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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Billl Gates" data-source="post: 4918399" data-attributes="member: 97732">Use Windows' Task Scheduler to automate routine maintenance activities. Reinstall. Over time, despite your very best efforts, Windows can become so top-heavy and cluttered with orphaned files, abandoned applications, and unnecessary processes that it's best to just start over from scratch. Power users, especially those with lots of programs and a large amount of file system activity, are especially prone to bogging down the OS. Though reinstalling the OS is an extreme step, and should be a last resort, you will probably see a significant improvement in performance with a clean Windows installation. Be prepared to back up all your data, reinstall all programs, and devote time to setting up again. See "What To Do When . . . You Need To Reinstall Your OS" on page 43 in this issue for in-depth step-by-step instructions. File System. Organize and maintain your files to keep your PC running smoothly. Here are some tips for the specific areas. Make room. A full hard drive will bog down your system on all fronts. For one, as the drive fills up, Windows has to search more and more data to fulfill each request. More importantly, though, a full disk hinders the OS' ability to move files around temporarily and to manage virtual memory. First, empty the Recycle bin. You can easily lose hundreds of megabytes to files just sitting around waiting to be fully deleted. Then, run Microsoft's Disk Cleanup utility. From the Start menu, you will need to go to Programs, Accessories, and System Tools. Open Disk Cleanup, select the drive, and click OK. The utility will analyze the system and offer suggestions. Check each box and click OK. Next, uninstall unused applications. From Windows' Control Panel, select Add/ Remove Programs. Remove any programs you don't use, especially applications preinstalled by the manufacturer. Finally, archive infrequently used data to removable storage. Remove temporary files. Disk Cleanup doesn't get rid of everything. Free up even more space by manually searching for and deleting temporary files. Most applications use temporary files to store session-specific information, back up active files, and (in theory) delete them when you close the program. But sometimes, for a variety of reasons, temporary files aren't deleted. So they sit, taking up valuable disk space, and not doing anything remotely useful. Open Windows' Search tool (called Find in Win98) from the Start menu. Find all files beginning with a tilde (~) (search for "~*.*") and all files with a .TMP file extension (search for "*.tmp"). Remove any that aren't immediately associated with an open file or application. Defragment. A full hard drive isn't your only potential problem. Even with plenty of free space on a drive, the file system can become so fragmented that Windows can't efficiently access and store data. The OS stores information on a hard drive in sectors. When there aren't enough contiguous sectors available, Windows stores parts of files in different places on the disk and then keeps track of them all in a file allocation table. Removing files and applications further scatters sectors on the disk. Thus, over time, fragmentation occurs as more and more files are split up and stored in more and more places. And, because the system has to search more places to find files and work harder to put them together, fragmentation is a major drag on system performance. Run Windows Disk Defragmenter tool to rearrange files in the most optimal way. From the Start menu, open Programs, Accessories, and then System Tools. Open the Disk Defragmenter utility. In WinXP, let the utility analyze each drive to assess its level of fragmentation and determine whether it's worth defragging. <a href="http://www.smartcomputing.com/images/smartcomputing/fullsize/00820111.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.smartcomputing.com/images/smartcomputing/fullsize/00820111.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> When your system slows down, check Task Manager for closed-down applications that haven't relinquished their hold on system resources. Scan for viruses. Viruses, worms, and Trojan Horses can all create serious system slowdowns. If you're already running anti-virus software, make sure the virus definitions are up-to-date (these are normally downloaded from the program's manufacturer, on a subscription basis) and perform a complete system scan. If you don't have an antivirus package, buy one. Install the software, update it, and then run a complete scan. In either case, schedule regular (at least weekly) scans and definition updates. Perform regular maintenance. Don't make Disk Cleanup, temporary file removal, Disk Defragmenter, and antivirus scanning one-time activities. Without proper maintenance, system speed will continue to degrade needlessly. Schedule these activities using built-in tools (as with most antivirus programs) or using Windows' Task Scheduler. From the Start menu, navigate to Programs, Accessories, and System Tools. Open Scheduled Tasks. Double-click Add Scheduled Task to launch the Scheduled Task Wizard. Choose an application you want to run (Disk Cleaner, for example), set the schedule, and enter the login information of a user with permissions to run the program. Applications. Here are some software usage tips that you can use to boost your system's performance. Uninstall correctly. When removing an application, use Windows' Add/Remove Programs utility (from the Control Panel) or the program's own uninstall utility. If you just remove the application's folder from Program Files or manually delete files, you'll miss Registry entries and hidden or cryptically named files. In time, debris from all kinds of long-forgotten programs will clutter up the system and bog it down. Performing official uninstalls will help prevent the problem, but how do you fix your current predicament? If possible, reinstall improperly removed programs, and then uninstall them the right way. Otherwise, plan on using a Registry cleaning utility and Disk Cleanup to clear out as much flotsam and jetsam as you can find. <a href="http://www.smartcomputing.com/images/smartcomputing/fullsize/00820112.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.smartcomputing.com/images/smartcomputing/fullsize/00820112.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a> Bad or outdated device drivers can slow your system down. Check and update drivers with Device Manager. Check for cling-ons. Not all applications shut down gracefully and relinquish their system resources when you close them. Sometimes programs or their associated services will hang on after closing, or Windows will continue to assign resources to an application even after exiting. Check Task Manager (by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL) for programs you aren't actually running. In WinXP, click the Processes tab for more detailed listings. Netscape, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Outlook, and RealPlayer are notorious for remaining "resident" in memory and continuing to monopolize scarce resources. Select each unneeded application or process and click End Task or End Process, respectively, to force it to quit. Do more with less. Multitasking is one of the great computing innovations of the last decade. But the ability to work in a number of programs at once is a dual-edged sword. The possibilities of multitasking often lead users to approach or exceed their systems' capabilities. If you're doing several things at once, and the system bogs down, accomplish more by closing extra applications and just doing one thing at a time. Roll back or upgrade. It's almost a law of software: As hardware speed and capacity improves, software gets bigger, buggier, and more bloated. Chances are the applications and software versions you have on your system today aren't the same as when your machine was running so much faster. Especially if you upgraded Windows, you're asking much more of your hardware. And as you continue to add and upgrade software, the programs will get bigger and require more system resources. It's a depressing inevitability: over the long term, your computer will get slower and slower, until it's obsolete and needs replacing. In the short term, though, you have two options: downgrade software or upgrade hardware. The former might not be feasible, if you don't own previous versions or need certain new features. But if you aren't getting anything extra out of a new software version, uninstalling the new version and reinstalling the old may free up resources. Otherwise, pony up for a hardware upgrade. Adding system memory (RAM) will provide the most bang for your buck. Also, consider a newer (bigger and faster) hard drive or a new video card (with its own processor and video memory).</blockquote>

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