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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, January 15, 2006
Here on Long Island, it is snowing again. The editors of this newsletter believe the only good way to remove snow is to pay someone else to do it. If you don’t agree with that philosophy, we urge you to take great care when you go out there to shovel – stay warm, take periodic rests and stretch frequently. In the featured website section of this newsletter, you will see some websites with tips and hints on shoveling snow and staying well.
In this Issue:
This Week's Topic: Computer Slow Downs
Websites of Interest: Martin Luther King Jr.; Shoveling Snow
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Today's Topic: Computer Slow Downs
Question: When I first got this computer, it was so fast. It has slowed down so much. It takes about 5 minutes just to start. Can I fix this or should I buy a new computer?
Answer:
You probably do not need to buy a new computer. Over time, computers get slower for several reasons: files become fragmented, unnecessary programs use up resources, or too many programs automatically open when you turn your computer on.
Fragmented Files
When a file is stored on your hard disk, it's often split into separate fragments. Fragmentation occurs naturally when you use a disk frequently, creating, deleting, and modifying files. At some point, the operating system needs to store parts of a file in noncontiguous clusters. You can't see the fragments, and you can't stop this fragmenting from occurring, but it can slow down the speed at which data is accessed because the disk drive must search through different parts of the disk to put together a single file.
However, you can defrag your system. This is the term used for reorganizing the data on your Hard Disk into a more logical sequence, which means taking all those scattered fragments of files and piecing them back together where they belong. This helps free more hard drive space and makes the accessing of files a speedier process; your Hard Disk will work quicker and more efficiently.
In Windows, the defragmenter is located in your System Tools folder. Click on the Start button, point to Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools. Click on Disk Defragmenter.
More about defrag:
http://stsico.com/html/driveclean7.html
Uninstalling Unnecessary Programs
One of the quickest ways to speed up your computer and free up storage space is to uninstall programs that you do not use anymore.
There are five ways you can uninstall a program:
- Delete the files from your hard drive. This is NOT a good way to uninstall a program. There are literally hundreds of places that a program can keep files, registry entries, and bits and pieces of files and such. By simply deleting the program files from your computer, you will not be able to remove all the extra files and pieces. All these junk files will be left on your computer and eventually slow things down.
- Use the Add/Remove Programs function in the Control Panel. This is a standard Windows removal tool that actually does a pretty good job of removing programs from your hard drive. To access the Add/Remove Programs function, click the Start button, choose Control Panel, choose Add/Remove Programs.
- Use the program's uninstall procedure. Many programs come with their own uninstall program that will quickly remove programs from your computer. Some installers do not put their program on the Add/Remove list, so your next place to look is in the Start menu. Find the group for that program and see if there is an item called Uninstall. If so, pick it and the Uninstaller will run.
If there is no menu item, look in the folder containing the program. There may be an uninstall.exe there. If so, double click it and the Uninstaller will run.
- Reinstall the program. Sometimes the easiest way to uninstall a program is to reinstall it, then remove it using its own uninstall program (see above)
- Use a third-party removal tool. A third party tool (such as Norton Uninstall or Clean Sweep) will be extremely thorough in removing programs. You will be able to uninstall any program on your computer, even if it does not show up in the Add/Remove list or have an uninstall feature built in. Some uninstall programs will detect files called Orphans, which are programs and files to which there is no connection; you’ll then be able to delete them, too.
Often an Uninstaller does not delete everything. If it does not, it will tell you what it has saved. Uninstallers will not delete data files you created with the program, in case you want to keep them to use with a different program (although it is always a good idea to back up all important files before uninstalling the program used to create them). The Uninstaller usually tells you where to look for these files in case you want to delete them.
Additionally, uninstalling programs will not uninstall shared files, which are usually DLL files. Some DLL files are used by many different programs and the Uninstaller may not know if a particular one is used by a different program.
In this case it will ask you whether it should delete the file or not. If you do not know, say No. If no other programs actually use the file it will not hurt anything, but if other programs do use the file, deleting it could make them stop working.
Disk Cleanup
Windows stores files in the Recycle Bin and in temporary directories for easier access. However, Windows saves so many files that eventually the waste can outweigh the ease. You can speed up your computer and free some hard drive space with Disk Cleanup.
