Comments for How can I make my computer run faster?

Comment from Adam on 2009-10-02

2009-10-02T13:46:55Z

Everybody keep`s saying buy more RAM, it make`s your computer faster! Well I wish it was that easy all the time, but guess what? It`s NOT! The MB has to be able to handle more RAM. Some MB only go so high as far as how much RAM it can handle without flashing the BIOS anyway. I`m talking regular Joe off the street`s that doesn`t know anything about upgrade`s. Voltage is VERY important, the CPU is VERY important, FSB (front side bus) goes hand in hand with RAM, and the CPU. What I`m saying is sometime`s RAM isn`t the cure all. Make sure all software, and hardware driver`s are up to date. Keep a good anti-virus going all the time. Just know this, you get what you pay for. If you are gonna buy a cheap computer, just make sure it`s upgradeable in the future. Do your home work about new product`s for your computer. Just don`t believe that just adding RAM will cure your computer slowness. There is more to it then that for sure.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Eric on 2009-08-18

2009-08-18T15:18:21Z

I installed IE8 2 wks ago. It takes about 12 mins. for pc to turn on. Screen stays blank & to check msn mail another 10 mins. When I had IE6 it would take maybe 12-15 mins. for both. When I close the IE & click on Mozilla icon & then hotmail it takes less the 4 mins. How do I make the Mozilla the home page when I power the pc on? I have MS Windows XP 504 MB of RAM 2.80GHZ Gateway.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from John Bishop on 2009-06-27

2009-06-27T11:50:24Z

I have a 1 GB vist Desktop computer, it runs very slow, and crashes on me quite a lot. My computer also makes 2 beeping sounds on start up, I have run a norton check, and it says my ram is low, if i get extra ram will this improve my computer, it is only 10 months old. Regards John....

BIOS beeps mean that your BIOS has detected some kind of hardware fault on start up before Windows has even loaded. I'd absolutely have a technician or someone knowledgeable take a look at the machine.

- Leo
27-Jun-2009

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from vrushabh on 2009-05-15

2009-05-15T10:17:44Z

oh sorry its norton utilities its ery goog but THE BEST THING TO DO IS BUY MMAC MY FRIEND HAS IT HR IS USING IT FROM 2 YEARS AS SOON AS U OPEN UR COUMP JUST CLICK ON THE INTERNET IN ONE SEC IT WILL NOPEN I SURE

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from vrushabh on 2009-05-15

2009-05-15T10:13:45Z

you can download /buortonutilities it will completely remove ur unwanted and stupid dat auotmatically

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from rain on 2009-04-30

2009-05-01T04:56:05Z

why my laptop become slow when i add RAM? now, my RAM is 3Gig but its really slow... why i cant surf internet smoothly,, then what can i do?

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from farish on 2009-04-27

2009-04-27T11:05:48Z

this information is very effective. any way how can i up grade my computer processor. i want know about it. thank you guys

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Jonathan on 2009-04-02

2009-04-03T03:05:42Z

By adding RAM it can make your computer SEEM faster, but overall, all your pc does is take up more resources from the added ram to run unnecessary programs. To purely make your computer run faster, without adding RAM is by just follow the basic steps which you can find at:

How To Speed Up Computer

Adding RAM should only be done if you have so few, like in this article which is 128mb which is prehistoric compared to todays computer...

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from vinny28 on 2009-02-19

2009-02-20T00:37:16Z

It is true that the best way to speed up your computer is too adjust what you already have and not compound the problem by adding software that is only going to slow you down even more by taking up more system resources. There is also another trick to increasing the performance of your pc, you can see the tutorial at Make-my-computer-faster.blogspot.com
Great article thanks for sharing,
vinny28

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from matt on 2009-01-09

2009-01-09T08:06:57Z

Try out pcsurgeon synthesite.com [broken link removed] its was only 9.99 and came with Anti Virus, Spyware and a hard disk defragger. Also came with a tutorial that included tips and tricks to keep your computer fast, healthy and up to date. I was pretty impressed. This is all you really need to clean your computer of any viruses and spyware and keep it protected and running like its brand new.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from J on 2009-01-07

2009-01-07T23:19:05Z

My Slow PC would frustrate me, both performance and security wise. With regards to all of the processes that start once XP or Vista boots I also found a really useful Microsoft tool - AutoRuns - details here: http://www.MySlowPC.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=41

Thanks for the other advice!

