Category Archives: Optimize Windows

Increasing the Boot Speed of Windows

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There are lots of ways to optimize your Windows experience, and most of them include general tips and tricks that anyone can execute but a lot of people ignore them. This can be attributed to the fact that users realize it later on that there is always a need to ‘maintain’ the system because it extends the life of Windows. For this purpose, this article will focus on simple tips and tricks that will aid the users in optimizing their Windows experience in particular. Because you have to roll on the top to stay with the top.

Windows Vista had many flaws and the prime one included a very late boot time, which meant that people had to wait for several minutes before they could actually start using their computers. These flaws have somewhat been removed in Windows 7 and on top of that, Microsoft has also made the operating system resistant (up to a certain limit) to viruses and malwares. Following adjustments will help users in enhancing their daily experience of Windows.

The first point that a user should keep in mind is to know his or her computer i.e. the specifications. This is important because Microsoft has not designed Windows to run on most of the modern computers, which include some budget ones that cannot handle huge workloads. It means that you have to adjust the display settings according to the system specifications and not the Window’s features. This can be achieved by double clicking on the Control Panel icon in My Computer or by simply typing Display and Settings on the search bar located at the top right corner of the screen. There is an option in the Display Settings by the name ‘Adjust to Meet the Computer’s performance’ which needs to be checked.

The second task should be to increase the boot up speed of the system; specifically, the start up time of Windows. This can be done by clicking on the start up menu and typing ‘boot’ followed by setting the operating time to three seconds from the preset 30 seconds.

Lastly, the user should remove all redundant loads off the computer by clicking on System Tools and selecting the Defrag and Disk Clean Up option that will clear all the Temporary Files, browsing data, cookies, and caches that reduce processing speeds.

 

Explore the best way to improve your PC’s performance

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Getting the maximum advantage and high performance from the computer is definitely not so easy when the computer is moving at lethargic pace. There may be different reasons for the slow performance of your PC but the major reason is the outdated or corrupted drivers. Drivers are the software which allows interaction between the OS of your computer and the hardware devices. These actually serve as the medium between the operating system of your PC and the hardware devices. This means that the drivers filter each and every command which you make to your PC before it responds to you. Thus, these mediators in this technology world are extremely important which every user needs to have. If you are having outdated or corrupted drivers, then these can considerably affect the functioning of your PC and you cannot bring the maximum performance out of it. All this implies that the drivers are the must- haves.

It is always advisable that you check for the updates regularly to fix or install updated drivers in order to achieve better performance and faster speed. Your hardware devices like mouse, keyboard, USB, display drivers, video card simply can’t work without correct drivers. Also, you can do the updates manually as well as automatically. For this, you can browse the site of the manufacturer or can use a system optimizer which can scan your PC for any outdated or missing drivers. Also, if you update the drivers manually, then this will take significant time to identify and fix outdated or corrupt drivers in the computer. So, the best way is to use drivers updating software which can automatically update or fix the outdated drivers in your PC. This is the most efficient and safe way to get the right drivers for the hardware devices and boost your PC’s performance.

The drivers updating software or the driver scanners first find out latest versions on the World Wide Web and then update the drivers of your PC automatically. The driver scanners also delete the outdated and old files from outdated drivers in order to avoid clumping which can result in slow performance of your PC. Drivers updating software is actually a valuable technology advancement which offers great ease and convenience to the computer users. The software saves the users from tedious task of updating all the drivers manually. This means, you can save significant time and can leave all updating works to this updating software and the best part is that they do this automatically and instantly.

 

How to Speed Up Your Browser by Increasing the Speed of Your Computer

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One of the easiest ways to speed up your browser and surf the internet faster is to upgrade your computer’s RAM, or Random Access Memory, which your browser needs to run fast. Keep your computer’s RAM up to date for the newest applications and most recent versions of your browser by periodically upgrading it with superior components. Eventually your computer’s other parts will wear out and become obsolete as well, and that’s the time to replace your entire system.

 

Check Your RAM

You can check your computer’s RAM capabilities in different ways depending on your computer’s operating system. If you’re using Windows, you can see the numbers on your computer’s RAM in the System section of the Control Panel. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the Task Manager, which shows you how the RAM is currently being used. The Task Manager’s Performance tab does a graph of your present memory resources. On a Mac OS operating system, the Activity Monitor’s System Memory tab does something similar. Third-party software can also be used to check your RAM, and it can also help manage it for you by closing computer programs you aren’t using if you set it to do so. Additionally, you can free up RAM by manually closing programs you’re not using, by avoiding use of programs that require too much memory or by avoiding running too many programs at the same time. You can only do this so much until you reach a point when you need more RAM, however.

