Computer Tune Up



Tune Up Your Computer
Before the Smelly Stuff Hits the Fan

By David Taylor

The logo above is from the site http://www.majorgeeks.com, which provides one-stop shopping for a variety of freeware utilities for your computer. You'll also find a help forum there for when the smelly stuff hits the fan. And as any online student or teacher knows, it is only a matter of time before that unfortunate event happens.

Which brings us to another point: In the beginning of an online course, some students will usually experience computer and connection issues.

Welcome to online education, which requires more computer resources and more care than normal web surfing does. Updating and revitalzing your equipment may well be an important outcome for many in this course.

As a start, please ensure that you can perform the maintenance and tune-up steps on the page below. As a home user, you must learn to be your own tech support. Here are some of the things I've learned along the way--the hard, smelly way:

* Set your web browser's cache (temporary files) to empty each time you close the browser.
In Internet Explorer, do this by going to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced tab. Scroll down until you see the option "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder" and select it. Click OK.
In Firefox, clear your cache by going to Tools -> Options -> Advanced panel -> Network tab -> Clear Now. Click OK.

In Chrome, auto clear your cache by going to Tools (wrench icon) -> Settings -> Under the Hood -> Content Settings -> "Clear cookies and other site and plug-in data when I close my browser." ->Click OK.

* Delete any "freeware" that came with your machine unless you are sure you will use it. Especially delete AOL, McAfee and Norton. On Windows machines, the uninstall program function can be found at Control Panel--> Add or Remove Programs. The AOL, McAfee and Norton programs (with approval of Microsoft!) often resist deletion. If one or both programs are in use, they can set up conflicting firewalls with your system's firewall, slow you down and result in repeated dropped connections. The best way to stay safe on the web is not to open anything from anyone you don't know and not to click on any screen that says "your computer has a problem, click here to fix it." 

Especially get rid of "free" browser toolbars from Google, Yahoo! Chrome, and the others. These function as spybots that collect data on your web usage and provide significant obstacles to safe, fast web usage.

To delete programs that resist deletion, you can use a PC Decrapifier--a program that lists programs on your computer that can be deleted with a few clicks: http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/

* Perform the following weekly maintenance tasks without fail (before your machine does):

1.  Empty Recycle Bin.

2.  Go to Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Free up space on your hard disk.

WARNING: If you have not performed this function in a while or never at all, be prepared

to wait. Your hard drive could be so clogged up that it takes the tool, literally, hours to collect all of the trash. I've worked on machines so clogged with junk files that the tool had to run overnight before collecting it all. When you click to delete the trash, it could take also take hours for your machine to move the junk.

3.  Go to Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Rearrange items on your hard disk to make programs run faster. This is known as defragmenting. Do it, even if the analyzer says you don't need to. Windows Vista and Windows 7 offer automatic defragging whenever your system is in an idle state, keeping your hard drive optimized at all times. There is also a freeware tool that does the same thing for Windows 7, Vista, and XP: IObit Smart Defrag 2.8.0.1211.

4.  Check the list of installed programs at Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs. Delete any program that you or your children added or tried out during the week that you no longer need/want. 

Also Weekly:

* Inspect your startup processes. If it seems like your computer is taking too long to start up, try this: After the initializing is finished, right click on bottom tray/taskbar and select "Task Manager" then select the "Applications" tab. A window will appear that shows every application your computer started when powered on.

Check especially for programs that connect automatically to the web. RealPlayer and Adobe Reader, for example. If you haven't disabled them, Real Player and Adobe Reader will attempt to connect and maintain background connections to their web sites so that you can get "news" and "updates." It's great to have these free programs on your system, but you don't need to be constantly connected to their sites, wasting your bandwidth and slowing you down. Your goal on startup is to launch only the minimum programs you need.

To stop unwanted applications from starting up and running in the background:

Windows XP:
1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type in "msconfig" (without quotes)
4. Select Startup tab
5. Uncheck the box of any application that you don't need on start up. Look especially for sites of applications like Adobe, Nero, Logitech, iTunes, Real Player ("realsched") and so on. Not having these programs launch on start up does not affect their performance in any way, but shutting them down will improve your computer's performance.
6. Click OK.

Windows Vista & Windows 7:
1. Click Start button
2. Type in "run" (without quote marks)
3. Type in "msconfig" (without quote marks)
4. Follow steps 4-6 above.

There are freeware programs that also do this, but why add another application if you don't have to?

* Run CHKDSK.  Windows comes with a built-in application that checks your internal hard drive for sector errors and repairs them when it can. It is a good idea to run Chkdsk every few months or anytime your hard drive seems to slow down. Here is how to run Chkdsk on an XP system. Here is how to do it for Windows Vista & 7.

* Keep your registry free of unused or unwanted entries.  You can find excellent registry cleanup programs at: http://www.majorgeeks.com. But my favorite general-purpose clean-up tool is Piraform's free CCleaner ("C" is usually the letter assigned to your hard drive). CCleaner is one of the tools that I run daily on the computers I maintain. In addition to the registry cleaner, the "Cleaner" tool clears out temporary files from all applications, including web browsers, on your computer.

* Don't just defrag your hard drive and registry--consolidate and optimize! There are a number of free, effective and trusted maintenance tools available today. I highly recommend downloading the suite of free tools available from Auslogics: On the landing page, click on "Products" at the top navbar and pull down to Freebies. Download and install the Auslogics free defragmenter, registry cleaner, and registry defragmenter. IOBit also has a suite of excellent free tools: Smart Defrag 2 and Advanced System Care 6 Free. I invested in the Pro version after using the free version for a while and have been quite satisfied with the results.

* Add memory. If your computer has only 516K, 1GB or 2 GB of RAM, add memory yourself. More than any one thing you can do, adding RAM will improve your computer's speed and performance. The tools at Crucial Memory and 4All Memory.com and similar sites will analyze your RAM slots, recommend which memory chip to buy, and show you how to insert it. If you can screw in a lightbulb, you can add a memory chip to your machine. Memory is dirt cheap these days, and there is rarely an excuse not to fill your slots to the max so you can get the most out of your computer.

* Get an External Hard Drive. You cannot expect your computer's internal hard drive to serve as a storage closet for all of the digital files you create during your computer's lifetime. After even a year of service, a hard drive can lose significant performance if you use it for main storage of data files.

Like RAM, external hard drives are dirt cheap these days. Best practice requires an external hard drive to store digital assets (photos, music, video clips) and other large files you create. Try to use your computer's internal hard drive only for your software and the current project you're working on. After the project is finished, move it to your external hard drive and delete it off your machine.

Keep your internal hard drive stripped down (no data, only software), clean and defragmented. And never completely fill an external hard drive: three-quarters capacity should be the limit and keep it defragmented as well.

Surf safe. Surf fast.