Tips/Tricks PC Performance

[Balti]

I'm starting this thread for better PC performance. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here and I thought we could all share information on how to tweak anything/everything for better PC performance. Please add anything to this thread that you think may be useful...especially the basic info that can be shared to assist members of all computer skill levels.


Here's one to determine your background tasks and what they are. Background tasks can slow down your PC's performance and some of the background tasks can actually be spyware/malware. First, you can ctrl+alt+del and click "Task Manager". This will list all of your processes. To figure out where each of them are from, go to www.processlibrary.com (http://www.processlibrary.com) and type them in the search bar. It is an excellent source.


Got broadband? Test your internet speed at BroadbandReports.com - whole host of test/tweaks to try to improve your download/upload speeds.

[Comet241]

general pc tweaks:
http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

tried defragging? Want better? try this for a free 30 trial:
http://www.download.com/Diskeeper/30...ml?tag=lst-6-3

two tips on that one:
1) Delete obsolete files before defragging, especially large ones.
2) Make sure that your paging file for virtual memory isn't fragged.

tried optimizing your registry? try these two links:

http://www.download.com/Advanced-WindowsCare-Personal/3000-2086_4-10407614.html

http://www.download.com/Abexo-Free-Registry-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-10434887.html?tag=lst-6-1

[Ninja]

I'm not even going to touch this thread.

[Balti]

tried optimizing your registry? try these two links:

http://www.download.com/Advanced-WindowsCare-Personal/3000-2086_4-10407614.html

http://www.download.com/Abexo-Free-Registry-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-10434887.html?tag=lst-6-1


I always heard it was bad to mess with your registry unless you knew what you were doing?

[Biggerguns]

im do for a reformat.. i just royally messed everything up with a program (speedupmypc) that may work well, i just took it a step to far and may have deleted some of the wrong things, oh well, its about that time of year to start fresh (besides music) anyways

[Ninja]

I'm not even going to touch this thread.
For clarification, I opted not to chime in because I'll be here for a day typing stuff up. I guess I should have put a smiley in the first post or something. :p

My suggestions for an optimal PC for gaming? Use it only for gaming. That's the simple answer. Don't use it for any "personal" computing stuff, just games only. If you only have one computer, install your OS as dual boot and make one your gaming OS. It's a pain to have to reboot all the time but this gives you the option to turn everything off that isn't necessary for Windows to run. That means the flashy GUI and all of it's shadowing and fading effects etc. I can go into more details about this but I think most of you get the idea. The other option if you don't want to dual boot is to setup a new hardware profile in Windows. This still requires a reboot but will only use one installation of the OS. What you'll be doing is setting up a hardware profile to only startup the essentials for Windows and your gaming software. I've found that some programs will just ignore the profile and startup anyway. You can always manually shut down the program but it's a pain after awhile. If none of these are options for you there are tons of tweakery out there that can net you some performance gains but most aren't to substantial. I've gotten to the point where I don't even bother because it didn't make that big of a difference anyway. I used to tweak the hell out of my system. Now I just install my OS and run with it.

If you plan on using your computer for both gaming and general use and want performance, keep it maintained, virus and spy ware free, turn off those background programs that eat resources. Do you really need Kodak Easyshare updater, Real Player updater, and Quicktime updater running all the time? Is a race car quicker the lighter you make it? Well all those little helper apps weigh down your PC. Turn off the non essentials and you'll notice a boost especially over long term running since there is more system memory to work with.

I've said it before and I'll stand by it now. I do not believe in registry "fixers". A vast majority don't do crap or at least anything noticeable and in most cases cause problems rather than fix them. If you can maintain good PC habits you'll find that a lot the tweaker and fix up apps are worthless and not needed in the first place.

Be sure to clean out the dust bunnies from time to time and most importantly, don't overlook the simplest performance boost you can do, more system memory and maybe a faster hard drive. Occasionally I will clear Window's page file. Your page file can sometimes get fragmented and can impact performance. I usually edit the registry to force Windows to clear it on shut down, then reboot my system. Now the setting is active. Reboot once again and this time before rebooting Windows will clear the page file creating a fresh new one upon reboot. This has additional security benefits as well. You can also use this in conjunction with a file system defrag but there are certain steps you need to follow going that route. I'll add a write up below.

If you really want to tweak, here are some applications and resources which I've found helpful in the past.

Autoruns from Sysinternals now owned by Microsoft. No explanation needed just get it and be happy. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx
SpinRite by Steve Gibson at Gibson Research Labs. This one has saved a few drives for me and most importantly the DATA on those drives before they died. It also performs drive maintenance and will tell you your drives condition and health state. It's not free but worth every penny. http://www.grc.com
Windows System Information by Gabriel Topala. http://www.gtopala.com/
Tweak Guides. http://www.tweakguides.com/
Black Viper's Windows Services. http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
Tune XP 1.5 from DriverHeaven. http://www.download.com/TuneXP/3000-2086_4-10290928.html

In this space I will append any additional information and mark it with an edit and date of entry.

[Balti]

Ninja -
What is the "Windows page file"? What's it do? Where do we find it? Feel free to delete my post if you edit your post.