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Brooks on 2008-06-03

2008-06-03T13:00:41Z

These are some great tips, I guarantee that if you follow these your computer will be running faster. I saw a site the other day that will show you videos and answers of these things, you should check it out!

http://computerht.com/archives/97

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Leo on 2008-05-10

2008-05-10T17:52:26Z

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Ulises: Yes, in fact that's so common there's a term for it:
"software rot". 6 months seems a little extreme, but
ultimately it depends on how you use your machine and how
often you install or uninstall software. If you do it a lot
then sometimes the best thing is to reformat and reinstall.

I find I do it about every year or two on my primary
machines.

Thanks,

Leo

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFIJeDLCMEe9B/8oqERAs9XAJ99gy236BNQj+ehXpS78uv4skOchACeJL+R
w1XF8yqB8AhCTtiC2kK5l3g=
=qFlj
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ulises G on 2008-05-07

2008-05-08T02:40:54Z

What relly helps your pc work faster is installing the hole operating sistem that may sound rude but I have notice that after 6 month of using my pc It gets slow and I have to format it and there we go againg. It really works, try it.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Marty on 2008-04-02

2008-04-02T13:58:58Z

To speed up a mid-level config PC,

-Ensure the system is free from spyware and malware. These can seriously cripple performance.

-Add RAM. But note that anything more than 3 GB is useless on a 32-bit OS.

-Defragment the hard drives. The fragmentation disease affects every Windows OS, regardless of FAT or NTFS (FAT is worse!) and reduces performance. Especially for lower and mid-end PCs. Combat fragmentation with a good automatic defragmenter...no need to waste time by scheduling regular defrags; yet gain continuous benefit of defragmentation. The hard drive is the performance bottleneck in a PC, so keep it optimized always.

-Update hardware drivers to the latest manufacturer recommended versions. Especially with video cards, these can have a major boost.

-Don't mess with registry. Don't use any of these registry 'tuners' or 'optimizers'. They are usually trouble.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Daniel Palmer on 2008-03-15

2008-03-15T21:04:24Z

I reccomend lots of things. I have got a DELL LATITUDE CPx Laptop with 128MB-500MHZ. This may sound rubbish and it was when i got it second hand. Until i sorted it out. I recomend that you download Auslogics Disk Defragmenter and Auslogics Registry Drfragmenter. www.auslogics.co.uk/downloads. They are free. Regitry Defrag sorts out Windows and makes start ups and prosesses faster. Also clear Internet Explorer Cache each time. Also run disk cleanup every time your logging off, it takes 1-2min.

If this makes my laptop dead fast i think it will make your more advanced and more powerfull computers much faster

Thank You.... Daniel Palmer.

VERY USULL

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Jon on 2008-02-17

2008-02-18T05:41:22Z

ways to speed up computer
1.) defragment disks
2.) disk cleanup
3.) stop programs when startup

Also get Opera, not firefox or internet explorer. It's the fastest and the best. Those are the best way to speed up your computer.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Chad Burris on 2008-02-08

2008-02-09T03:56:27Z

1 gig of ram is good but better to have 2 gigs for serious gaming, also is your video card at least 256mb? 512mb card is best but kind of expensive.upgrading your memory is easy and not to expensive.(easy do it yourself thing)

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from brandon fisher on 2008-02-05

2008-02-05T20:27:59Z

i have just orderd a 2.5ghz intel pentium prossor 400 fbs and socket 478 and i want to rune world of warcraft but it takes the cpu up to 100% and i have tried it on my other computer wich has 2.4ghz with 512 ram and it still manages to run it, is ther anyway i can make it so that i can run my game and make it not stop. ohh and the computer i am trying to play the game has 1gb ram.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from ben on 2008-01-05

2008-01-05T13:06:02Z

You Need To Update Your ram to at least 512mb 128mb is not enough for xp

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Rick on 2007-10-24

2007-10-24T21:07:08Z

I found this software on eBay and it works awesome, The software has organized my drive very efficiently and it actually increased performance by 40%. Its all about the defragmentation with Perfect Disk 8

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180173091677&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=008

its only eight bucks on there and other sellers want 15-40 dollars!

