general advise to avoid problems with cluttering up your PC, my advise is to only load applications that you really will need and use. Avoid installing software on a whim. Do install a security suite (anti-cirus software, firewall, anti-spam etc) - this is an absolute MUST DO. There are some reasonable free suites available on the web - but don't be afraid to pay for something - there is plenty of advise on the web recommending such software, and some of it is even impartial! Once you've got everything set up, make sure to run a virus/malware check on your PC regularly. Lastly, if you like your data and want some peace of mind BACK UP your data regularly. None of this is hard to do and with application and determination anybody can do it. If it's important enough you will figure it out.
Springcleaning ytour PC
by Trevor L - 4/28/07 12:46 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A quick fix to consider is to reduce the number of fonts loaded on your hard disk. Just load the essential fonts and you should see an improvement. If you need a specific font in the future just load it then.
Another solution would be to jack up the memory in your PC to a reasonable level. XP is rather hungry on memory. Moving to 512MB should make you think your have a turbo attached to your PC. Naturally defraging the HD is something you should do regularly.
Hope this help
Spring cleaning for slow Dell w/XP
by ckperin - 4/28/07 12:57 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Sandy,
I am assuming you have already scanned for adware, spyware, viruses, Trojans, etc. I am pretty close to being a novice myself when it comes to technical lingo. The best and simplest advice I can give you is to invest in a goood registry cleaner. I use RegistryFix, but there are many on the market and CNet researches and rates them so you can pick and choose which one you want. The prices vary from company to company. With a registry cleaner all one has to do is scan the computer, you will be amazed at the junk that is on your computer, then click "repair". You may have to do this 2-3 times to get all errors taken care of. Believe me, it is a worthwhile investment. Fast computing to you Sandy!
~Cheryl
200mb!?
by augustusgloo - 4/28/07 1:03 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
No wonder it gets clogged up! My main advice is: get a better HD. They're about £40 for at least 200gb. Otherwise: uninstall and delete anything and everything that is not important and reinstall programs as and when you need to use them.
XP and Vista more of the same BS
by rgirwin - 4/28/07 1:05 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The idea of moving to XP never convinced me and I stayed with W2000. The main reason (price apart) was the very annoying feature of being a Hardware dependent licensing system.
You change almost anything in the HW (not to mention a new PC) and your wonderful XP will refuse to boot.
So you may have to buy it again! That is nonsense and a clear abuse from MS.
Cleaning up and speeding up your PC
by taoist - 4/28/07 1:10 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Sandy,
As a longtime PC geek I may be biased on this one, but personally I find computer cleaning to be MUCH easier than house cleaning! A good way to wade into the water slowly is by starting with programs that do some cleaning for you.
Windows has something called Disk Cleaner built in; you can get there by clicking Accessories on the All Programs menu, then selecting the System Tools folder. Within Disk Cleanup is a tab labeled More Options, which gives you a few more useful tools. By clicking the "Clean up..." button in Windows Components, you can remove things built in to Windows that you don't use -- getting rid of MSN Explorer alone frees up 20 Megabytes of your hard drive!
Next click the button in Installed Programs. Scroll through this list, and see if there's a few things on there you haven't used in a long time...possibly even since buying the computer! PC vendors like Dell tend to pre-load their machines with programs they hope users will find useful, but often it's just deadweight. (Sometimes these programs are limited versions, containing the vendor's name.) A word of caution: don't rely on what Windows tells you here regarding how often a program is used, or when it was last used. I find this information to be wrong far more often than it's right!
There are also freeware/shareware programs that can help you get and keep your computer clean -- CCleaner is my favorite. You can download it from CNET, in fact, at http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10669303.html
It probably won't free up a TON of space on your hard drive, but by running it once or twice a month, you will at least be keeping some of that free space. You may also consider getting a free registry cleaner, like TweakNow RegCleaner Standard. This doesn't require any knowledge of the registry, and it always prompts you to back up your registry (which you should ALWAYS do!) before making any changes.
You can get it at http://www.download.com/TweakNow-RegCleaner-Standard/3000-2094_4-10628251.html
Finally, if you have a few bucks to spare, you should DEFINITELY increase the memory of your computer. RAM is the cheapest way to speed things up, and it's also the easiest physical upgrade that can be performed inside a computer. From your comment, I'm guessing your Dell has 256 Megabytes right now, which is truly the bare minimum for XP. If it's not proprietary (meaning you can ONLY buy more RAM directly from Dell), you will be able to shop around online for the best deal.
After reading CNET's "Everything you need to know about RAM" at http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3038_7-5020358-1.html a good place to head to is http://www.crucial.com -- the site can scan your PC and let you know exactly which type of memory you need. They also carry every kind of RAM imaginable (except the aforementioned proprietary stuff), so if you don't want to bother hunting around the Web you can buy from them right away. I'm betting you could double your memory for around 30 bucks, or triple it (to 768 MB) for around $50.
Lets get busy
by jc1234 - 4/28/07 1:17 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I think it is a good time to clean, you should do it at least half a year, like a dentist apporiment, now first thing you might wont to do is to pyshical clean it, trying get some some compressed air from ebay or your local pc shop. Then open the case and squirt short blast of air out of your computer, and to make it a less of a chore put some music in the background on. now you inside pf pc is almost dust free, i recomned these day of age to add 512 mb memory. you can look at your ornignal ram card and mark down the what it says on the label to take it to your local pc shop or download a utitly to find out, usally kingston has this on its website, but it is recommned and will make your pc go faster.
