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Gone are those times when the companies and the organisations didn't need a hi-tech system to handle them. Owing to the considerable increase in the business sector and thus, an enormous increase in the complexity of the organisational struc ----------------------------------------------------------Permission is granted for the below article to forward,reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website,offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as longas no changes a

Seven Tips To Keep Your Pc Running At Peak Performance.By Dave Fraserhttp://www.pcsandthings.com/(c) Copyright 2004Did you know that very soon after you start using yourcomputer it begins to slow down and loses that responsive, "fresh out of the box" sort of feel.You've just started up your new super-speed, top of the rangecomputer. You start surfing the internet, downloadinga few new programs to try out and then a few weeks lateryou're working away and you notice it justdoesn't seem as fast as it was before.If that's ever happened to you, then there are a few thingsyou should know which I'll be covering in this article thatwill get the pep back into your PC.------- Seven Steps to Sharpen up your PC -------********************************************************Step one: Clean up any Adware and scumware********************************************************Free programs on the internet are not always what theyseem.Often the sting in the tail is, the behind the scenes,installing of Adware or Scumware as it's sometimes known.This usually consists of programs that run in the backgroundand advertise various offerings which can be targeted tomatch your preferences.These programs take up valuable system resources and shouldbe cleaned out.Programs such as Gator (form filler) and Kazza (musicsharing) are well known examples of this but there aremany others.The solution to this, is for you to download one or both ofthese free programs.Adaware 6.0 athttp://www.tucows.com/preview/236049.htmlorSpybot search and Destroy athttp://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=downloadUse them to clean up your system regularly. I personally use them both once a week.**********************************************Step Two: Clean out your start-up files**********************************************Nearly every program you load on your computer wants to betop dog. By that I mean when you install the program it usually sets itself up in your startup list.This means that whenever you start up your computer theprograms installs itself automatically into main memorywhether you are going to use it or not and just takes upvaluable resources that could be better utilised by programsyou are using right away.If you hit the Control-Alt-Delete keys once (if you do it twice you will reboot the computer and lose any unsaved work) you will be able to see all the programs that are running behing the scenes.The more you have running that you are not using, the more memory will be taken up and the slower and less stable the system will be.Things like Anti-Virus programs and "system tray" should beleft running but many others can be removed.To do this in windows 98/ME, hit "Start"-"Run"- and type in"msconfig" and enter,then choose the right hand top tab marked "startup" Uncheckall the programs that you aren't using all the time. Youwill be able to run them normally at any time from yourstart menu so don't worry about that.Most of the programs can be identified by the program namesat the right hand side, any that can't, you can always typeit into google and see what comes up.Occasionally you find programs loaded here that aremalicious programs such as Trojans or Browser hijackers thatyou definitely don't want. To get rid of them search for the filenamein Google and then see if it comes up as a nasty and then get theinfo on how to remove from the anti-virus website.You will notice a definite improvement in start-up speed andgeneral running when these are removed.***********************************************************************Step Three: uninstall any old programs that are no longer used***********************************************************************Windows registry is the section of windows that contains allthe information relating to your system and software.As time goes by it can get extremely bloated and even if youare not using the old programs anymore, the time taken tosearch through registry is increased.Uninstalling the programs rather than just deleting thefiles will ensure that the entries in the registry areremoved and this helps keep the size under control.Another little utility you might find useful is called "EasyCleaner"and it is great for cleaning out all these unwanted files andregistry entries that were somehow left behind.You can also use it to locate temporary files used byvarious programs that just clog up your hard drive and slowthings down.It's a free utility you can download fromhttp://www.docsdownloads.com/easycleaner.htm*******************************************************Step Four: Invest in a good antivirus program *******************************************************Invest in a good antivirus program such as Shield-Antivirus orPanda anti-virus and keep it regularly updated. Having a viruson your system can not only wreak havoc with your system speedbut can lead to more serious problems and data loss.You can check out Shield at:-http://www.pcsandthings.com/shield-antivirus.htm andPanda at:- http://www.pcsandthings.com/panda.htm******************************************************Step Five: Delete or uninstall unwanted fonts******************************************************When Windows loads it installs all available fonts.This not only takes up space but also valuable time.Deleting or uninstalling fonts