Anyways check it out, it really works!

rick

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Leo A. Notenboom on 2007-07-12

2007-07-13T01:57:22Z

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Carlos: that's not enough information to really go on, but when it comes to
video games, I always look at the capabilities of the video card - that can
have a huge impact on game performance.

Leo

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFGltvuCMEe9B/8oqERAsdFAJ4g+Eo8vqOLBYHR0P4qyctIC1OlvgCcD/Pb
BCq6m30HNbhz/80kJBzi2Dk=
=MTjM
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Leo A. Notenboom on 2007-07-12

2007-07-13T01:55:01Z

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Phil: nothing wrong with putting the maximum amount of RAM into your computer.
How much that is and what RAM cards you need will depend on the specific
machine. http://www.crucial.com has a good wizard that will walk you through
figuring it out.

Yes, I'd expect the move from 512Meg to 2gig to be noticably better, but it
really depends on how you use your computer, and of course I can't know that.

Leo

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFGltthCMEe9B/8oqERAn5fAJsGvCJeaN/9aK3x9HK+x9TtHiD4+gCeNNPU
kx+/0C/dmlEyqGCDQB8L2SU=
=SWh8
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from carlos on 2007-07-12

2007-07-12T22:19:15Z

my pc has a 512MB RAM and the rest i really dont know how to check, but yeah i got a compaq and the hardrive is 114 GB with free space of 106gb, i got a good virus protector and everything that defrags my computer n deletes temporary files and stuff, but even if i do all that video games still kinda lag and videos dont go at full speed like it will stop for a sec and stuff, what can i do to fix this solution?

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from phil on 2007-07-12

2007-07-12T08:51:18Z

G'day Leo,
I have a 200gb hard drive & intel pentium 4 3.2ghz & 512mb ram hp desktop.What i want to know is if i buy 4x 1gb ram sticks & max out my ram capacity will it be bad for my pc,also in the long run.If so ,if i was to install 2gb ram will i see a difference in how fast my computer runs & other things pc's do.Thanx.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Nick Davies on 2007-06-28

2007-06-28T14:46:33Z

If You Go To Start / Run / Type In: msconfig / Then Uncheck The Programmes Which You Do Not Need to Be Running, This Will Improve The Performance Of Your Computer Because Less Programmes Which You Do Not Need To Run Are Running.

Another Great Way Is To Do What Tuan Suggested And Go To The Control Panel -> Performance And Maintenance -> System -> Advanced -> Performance (settings) -> Then Adjust To Best Performance Or Custom And Customise Windows To Make It Run Faster.

=] Thanks

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from dr34m3r on 2007-05-13

2007-05-14T01:00:03Z

Hi all =D .... im gonna help someppl who are facing games performance problems ..

For the ppl who Play Games .. Like WoW .. Its mostly about the VGA card ur using .. nVidia - ATi or whatever it is .. To play ur game with a real cool performance without lagging or freezin .. u need a good RAM and HD with a good free space .. and a good VGA Card ofcourse ..

anyway for Players . Go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Performance (settings) -> Then choose adjust to best performance :D This will help u to make it faster ..
and another way .. when u start the game .. ALT + CTRL + DEL .. go to processes -> Right Click on the game process .. Set priority -> high :D
This will help u too ^_^

and ofcourse Defragment :D

^_^ BYE!

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Alex on 2007-01-17

2007-01-18T05:52:54Z

Yo drew what you should do is go to the srat button then click on run then type in msconfigure and take off some unneccesary stratup programs. You can also get rid of any wireless devices and try not using your USb plugs as much. ALso get a board with the cooling fan. The motherboard chip runs slower when it is hot and the cooler fan cooles the chip down

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from drew on 2007-01-13

2007-01-13T23:34:46Z

Alright I just bought this game called Medieval 2 Toltal War. Its a very good game and all but its soooo laggy and im takling bout just on campaign no internet, my computer holds 160gb and i havent even used half of it no where near. I even have a decent graphics card and the store I bought it from said "Owwww yea, its a great computer for gameing". Not true Im just wonderin if anybody has any solutions for this?