Now to go deep inside to clean that hard drive, now if you have a recovery disk and all your extra programs on disk, you can back up your data, then give you pc a fresh install so it goes back like it was when you brought it, then you re install everything, this i like to think is the best option as it lets the start all over again but can be consuming or somtimes quick and boring installing software, but thats why we have music on.
If you dont have a recovery disk or dont wont to do that, you can then anti virus,anti spyware and adware checks. once picked up delate it. next run ccleaner ( a cleaner that cleans all crap basicall). and make sure everything is ticked, also go thought your programs and removed any you dont need. after the crap and programs have gone,the run the reg cleaner in ccleaner tick everything execpt unused exetions. along with spyware and anti virus,right click the my computer- prooptries-system resote, then turn it off, that should also clean more space.Next after all the programs have done, then go thought your files and try to clean them up, so everything is nice and tidy. after that the computer should be clean. clean turn system resotre back on.
both now should be clean and you should run Defeg, important , as all that cleaning left your hard drive with spaces holes.
the softwaere you should have are or recomned
A fire and anti virus -( paid recomnded bullguard, there alos offter back up, -free avg for antivirus and firwall ty cnet download for a free one.
Spyware removal- try spy bot
adware removal-Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal
Crap removal _ ccleaner
good measure- windows defender
Have fun and done see it as a chore, everynow and then run these programs
spring cleaning
by dhancox.922 - 4/28/07 1:33 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
hello,
i'm not a whizz kid but it sounds like you need a registry or spyware problem. try avg, very good and not expensive.
regards, dave
vista's compatibility
by CVframEr - 4/28/07 1:34 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
i got vista superbowl sunday with a new laptop. as excited as i was i went to hook-up my olympus digital camera, my bluetooth dongle, my webcam, my microphone.. all of these were incompatible or not able to be used as they were with xp, after some harrassment, to both M$ and to broadcom(bluetooth maker) and a month later finally they got it together... all but my GE easycam (webcam) are sweet.. even after formatting and reinstalling they load their drivers and work like they should. Vista is a new OS(relatively) and has some kinks to work out, before switching back, get on somepeoples backs about making your(whatever) compatible, and as anybody else whose trying to sell a product and maintain a customerbase, they will conform and you'll be very pleased with vista (IMHO, and i'm nobody)
Cleaning up your PC
by llah_nahtanoj - 4/28/07 1:56 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Well, first things first, what did you mean when you meant "clean up", i.e. physically cleaning the hardware, or cleaning up the software i.e. hard disk and data.
Firstly Sandy, I would try to defragment your system. This is a simple tool that works wonders for giving your system a boost if it has been left for a long time. Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter.
Also, cleaning up all duplicate files may help to speed up your hard disk if it is near capacity. Getting rid of any unused programs will also free up the system. You can do this in the control panel. You can also reduce the amount of programs that load on startup. To have a look at what programs are set up to load on start up, go to Start>Programs>Start Up. If there are any programs there that you do not feel need necessarily opening when starting the PC, delete them from the list.
If none of the above makes that much of a difference, then your problem most probably lies with a hardware issue. As your PC apparently still functions, nothing is faulty; but it could be that dust and grot have clogged up the innards. This would have caused the system to overheat, as dust is an insulator. And heat makes the system unstable and slow.
To see if this is the case, first open up your case. Dell's are known for being quite easy to open as they usually have a latch at the back, and the side panel just falls off. Once you have removed the side panel, if you can see copious amounts of dust, or a layer of it over the motherboard and other components then you have most likely found your problem.
Before you do anything else, make sure to get rid of your static electricity, by touching a tap or something.
There are many ways to get rid of dust, the easiest of which is with air. But may I suggest that you take your PC outside before you get rid of any dust, as it is likely that it will just get back into the system if you do it indoors.
If you have any cans of compressed air, or can readily get some, cheap hardware stores will have them, then this is the easiest way. Just give the innards a good spraying and watch the dust fly. Make sure to get the power supply really well (The big box at the top left of the case) as this will suck up a lot of dust, and gets really hot. You can also use a vacuum cleaner, but just be a bit more careful not to damage any of the circuitry. You can also wipe the components with a rung-out lint free cloth, like the ones you use for cleaning glasses.
You don't have to stop there, it depends how competent you think you are and how much you trust yourself. You can then remove the fans, if there are any and give the blades a good cleaning. Cleaning the CPU fan may also be on the cards, but do not try this if you are not comfortable to do so, as this will mean removing the fan, and having to reapply some thermal compound, and then reattaching the fan - not ideal for a beginner. However. if you want to give it a go, I assume that you are using a P4 if it is two years old, then search for an article in Google explaining how to remove the heat sink and fan for your processor type, clean it, and how to reattach it.
However, it may just be that an upgrade is in order, 200MB of RAM is pretty small nowadays. I would suggest at least doubling this to 512,or even 1GB. This can be done for relatively little cost of £30.
Good luck, and hope that this helps you out.
my roumanie
by nartip - 4/28/07 2:54 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
not sprache english!?!
kendala di bahasa
by du_q - 4/28/07 3:12 AM In reply to: How do I get my PC back in shape? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
sebenarnya saya sangat tertarik sekali, cuma kendala di bahasa semoga bisa di maklumi, kira - kira di mungkinkan tidak untuk kedepannya menggunakan beberapa bahasa, biar lebih mudah untuk di mengerti seperti saya yang di indonesia
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