I recently wrote an article on what I was installing as software for my new netbook and I realized that some of it was for the sole purpose of speeding it up from its default configuration. I’m going to share some of that information along with other ideas here so that you don’t have to go there if you don’t want to.
Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
I’m very familiar with Windows XP as the workhorse that it has turned out to be. I’m only vaguely familiar with Windows Vista and I haven’t even seen Windows 7, except through the eyes of other writers.
From what I can tell, some of this stuff applies to Vista and doesn’t apply to Windows 7. I could be wrong about that, but Windows 7 is still a baby so only time will tell.
Get Enough Memory
Microsoft loves telling you the minimum requirements for running any of their software products. If you stick with their minimum requirements, your PC will move at turtle speed. If you want a PC that will operate the way you expect, you need much more RAM to begin with. Luckily, most PC distributors will provide about half of what you need and some of them will provide as much as you need, without it costing more than you would expect.
The minimum requirement for Windows XP is 128 MB of memory. Are they kidding? A typical Windows XP computer requires more than that just to boot up once any new software is installed. I have been able to work with 512 MB, having to keep the number of applications open to a minimum, but 1 GB seems to be perfect for everyday usage. I’m not talking about machines being used for PC gaming because they require as much memory as can possibly be installed.
I don’t care which operating system you use; if you can install up to 4 GB of memory, do it. The 32-bit versions of Windows will address more than 3 GB and not quite 4 GB, but you can’t go wrong if you have that much.
The Swap File
Also called the Windows paging file, the swap file is designed as virtual memory that’s added to the physical memory. When you run out of physical memory, memory is swapped to and from the paging file in order to keep your applications running.
If you have a lot of memory — more than you need to run all of your applications at once — how the swap file operates won’t mean much to you. If you run applications that use almost as much as your physical memory and sometimes a little more, you’ll want to make sure the swap file operates at peak efficiency. If your hard drive thrashes continuously, your swap file needs to be optimized and you probably need more memory as well.
Experts argue about how large a swap file should be and try to give magical figures that will solve any problems. The truth is that the operating system knows how large it should be. It just doesn’t set it up the right way. What I always do is set the minimum and maximum sizes the same and as high as the system recommends. This creates a fixed swap file size that rarely, if ever, causes problems. On my machine with 1 GB of RAM (and some being used by the video), Windows XP recommends 1485 MB, which happens to be about 1.5 times my physical memory size. I rarely use more than 1 GB (caused by Firefox sucking memory if I don’t restart it periodically) and my PC runs at its top speed.
Defragment the Hard Drive
The built-in defragmentation utility provided with Windows XP and Windows Vista is practically worthless, in my opinion. It’s inefficient and it takes what seems like forever, even on a lightly fragmented drive. You don’t need to spend money on a better defragmenter because developers have created free utilities which, in my opinion, are just as good as the commercial offerings.
The utility I use is called MyDefrag and it does the job quickly and efficiently. I recommend defragging a hard drive not more than once per day and you can set up the Windows Scheduler to do exactly that.
Defragging a hard drive is an important optimization step. As files become fragmented, the hard drive seek time takes longer. A heavily fragmented hard drive can take two to three times the amount of time to load or save application settings and files.
Defragment the Registry
I found out by testing my new netbook that the registry is fragmented before you even add the first software application. The larger the registry is, the more memory it will consume the entire time your PC is running. I use Free Registry Defrag to analyze my registry and if it says I should defragment it, I will.
This is something that should NOT be done on a frequent basis. I recommend doing it when you’ve installed new applications, or a bunch of updates, and after you’ve uninstalled applications. The size of the registry doesn’t fluctuate enough to mess with on any other occasions.
Clean Out the Junk
Another software application I installed and ran before adding more software to my netbook was CCleaner. This particular piece of software will let you remove all kinds of unnecessary junk and make fail-safe registry corrections. You just need to pay attention to the instructions and not do anything you’re unsure of.
There are 101 commercial PC clean-up and optimization tools for sale out there. You don’t need any of them if you use the tools I recommend. The last piece of software I recommend is TweakNow PowerPack 2009 because it lets you tweak performance settings that would probably take you forever and a day to find through the regular Windows interface.
Note
If you have a solid-state drive (SSD) instead of a hard disk drive (HDD), I recommend defragging no more than once per month. An SSD uses flash memory and has a limited amount of write cycles. Everything seeks faster using an SSD so fragmentation isn’t as much an issue. One defragmentation session will eat up a lot of those write cycles. A better way is to simply copy everything onto a HDD and then back again, much like what I do with USB flash drives.
Hi Very useful post. There are few more tips which I would like to share
1. Uninstall the software which you no longer use.
2. Disable unnecessary startup items
To disable: Start–>Run–>Type msconfig–>Select startup tab and uncheck the software which you dont want to load during windows start up
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I tried not to get too deep into it. There are probably 100 more things that will make running a PC faster and smoother, but I don’t have the luxury of time in writing about them.
