Sunday, May 22, 2005

TIPS TO IMPROVE PC PERFORMANCE

TIPS TO IMPROVE PC PERFORMANCE

By Sanket Kambli

These tips are for PC’s with Windows XP but I am sure many of them are suitable for non-XP user’s too

Fine tune Internet connection speed : Tip on changing QoS parameter

Networking Quality of Service (QoS) refers to a variety of techniques that prioritize one type of program when these operate across a network connection rather than relying solely on "best effort" connectivity. By default, programs like windows media player etc. can reserve up to an aggregate bandwidth of 20% for their updates etc... To use full internet bandwidth for your purpose & thus to improve internet speed, go to
RUN > gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Network > QoS Packet... > Limit Reservable Bandwidth, Enable it & set Bandwidth Limit = 0.
Change the default search engine in Internet explorer?
Default search engine of Microsoft Internet explorer is MSN. But there are better search engines available. I like yahoo.com and you may have your own preference. Recently I came across article that indicated how to change the default search engine through registry. Open registry editor by going to START-RUN and entering regedit and navigate to following three keys separately and change it as shown below:
Is it taking long to resume or boot?

There are a variety of reasons why your windows XP system would boot slowly. Most of the times it this has to do with the startup applications. If you would like to speed up the bootup sequence, consider removing some of the startup applications that you do not need. Easiest way to remove startup apps is through System Configuration Utility (Go to START-RUN and enter MSCONFIG) and going to Startup tab and deselecting application(s) that you do not want to startup at boot time. If this works, great! If not you can also look into SERVICES tab and possibly deselect WORKSTATION option and see if that helps.
You can do this to stop some applications that run automatically at start up like Yahoo Messenger!

Speedup boot sequence by defragmenting all key boot files
Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction. In right hand panel look for Enable. Right click on it and set it 'Y' for enable.


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Search Page"="http://www.google.com"
"Search Bar"="http://www.google.com/ie"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL]
""="http://www.google.com/keyword/%s"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search]
"SearchAssistant"="http://www.google.com/ie"
If you are unable to find any setting, make a new.
Just type keyword to go to a site, for eg. type google to go to www.google.com

If in Internet options, Display result and go to most likely site or just go to most likely site is enabled, you can type only the domain root in the Address box and Internet Explorer attempts to locate the correct Web site by searching different domain types. For example, if you type "Microsoft" in the Address box, Internet Explorer searches the domain types in the Autoscan list until a domain name match is found (in this case, www.microsoft.com).
By default, Internet Explorer searches the following domain types when the Autoscan Common Root Domains option is enabled:
.com, .org, .net, .edu


Do not allow messenger to start automatically at start up!

Windows Messenger is automatically loaded and running when a user logs on to a Windows XP computer. It eats some system resources & RAM.
You can use this Group Policy Editor to stop Windows Messenger from automatically being run at logon.
Start > RUN > gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration >Administrative...Windows Compo... > Windows Messenger.
If you enable this setting, Windows Messenger will not be loaded automatically when a user logs on. (XP Professional Only)

Alternatively:
Locate SYSOC.INF in the \Windows\INF folder (hidden file and folder), Open it in Notepad and locate the line: msmsgs=msgrocm.dll, OcEntry, msmsgs.inf, hide, 7
Remove the word "hide" from the line and save the file. You will now have an entry in add/remove programs. Now do what you want from Control Panel > Add & Remove Programs.




How to improve on shutdown time? Close apps automatically & quickly at shutdown

Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP and look for AutoEndTasks. On my computer default value is 0. Change it to 1. That’s all. Further more you can reduce the time it takes for Windows to issue kill directive to all active/hung applications. In doing this only constraint that you should make sure exists is that HungAppTimeout is greater than WaitToKillAppTimeout. Change the values of WaitToKillAppTimeout to say 3500 (since default value for HungAppTimeout 5000 and for WaitToKillAppTimeout is 20000)


Disable error reporting

Open Control Panel
Click on Performance and Maintenance.
Click on System.
Then click on the Advanced tab
Click on the error-reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
Select Disable error reporting. Click OK



Enable write caching on disk and improve disk performance

WriteCache is nothing else but implementation of concept of delayed write. The I/O activities are generally slow and hence if they are synchronous can significantly reduce the system performance. Hence if system performance has to be improved we have to reduce I/O activities. . We can control the frequency of diskwrite by specifying regular intervals. All that needs to be written between the intervals would be writen in a write buffer which would be maintained in RAM. This write buffer would be written to the disk at regular intervals or whenever it gets full. This is a smart concept with one drawback. There is a chance that you may loose some data in case of critical power loss or system failure but this is not an issue for most of the users.
To enable write cache on your disk, go to DEVICE MANAGER. Then select hard disk in the disk drives and right click on it and select properties. Go to policies tab and select checkbox which say "Enable write caching on the disk".


Turn off System Restore

If you want your computer to become little more fast & free up some RAM, disable system Restore. You can also free up some hard disk space by limiting the space to be used. By default, it is 10% of harddisk. If you dont have very important data, disable System Restore.



Remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons

Here's how you can remove those shortcut arrows from your desktop icons in Windows XP.
Start > RUN > regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT lnkfile
Delete the IsShortcut registry value.
You may need to restart Windows XP.



Turn off CD Auto Play

You can turn off CD Auto Play in XP
Open My Computer
Right click on your CD ROM and choose Properties
Click on the Auto Play tab
In the drop down box you can choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box
Or
Go to Start > Run > gpedit.msc
Computer Config > Administrative Template -> System
Double click Turn off Autoplay
Enable it.



Customize Internet Explorer Skin/Title bar

You can use a different colourful skin for your Internet Explorer using Group Policy Editor. Start > Run > gpedit.msc > User > Administartive... > Windows Compo... >Internet Explorer.Use a small file for skin so that it dont take long to load, Use around 750* 100. You can also change Title from there. (XP Professional Only)

(XP Home)
Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet. Explorer\Main. In right hand panel look for string "Window Title" and change its value to whatever custom text you want to see.

How many questioning questions can a questioning questioner question in a questionable amount of time, question mark?

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