How to increase Pc performance, Mr. Nobody asks? Too easy, guys! All you have to do is, whether you just removed totally a unique system from its packaging or have been using the same old 266 MHz Pentium 11 for years, apply any of many tips we are going to set off free in this article & an upcoming one to maximize your machine's potential with increase in its performance at the same time.
How to Increase Pc Performance #1 Swap on a Clean Place
Windows works best when its swap file lives on a fast, uncluttered hard drive. If you want to increase your Pc performance, determine which drive is the speediest and free up enough space on that drive to fit your swap file.
You can determine how grand space your swap file currently takes up by looking at the size of the WIN386.SWP file in the Windows directory. To relocate the swap file, inaugurate up the virtual memory settings in the performance section of your Pc's system properties and specify the unique hard drive.
If you have one hard drive, get a good hard drive partitioning utility, such as Partition Magic 5.0, and put your swap file in an empty partition. If you can dedicate a partition solely to your swap file, you don't have to worry about it becoming fragmented through reading, writing, and erasing other files.
How to Increase Pc Performance #2 Perceiving is Half The Battle
If you're running Windows 98 or Windows Me on your Pc, check out the new tools available in the souped-up Microsoft System Information utility. Available from a pull-down menu within System Info, these tools hold your Pc performance up & running smoothly by putting all the indispensable Windows configuration information under your thumb.
The most important tools found here are the System Configuration Utility, which provides intimate access to the innards of your OS, and the System File Checker, which scans and catalogs the version information of all your important DLLS, INFS, and VxDs. If it detects a new file version, System File Checker will prompt you to update the catalog or restore the faded version from the install CD.
How to Increase Pc Performance #3 Nixing the Task Scheduler
If you download and install the Microsoft Critical Update Notification, it embeds the Task Manager so that it comes up every time you reboot your Pc, whether you turn the Pc off or not.
You can make it stop by uninstalling the Critical Update Notification utility using the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel. Unfortunately, Win Me has integrated Critical Update into its innards, so you can't ever remove it from your shiny new OS.
How to Increase Pc Performance #4 Store Important Files in a frosty, dry Place
To increase Pc performance, it's a must to create a directory on an empty hard drive partition for backups of all your important Pc data, Irreplaceable documents, pictures from your new digital camera, browser bookmarks, and saved games are too important to lose.
Mailboxes are particularly important, and several e-mail apps now include auto-archiving features that automatically serve mailboxes up to a qualified and secure location.
How to Increase Pc Performance #5 Uninstall What You Don't Understand
To increase your Pc performance, Hard drive space is one to behold after as well. Are you familiar with all the software's installed on your system? If you don't recognize any of them, investigate them. Is there any useless "edutainment" software installed by the system manufacturer? Does it have anything to do with the essential operation of your PC?
If it doesn't pass muster, use the Add/Remove Programs wizard to yank it from your directories and Registry and it will improve your Pc's performance by a mile. Launch by uninstalling the contents of your online services folder, which consumes about 40MB of disk space care of setup software from various online services.
How to Increase Pc Performance #6 Use Only ACD See For Image Viewing
Just over 1MB in size, ACD See is the best image viewer we've ever used on Pc. Its thumbnail browser lets you view images without actually opening them, and is customizable ad infinitum.
The utility requires very little memory, supports most image formats, and includes advanced features such as read-ahead cache, slideshow, and auto sizing. But the best part is ACD See's speed – it's much faster than Photoshop, image viewer, or paint. Get ACD See from www.acdsystems.com & comment back how you find your Pc performing.
How to Increase Pc Performance #7 Evict System Hobos
How it helps
You'd be surprised by how many active Pc programs buzz around your system, hiding in your background, eating up precious CPU cycles and memory without permission. Some come pre-installed in your Start Up directory, and automatically load whenever you boot your Pc. Others hitch rides on top of application you install.
For example, the Microsoft Fast Find utility automatically installs when you install Office. It then loads during startup, and sits in the background in order to index all your documents when your PC isn't "busy." Find Fast considerably slows your PC down every time it updates its file index, so it's a good opinion to kill it. In fact, a lot of other subversive background applets should also glean the axe.
How to do it
Hit Ctrl/Alt/Del to bring up the close program dialogue box, which lists everything currently running on your PC. Do you recognize every program?
The applications you voluntarily loaded are easy to spot, but meaningless monikers such as "Osa" and "Vshwin32" design it a little more
How to Increase Pc Performance #8 Remove Memory-Hogging TSRs
How It helps
AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, holdovers from the old DOS days, are batch files that run at startup. There's nothing inherently evil about this, but unfortunately, these files launch Terminate and cease resident apps (TSRs), which load into system memory until summoned.