Thanks for the tips RT. I do some of this, but not all. Appears I have some work to do.
Have a terrific day. :)
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You know what my suggestion is…
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One of my planned purchases is a netbook with Ubuntu on it. I’m not going to do that with a desktop because I don’t change desktop computers often enough to worry about it.
I am really liking the Dell Mini 10v and the Mini 12 (where Ubuntu is still available as an option). A 10″ screen is just about as big as you’d want as a small, portable internet device, but 12″ is great for a compromise between a full featured computer and one small enough to be portable. I haven’t invested yet, but I’m really interested. Of course, the Acer Aspire 1 is tempting as well. I guess when the cash arrives, I’ll make my decision, as you will yours.
I actually already have an MSI Wind netbook. It’s the 10-inch version with XP pre-installed. I want another netbook that’s similar, but with Ubuntu pre-installed so I don’t have to mess with it.
If push comes to shove, I will always take a PC with XP on it over any other version of Winblows.
Thanks for this very helpful tips RT. I’m pushing my luck here but it would also be great if you could suggest ways to optimize laptop battery life. :)
I can’t. Your laptop already optimizes on its own. The best you can do is get another battery to supplement the one you have.
Thanks for helpful information.
This tips might come handy for a Netbook. Why did you ask not to degrag more than once per day?
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Because you have better things to do than wait for a defrag session to finish. Defragmentation usually isn’t bad enough to do it more often.
I hope that you don’t continuously try to defrag your netbook drive. SSD’s have a limited life and too many useless drive writes will end the drive sooner than it should be.
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Some netbooks have regular HD’s, like mine.
I have learned some new tips that I did not know about like the swap file. I have been using CCleaner for a while and the program never fails. Definitely a vital tool to put on any PC or laptop. I highly recommend it! Thanks for the tips. I’m always learning something new.
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Defragging the system is good however I’d rather not run any registry cleaners on it like CCleaner. Although it’s powerful, its way too much that it scrapes out old registry entries when used for a long time detecting it as junk files when in fact they’re not. It pays to be vigilant when using registry cleaners.
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a wonderful tips. i will keep use of it. wonderfully written. thanks for sharing. its useful.
Thanks for this tips.
I’ve been using those so far but didn’t find necessary to defrag my drive so often, only maybe couple of times per year.
If you have a lot of information on your hard drive it takes ages sometimes. Depends also how long you didn’t do defrag actually.
But what I have noticed and it is good to do is to defrag your hard drive after every major installation straight away. Especially after refreshing you windows or other system. Otherwise if the computer is looking for some system information while loading something than it needs to look for it on your messy hard drive and it slows your computer down a bit.
I would also suggest to have some antispyware software on your computer to block and keep away all those cookies and other unwanted files what you can gain while browsing the internet.
Regards
Good advice RT, there are a lot of daily searches from people interested to speed up their slow PC’s, a lot of discussions on forums about this subject and of course a plenty of wrong advices about how to reinstall the Windows if your computer is getting lazy or even how to change the RAM memory and the processor in this situation.
For me you are the KISS(Keep It Stupid Simple)adviser.
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Well said! Having enough memory can’t be stressed enough. If you have Vista, the bare minimum is 2GB imo. About your last notes, I’ve heard that you shouldn’t defragment an SSD at all. The drives have built-in wear leveling, so turning defrag off altogether might be a good idea.
I think it depends on how fragmented the SSD gets. With thumb drives, the recommended way is to copy everything off, delete the files on the drive, and then copy everything back. Since SSDs are relatively small compared to HDDs, that may also be a better way for them.
Looking after your system is sometimes harder than it seems. With so many different software tools available it becomes a nightmare figuring out which program is going to clean up your pc and get it performing like new. I recommend advanced system care pro. You can download a free copy and see for yourself just how good it is.
Great Advice. Too many people are just pushing crappy products that only make the job harder and your pc even more clogged. I too use CCleaner all the time and it’s amazing how much space it clears out – I love it.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers
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I know the trick with the swap file from personal experience. I configure it like You describe on every machine, on which I put a new windows. It’s the best way, to manage the swap file (page file).
I am using Xp in my other computer and want to speed it up. Thanks I found your blog and seems like this will greatly answers my question! Thanks for sharing this informative blog. Keep posting!!!
If I start Defragmenting my hard drive how long is my pc inoperative.
5 minutes? 10? 1 hour?
It depends on how fast the CPU of the PC is and how large the hard drive is, how many files are on it and the size of those files. The best thing to do, if you don’t know how long it should take in your situation, is to let defragment while you’re sleeping or going to be out for a few hours.