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Mark James on 2006-12-24

2006-12-25T00:19:20Z

I had a similar problem with my computer running poorly, tried some software that done the trick (PCTUNER), this software tunes any windows based machine to its highest potential, so if after running this software its still not fast enough (time for a upgrade). I think the URL is http://www.pctracker.info/pctuner.htm (approx £20)

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Leo Notenboom on 2006-10-24

2006-10-25T04:46:36Z

Required? No. STRONGLY recommended? Yes.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from rustam on 2006-10-24

2006-10-25T04:02:55Z

is it required to update XP frequently?

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from josh on 2006-09-14

2006-09-15T00:24:47Z

To make your computer start up faster you need to press start > run > Msconfig then click on the startup tab and take off the programs that you dont need at startup. you can also find more useful info on the microsoft site.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from yeah on 2006-07-17

2006-07-17T09:33:16Z

Ok i have a few tips to make your computers run faster.. FOR the GAMERS.... First stop downloading porn... im just kidding!... no really first you have to download ad-aware so it can clean your registry... you can get that at download.com for free....next do a disk cleanup... u should know what that is and then a disc defragment they are both windows programms that should be on your computer under accessories.. Hope that helps somewhat....oh yeah the best way to make your computer faster is to buy RAM.. its also the cheapest way...

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from TechieNate on 2006-04-15

2006-04-15T08:38:09Z

My computer is a pentium 4 with ht technology, has geforce 7800 with 256mb I have dual processors running at 3.20 ghz, and also 2046mb of ram, and also i have a windows xp, im woundering, how can i make my computer run faster, on games mainly, when oblivion hits the stores i feel that my computer wont be able to handle it, so i need help

Yes a GeForce 7800 GTX is able to play this.... Dual cores are a little performance drop when it comes to gaming as a single processor is better for games... im sure theres a hotfix for dual-core processors for that game ... google is your answer

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from SocialDecrypter on 2006-03-08

2006-03-09T03:14:00Z

Give GNU/Linux a try ...
www.google.com

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Dazzc on 2006-01-20

2006-01-20T20:01:05Z

Can you beleive it, I have Windows XP, SP2 and a Intel Celeron CPU with 2.95GHz! The stupid machine has only... ...wait for... it... ...a mere 192 mb of RAM, well below the minimum of 250mb as someone said and in the sea compared to the 500mb BARE minimum as someone else said!

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ivan Tadej on 2006-01-10

2006-01-10T23:32:29Z

Hey Byron, I am really curious; do you know what precisely this program you mentioned does/sets, to speed things up ?? Does it need to run all the time, or it just applies the so-called registry tweaks ?? Because you know, in general, such programs only "rely" on the placebo-effect that users are experiencing when using them ...

best regards,
Ivan Tadej, Slovenija, Europe
http://www.tadej-ivan.tk

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Byron on 2006-01-09

2006-01-10T02:11:30Z

No you should buy an 1GB ram that will make your computer run really fast that should help you and to spped things up even beter get a program called optimize xp download it its good.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Donny Daniels on 2006-01-06

2006-01-06T21:21:49Z

when adding memory.. be sure to match clock speeds (pc1200 and pc3200 will function at pc1200 or not at all and cause strange voltage fluctations that can result in data corruption etc etc.) so match your memory sticks. Take the original one out and take it to the store so you have something to compare and a place to start. Of course it also depends on what your mother board can handle... call a technician.. tell him you want to upgrade memory and to make sure it's compatible with what you have installed.

