Improving System Performance

Improving the way your computer performs can be achieved in a variety
of ways, but not always the way you think. You could, for example, add
a larger hard drive, surround-sound speakers, a microphone, or even a
headphone. You can turn your computer into a fax machine. You can get
a bigger monitor, get a flat screen, or even set up dual monitors by adding
a second video card. You can even add a USB hub and connect every device
you own all together. However, none of those things makes your computer
run faster. They just make it look better or make it more pleasurable to work
with. If you want it to run better, you have to work from the inside out.

Adding more RAM is the easiest way to get a quick performance boost.

I want to show you how to increase performance without buying or
installing anything. You can improve performance in just a few minutes by
taking steps to get your computer back in top form.

In this, you’ll learn some of my favorite performance tricks.
Those tricks include deleting unnecessary files and programs, getting rid of
Windows components you don’t use, updating old and problematic drivers,
and scheduling important tasks. Some of the tasks you can schedule include
using Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, and Automatic Updates.

CLEAN UP YOUR DRIVES

I’ll bet you usually remember to clean your house occasionally. You do this
cleaning so that your house doesn’t begin to fall into damage. It’s a necessary
part of life. Unfortunately, you might not remember to take the same care
with your computer. However, it’s just as important. A clean and well organized
computer will run faster, enable you to work faster, and have
additional free hard drive space available when you need it. There are two
things to get rid of: files and applications.

Rid Your Computer of Unnecessary Files

You have tons of files you don’t need; delete them and free up some
hard drive space.

Every time you create a document, copy a picture from your digital
camera to your hard drive, download a music file, open and save an
attachment in an e-mail, create a graphic, import video and create a movie,
or work on a project, you’re saving data and files to your hard drive.

These files accumulate, and if you never delete the files you no longer need,
you’re probably wasting quite a bit of hard drive space. Not only that, but
the computer must sift through all of these files when searching for data.

Unnecessary files and data slow down the computer and take up valuable
space on the hard drive.

Every now and then you should go through these files and delete what
you no longer want. It’s a simple task, but one that takes time. Figure
shows an example of some unnecessary files in the My Documents folder
on my hard disk.

Getting rid of unnecessary files, no matter what they contain, is simple:

1. Click Start | My Computer.

2. Select the disk where data is stored. If there is only one choice, it is
probably C:. If two or more choices are available, try D: or E:.



You almost always have files that you can delete.

3. Open the My Documents folder first. Locate any file you no longer
need, right-click it, and click Delete. Verify that you want to perform
this action by clicking yes when prompted. You can also delete a
selected folder by pressing DEL on your keyboard.

4. Click the Back button and select My Pictures. Locate any file you
no longer need, right-click it, and click Delete. Verify that you want
to perform this action by clicking Yes when prompted.

5. Click the Back button and select My Movies. Locate any file you no
longer need, right-click it, and select Delete. Verify that you want to
perform this action by clicking Yes when prompted.

6. Continue in this manner to clean out My Videos and data in any
folders you’ve created.
In a few days, after you’re positive you don’t need anything you’ve
deleted, empty the Recycle Bin. The files you deleted will be in there, and
thus on your hard drive, until you delete them permanently.

Rid Your Computer of Unnecessary Programs

You have tons of programs you don’t need, and some you don’t even
know you have; remove them for more power and hard drive space.

Okay, getting rid of unnecessary files may have seemed a little obvious,
but I had to mention it because most people never do it. They just collect
and collect and collect until the hard drive is so full that the computer owner
figures the only way out is to purchase a new computer. People collect
stuff besides the data that they create, though; they also collect programs
and applications. Take a look at Figure; there are lots of unnecessary
programs here, as indicated by the Rarely label, a sign that the program is
not needed and can likely be uninstalled.

To see what programs are installed on your computer that you use rarely:

1. Open Control Panel from the Start menu or from the Desktop.

2. Open Add Or Remove Programs.



Even though deleting unnecessary files is a straightforward task, it is one often overlooked.

Perform this task whenever you feel it’s necessary. For some this may be once a month, for others, once a year.


3. In the Add Or Remove Programs window, in the Sort By drop-down
list, choose Frequency Of Use.

4. Take a look at all of the programs that are used “Rarely.” Decide
what you can remove. A good rule of thumb is the one-year rule. If
you haven’t used the program in a year, delete it. To every rule of
thumb there’s an exception, so be sure you don’t kill a program you
rarely use but may need later.

To remove any program in the list, click Change/Remove. Follow the
prompts to remove the program. Once you’ve deleted everything you need
to, use Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter, as detailed later in this chapter,
to help reorganize the items still stored on your hard disk.

Most people store unnecessary applications.