Chances are that these buggers shouldn't be loading until you need them, so wipe them out of your startup regimen.
How to do it
Do a file search for AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. Open each with notepad. Look for items you can nix, such as "real-mode" DOS drivers and anti-virus scanners.
If you're vexed about wiping out a line entirely, simply add REM to the front of the line in order to disable the instruction.
Experiment to have the best results, and delete your REM instructions if you've disabled an important application.
In general, Windows 95/98 doesn't need powerful in either file to run properly, and you can definitely employ all the memory resources possible.
How to Increase Pc Performance #9 Optimize Volume Controls
How it helps
If your Pc's soundcard mixer controls aren't set correctly, high volume settings will his and distort, while low settings will give you anemic acoustics.
How to do it
Turn your Pc on, and look in the lower-right corner of your Windows Taskbar. If your soundcard is installed properly, you should notice a small speaker icon. Double click on it to bring up your Volume Control mixer.
As you see, there's a slider for every channel – MIDI, Wave Synth, CD Audio, etc. Pull all sliders to three-quarter intensity. Now, fire up your favorite audio CD and turn your external speaker volume all the design up. If you heard crackling and distortion, turn the CD audio slider down until the noise disappears. Now, fire up a WAV file. If you hear distortion, lower the wave volume slider until the offending sound disappears.
Repeat this process with other sound devices as needed. If you find that you need to turn a bunch of sliders down, your master volume control may be too high. Pull back on the master control until your sound is clear. Finally be sure each slider's Mute box is unchecked.
How to Increase Pc Performance #10 Over clock Your CPU
How it helps
By flipping a few motherboard jumpers or adjusting a simple BIOS setting, you can actually increase the clock accelerate of your CPU, effectively turning a 600MHz Pentium 111 into an 800MHz, for example. The process is called over clocking.
It generates a lot of extra heat and can result in fried CPU's, so don't even think about trying it unless you have a strong stomach. Over clocking is also reviled by mighty of the computing industry, and it voids most warranties. Still, thousands upon thousands of people have taken the over clocking leap of faith with no ill effects, so the practice must have some merit, right?
How to do it
A CPU's speed is determined by the speed of the system bus multiplied by an arbitrary number (aptly called a multiplier). For example, a 600 MHz Pentium 111 is the product of a 100 MHz system bus and a 6.0 multiplier. To get to 800 MHz, you'll need to increase the system bus to 133MHz (check out our "Turbo charge" feature on page 14 for more info).
System bus and multiplier settings have traditionally been set through physical jumper switches scattered across your motherboard. In more modern systems, however, the settings are integrated into the system BIOS, which you can enter by hitting either DEL, F1, or F2 during startup. Consult your motherboard manual for the bus settings location. If you don't have a manual, go to the motherboard manufacturer's web site and study for online documentation.
Of course, during any kind of over clocking, you always want to increase hurry by a single increment (known in the industry as a bin) and test for system stability. Severe instability comes in the form of intermittent system lock-ups and graphical glitches. If you suffer any kind of instability, try a different over clocking strategy, such as tweaking your multiplier instead of your bus speed, or return to your original settings and give upon over clocking. Remember: Over clocking can destroy your CPU and voids its warranty and before you try it, always consider cooling strategies.
How to Increase Pc Performance #11 Salvage Fatter
How it helps
The FAT16 file system is an atavistic throwback to the days when hard drive platters were the size of vinyl records and capacities maxed out at 20MB. Ok, maybe FAT16 didn't go back that far, but its sloppy, cluster-wasting ways and 2 GB partition limit definitely make you wonder whether it was designed in the dark ages. It just doesn't make any sense on the multi-gig monsters of today.
Initially introduced in OSR2 and popularized in windows 98, FAT32 makes more efficient use of larger hard drives by using smaller cluster sizes and supporting partitions of up to two terabytes (2048GB).
FAT32 actually increases the size of your hard disk through more efficient use of cluster sizes, and is a particularly critical share of Win98's improved file and memory management capabilities. If you're system is set to FAT16, beef it up to FAT32.
How to do it
Luckily, Win98 and Win ME provide a safe wizard that will absorb your hand as you enter the wonderful world of FAT32. Though the conversion utility works well, it's peaceful a good idea to back up all your important files, since the conversion is a one-way-only process.
If you ever decide to uninstall Win98, an old fashioned FDISK or a third-party utility such as Partition Magic 5.0 remains the only ways to switch the drive back to FAT16. Let it be known that Windows NT 4 doesn't associate itself with FAT32 drives, but Windows 2000 does.
Coming Up next are your remaining super duper tips to increase your PC performance, till then rob care.