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Ivan Tadej on 2005-12-28

2005-12-28T22:55:10Z

As opposed to what many people may have been led to believe, there are no "magical" tweaks, hidden registry settings etc. (for instance the famous "IoPageLockLimit, the setting for Critical/Delayed "WorkerThreads", "Win32PrioritySeparation", "IRQ8Priority", then "Disable8dot3NameCreation" and "DisableLastAccessUpdate"), that would noticably or yet better at all speed-up your computer. Well, except maybe those low-level settings in a "system.ini" file, but that only applies to 9x-based OSs' times. Infact, it's generally accpted by "geeks" that it's best to leave the system intact (in the default Windows state after the OS installation), rather than applying any of these tweaks.

OK sure, there are few things you can do to speed up things; but don't expect miracles. I would also recommend you to see my home-page, particularly the http://users.volja.net/tayiper/hints.html and http://users.volja.net/tayiper/tweaks.html pages. There are few useful hints there, for instance how to set things on Classic style, then how to turn-off eye-candy in XP, i.e. ballon-tips, tool-tips, fading, smooth-scrolling, menu-animation, shadowing etc.; however, note that these changes do not make a change in actual computer's speed, but they change your perception of its speed.

Then there is a registry setting for a StartMenu delay, I guess it's the one pasted below. But please, someone correct me if I am wrong, since I use Blackbox for Windows as my default OS-shell and not Explorer (so I don't use this tweak); here are the contents of the .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"MenuShowDelay"="0"

As far as making the registry as compact as possible, and registry hives and system files defragmented to minimal number of fragments (contiguous), there are two FREE and "non-setup" programs that do this job perfectly, ehm, actually they work somehow in cooperation one with another. One program is called Ntregopt from Larshederer homepage: http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de, http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/index.htm which optimizes the registry hives, i.e. it recreates each registry hive "from scratch", so therefore you need to run it just before rebooting. And while your are at the Larshederer's site, also check the Erunt program. It's a program used to backup the registry, while I especially like its sub-program Autoback contained in the same .zip archive as Ntregopt and Erunt; for a more detailed description of both programs see the page "events1.html", the 14.3.2005 entry. Erunt and Autoback are command-line programs and both are very handy to backup the registry on/after boots (I do it with a batch file so that there's no interaction at all), i.e. I've put the shortcut to that batch file into %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\ directory so that it backups registry nomather with which account one logs-on.

And I got used to use Ntregopt in cooperation with yet another FREE "non-setup" application called Pagedfrg from Sysinternals site: http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/PageDefrag.html, but this one doesn't optimize the structure of registry hives, it's in fact capable of defragmenting them. Additionally, it also defragments the pagefile and services' logfiles (three files with .evt extension), and also it is run after booting, i.e. just before the "pre-logon" screen after chkdsk finishes checking the disk (of course if it was set to do so), so it is run in a manner, that if I re-structured my registry hives with Ntregopt before rebooting computer, they are defragmented when still being "fresh" on the next boot.

P.S., Anyway, I fully agree with Leo, i.e. that in your particular case, the amount of RAM seems to be the culprit of your system being/performing slow; at least slower than it should taking in consideration the speed of your CPU etc.

best regards,
Ivan Tadej, Slovenija, Europe
http://www.tadej-ivan.tk

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Greg Bulmash on 2005-12-27

2005-12-27T14:31:12Z

While Leo says 256 megs of RAM is the minimum, I'd say that 512 is the BARE minimum to run Windows XP SP2 effectively.

Why is RAM so important?

Short answer... when your computer runs out of available memory-chip RAM, it starts using your hard drive as memory for the overflow. The problem is that your hard drive, even if it's the fastest SCSI speedster in the world, is much, much, much slower than memory-chip RAM. So, if your PC is having to use the hard drive for that overflow, the hard drive creates a memory bottleneck will slow your computer way down.

And something VERY important to note. If you have bought a laptop or a bargain PC, your graphics solution may be using "shared RAM". This is where the video card has no RAM of its own. Instead anywhere from 32-128 megs of your system RAM is dedicated to the video card and can't be used by the CPU.

For example, my VAIO laptop came with 512 megs of RAM, but it dedicated 128 megs to "shared RAM" for the video/display. So, while they could advertise that it had 512 megs of RAM, it was really equal to a PC with 384 megs of RAM, because 128 megs were dedicated to video and could not be used for anything else.

- Greg

]]>

A comment on: How can I make my computer run faster?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.