From the Start button, select Disk Cleanup from System Tools in the Accessories menu (Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, click Disk Cleanup).
A pop-up window will appear to ask which drive you want to clean. Disk Cleanup will then quickly scan your hard drive to analyze the drive's wasted space. Once it finishes, the Disk Cleanup window will display the amount of wasted space for each file type that can be cleaned out. Check the boxes next to each file type you want to erase and press OK.
It's safe to remove Temporary Internet Files and Temporary Files. You can remove Downloaded Program Files if you have already installed the programs. You may want to peak into the Recycle Bin first to make sure you really want to delete everything in there.
The program will prompt you for deletion confirmation and clean your machine.
Stop Auto Start Programs
The next step in restoring your computer's performance is to stop any unnecessary programs that start automatically.
1. Click the Start button. Point to Programs, and then point to Startup. Everything that you see in there opens when you turn the computer on. If there are any programs listed there that you do not need to open every time you turn your computer on, remove the item from Startup. Note: this will not uninstall the program from your computer. To remove an item, right click on it. In the resulting menu, left click delete. A confirm window will appear, click Yes or OK.
2. Some programs setup to run in the background so that they start quickly when you need them. Some show an icon in the System Tray on the taskbar (by the clock) to let you know that they're running; others are completely hidden. These auto start programs use up valuable resources and, if enough of them are running, will cause a very noticeable decline in speed.
Windows XP comes with the System Configuration Utility called Msconfig, which you can use to manage the startup items.
Click Start, click Run, type Msconfig, and then click OK. This will open the System Configuration Utility window. Click the Startup tab at the top right.
You will see a list of all the programs and processes that are set to run when the computer starts. Every checked item in there opens when you turn your computer on. Some of these are important parts of Windows and must be left alone but some can be turned off. To see which are important are which are not, you can look up each entry at these websites:
http://sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
To turn off an item, click to remove the checkmark to the left of the entry. Click the OK button. You will be prompted to restart the computer. Click the Restart button.
When the computer restarts, a window will display noting the use of the Windows Configuration Utility. Click the Do not show again box to close the window.
3. When a program is open and running, Windows adds it to its process list and makes sure it gets its share of memory and resources. Some processes are unnecessary, starting automatically, hogging system resources and slowing your computer down. Some processes harbor spyware and viruses. When an unnecessary process is closed, the resources that were dedicated to it can be used by the program that you are working with.
To view the currently running processes, right click the taskbar. In the resulting menu, left click Task Manager. This will display the Windows Task Manager window. Click the Processes tab.
You will see a list of all the processes that are running. Some of these are important parts of Windows and must be left alone but some can be turned off. To see which are important and which are not, you can look up each entry at this website:
http://www.processlibrary.com/
If a process can be terminated, click to select it and then click the End Process button.
4. Services are programs that run invisibly in the background. To view a list of Services, click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK. This will open the Services window.
A list of all services will be displayed. Note the Startup Type column; entries with Automatic startup open when you turn on the computer. Some of these are important parts of Windows and must be left alone but some can be disabled or changed to manual startup. To see which are important are which are not, you can look up each entry at these websites:
http://sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
http://www.processlibrary.com/
To change the Startup Type on a service, right click on the entry. In the resulting menu, left click Properties. This will display the Properties window for that service. Click the General tab. Click the down arrow to the right of the Startup type. Select Automatic, Manual or Disabled. Click the OK button.
VERY IMPORTANT!! When you're making these changes, disable or remove only one item at a time, note what you changed and turn the computer off and then back on again. Use the computer for awhile to make sure everything works. In case anything goes wrong because of the changes you made, you will know what caused it and can undo the change you made.
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Websites of Interest:
Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday, January 16th is the observation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Visit our website for links to sites for more information, to listen to his speeches, websites for children and more.
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/mlk.html
The Art of Shoveling Snow
http://www.advancedpt.com/Tips/shovelsnow.htm
All About Snow
Visit this website for the history of snow removal, some memorable snowstorms, and the snowiest cities in the country.
http://nsidc.org/snow/shovel.html
AARP - Shovel Snow Safely
From AARP, tips for staying safe and avoiding injury when shoveling snow.
http://tinyurl.com/6mgrz |