that you will never use will help streamline things a bit more.To view the installed fonts, select Start, Run, type"fonts", and press Enter. To see what a font looks like,double-click its icon. You can delete a font byright-clicking it and selecting Delete, but it's safer touninstall it by dragging it to another folder so you canalways drag it back if you really need it. You must do this dragging (in either direction) from withinWindows Explorer. Moving or copying a font to or from theC:WindowsFonts folder via DOS commands or some otherutility won't properly install or uninstall it. Some fontsshould stay put, such as Windows system fonts, which havethe extension .fon instead of .ttf. The icon for a systemfont has a red 'A' rather than a gray-blue 'TT'. Systemfonts are usually hidden files, but they're visible in theFonts folder in Explorer. They disappear when you move themelsewhere, though. Some applications require specific fonts,such as Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman, so you'd betterkeep them around. Any other ones you don't use can be moved to another folder.More info on this can be found at:-http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;234749**************************************Step Six: Optimise your system**************************************A few basic pointers for optimising your system.(1) From the desktop right click on the "my computer" iconand select properties. Select "file system" and under thehard disc tab, where it says "for typical role of thiscomputer" select "network server" in the drop down menu asthis speeds up transfers.(2) Under floppy disc make sure the little box is not tickedas this increases boot up time slightly.(3) On Internet Explorer while surfing the net, images arestored on the hard drive in a section called the cache. Thisis useful if you are using a slow dial-up connection as itmeans the most used images don't have to be continuallydownloaded so surfing speeds are increased.If the cache size is too great then Explorer has to checkthrough all the images before it downloads them and this canslow up browsing. The optimum size is a bit, hit or miss,but with ADSL or cable the cache can be set much smaller asthe images download quickly. Also when the cache is too large the files get fragmented (this is covered later) and the hard diskthrashes around trying to piece it all together thus slowing everything down.It's a matter of trial and error but I wouldn't recommendmuch more than 50MB for a slow connection and about 10MB for ADSL or Cable.Adjustment is made by clicking on Internet explorer "tools"and "internet options" then under "temporary internet files"the settings button and use the slider to adjust theamount.(4) A program I find very useful for optimising various parts of yourcomputer is one called "Speed up my PC" With this you canset it automatically to take care of memory usage and canprevent system crashes at awkward times.It's not free this on but it might be worth taking a look at it.You can read more on it here:-http://www.pcsandthings.com/speed_up_my_pc.htm***********************************************************Step Seven: defragment your hard drive regularly***********************************************************De-what, my hard drive? I might hear you say. Sounds a bit severebut it's something that should be done fairly regularly.Your computer works efficiently when the data it takes fromthe hard drive to process in memory is all in one place anddoesn't take very long to fetch.After using your computer for a while, related files getbroken up into fragments and are scattered all over thedisc. This happens in normal use and it can significantlyincrease the time it takes to collect it all up.A bit like you going to another room to fetch your filesfrom a filing cabinet and if they were all together it wouldbe easy to collect them. If on the other hand they were indifferent cabinets all dotted around the room then you getthe idea.The thing to do is run the defragmenter that comes withWindows. Double click "My Computer" and then Right Clickthe icon for drive C: and then click properties. Selectdefragment and follow the instructions.This process can take a long time on a large hard drive withbadly fragmented files, so it may be advisable to set thisrunning at a quiet time computer wise or even overnight.There is a another program I highly recommend for defragmentingwhich is called Diskeeper Lite and is much better than the built-in version that Windows has. It is available as a free download plus some more articles on fragmentation fromhttp://www.executive.com/downloads/menu.aspDefragmenting is best done last after the other steps above as removing files and clutter will leave gaps that can then be put back together for normal use.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Carrying out the above actions will help keep your PC running fasterand more stable and hopefully crashing less causing you less stress and frustration from lost work.So get started now and clean up your PC and make it a habitto do it regularly and keep your system running at peakperformance. And don't forget one of the most cost effective upgrades you cando to your PC at the moment is to add some more Memory (RAM).Check our website for "Memory specials" at:-http://www.pcsandthings.com/ orBuy direct from the manufacturer at:-http://www.pcsandthings.com/crucial.htmThey have a system selector that can help you choose the correct RAM for your PC.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dave Fraser makes it easy for beginners to learn abouttheir computers in less technical terms. For more Freetips and tricks to make your computing experience better,visit http://www.pcsandthings.com and sign up for our FREE newsletter.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article Tags: Hard Drive