These are hints
and tips for Windows XP. I accept no responsibilty
for things going wrong if you choose to use the
following information, though it has to be said,
I do this stuff all the time and it works for
me.
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Set your page file
to a static value.
This way the page
file (virtual memory, virtual ram call it what
you will) will not be resized on bootup and this
will decrease system boot time.
Set this to 900.
If you have two seperate physical drives on your
pute, create a second page file on drive D the
same size as C, in this case 850. Improves performance
so I hear.
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Free Stuff
The software I'm
going to be talking about is free, though upgrades
can be purchased, and since I use these programs
all the time, I would definately recommend that
you upgrade!
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Freeing up disk
space
When you surf or
use or install applications, temporary files are
created to speed them up, and sometimes the files
are left behind after a bad install or a system
crash. CCleaner does an excellent job of clearing
up and deleting these files, and also fixes errors
left behind in the registery (the operating systems
index of what files are where, and what values,
or parameters they need in order to run) and again,
help speed up your machine. Get it here:
Another way to
save disk space is by compressing files, otherwise
known as archiving, This means that more than
several files can be merged into one file that
usually saves on average one third of disk space.If
you compress a load of stuff, make sure you do
a massive defrag afterwards!
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Defragging
Defragging can
increase disk access speeds by about 20%, until
the next time they are written to. The basic windows
defragger doesn't do a deep job like Ultimate
Defrag. I recommend you click this link and go
get it. The first time you run it, just like normal
defrag, it will take an age, maybe up to 5 hours,
especially if you haven't defragged for a while,
or worse NEVER!! (noooOO!?). Set the settings
to ....
I usually do my
defragging when I go off the machine for a bit.
I recommend you do one when the machine isn't
busy. Take it off the net (yes I;m talking about
you, baby! lol) and shut all your programs, though
if I'm honest, I defrag D when C is busy, and
C when I've got web pages and applications open,
but not running anything too heavy.
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Freeing up resources
MsConfig
We need to acceess
MsConfig, so press Start >> Run >>
and enter Msconfig. Now press the Start tab and
...
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How to prolong
the battery life on your laptop
1. Turn the sound
off
2. Dim the brightness
on the screen
3. Don't run applications
that require a lot of resources and use the graphics
card a lot.
4. On Start >>
Settings > Control Panel >> Power Options
set the hard disks to go off every 20 mins (i've
got this set to 45 on the desktop), and set system
standby to 20 mins, or set the options to have
the screen go off instead of closing down when
you close the lid.
5. Set the system
power to its lowest consumption. Mine has 6 settings,
ranging from Display to Super Performance. The
fan comes on less on lower performance, so you
know it's not getting as hot as it does on full
blat, and from this you can deduce that it's not
drawing as much power.
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Let me know if
you find this stuff useful, and if you want more.
lol
-Oo-
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