 

Add More RAM

Add more RAM to your computer’s motherboard, or circuit board. This can mean adding more sticks of RAM to the board, replacing sticks that are malfunctioning or obsolete or upgrading to sticks of RAM with more memory. However, your motherboard will only allow so many spaces for sticks of RAM and only so much memory, and when it runs out you’ll need a new computer for further upgrading. Still, you can probably do a lot in terms of RAM for the computer you have for the time being. Different types of memory exist, so check your computer’s user manual to make certain you get the right kind. There may be a lot of room in your computer for more memory.

 

Add More Disk Space

So what do you do if you’ve maxed out your computer’s RAM, but it’s not time for a whole new computer yet, and you’re still having trouble with your web browser speed? The next step is to upgrade your hard disk by adding more disk space, which is the measure of your computer’s data storage capacity. This is also where your computer draws from if it runs out of RAM but it still needs more memory, so upgrading it will make your internet browsing experience faster on the margin. Hard disks need replacing over time for malfunctioning or obsolescence just as RAM does, and you can also add more disk space or an upgraded hard disk to your computer.

 

Setting up Privacy Control for Children: Optimizing Windows Performance

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Through computers, children have access to a lot of information in the world. A computer connected to an Internet would mean that your child can navigate to any website without your permission. Likewise, they often navigate to pornographic websites without the parents knowing. For this purpose, Microsoft Corp. has designed Windows to support the Parental Control feature so that parents can keep an eye on their children. Setting up Parental Controls in windows is quite easy. All a user needs to do is to navigate to the section and select the options that best suit his or her requirements.

 

Setting up the privacy controls

Setting up privacy & parental controls is quite easy in windows but it should be kept in mind that the user should be signed in as an Administrator so that the change can take effect in all the accounts. In our day, the most common mistakes that parents make is that they sign in as a single (personal) account and change the settings in Parental Controls. These changed settings take effect in that particular account. As a result, it is necessary that a parent sets up the control measures through an administrative login.

Double click on the My Computer section and type ‘parental controls’ in the search bar located at the top right corner. On the other hand, a user can navigate to the Control Panel home page and locate these settings under the Privacy icon. Users can also locate these settings by typing ‘parental controls’ in the search bar of Start Menu. Now, click on the User Accounts section and enable the Parental Control option.

A display bar will be opened that will let you select programs that you want to block from the children. Select the programs through the Browse Tab or Drag Drop the icons of these programs (the Launch Applications). Parents can make changes to these settings anytime.

The second step is to navigate to the browser and enable Parental Controls. The Internet Explorer contains a Privacy option in the Internet Options section. A parent can add websites that he or she wants to block from the children. In addition, they can check the recently visited websites through the History section of the explorer.

Note: It is always best to restart the computer for the changes to take effect before the program can be used by the user.

Secure Email – Optimize the Program Experience in Windows

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Most users are reluctant to use Microsoft Outlook and similar other Microsoft related messenger as well as email platforms, as they were reported previously for being virus and malware carriers, infecting the entire mailbox. These malicious emails were sent to other mail users in the contact list and their mailboxes were infected upon opening of these emails. Having switched to BBMs, people are now concerned about their privacy, and have stopped using emails for the sake of preventing their personal information and documents being accessed by others.

AOL and Gmail have installed state of the art software programs that filter out all possible spams and malicious emails that can infect a user’s mailbox. These companies have also installed virus protection and security measures to prevent the privacy of individuals from being compromised. Several ID protection services in collaboration with Norton and AVG have been installed, along with identification confirmation upon two wrong password entries. In addition, two email addresses are linked together for verification purposes. Even with these security measure that are being taken by email giants like Google, Hotmail, and AOL, cyber crimes are continually increasing in the US and other countries throughout the world.

You (as an email user) can take the following precautions to prevent your personal belongings from being compromised.

Activate the spam filter technology if you are using AOL, Hotmail, or Google Mail. This feature can be activated by clicking on the spam folder and clicking on the Filter Spam icon.

A user can also activate the Identity protection feature before logging in. The log in page contains information on this feature that takes no more than six clicks (and some forms) to activate.

Link two personal email addresses together. This can be done by creating a back up (reset information) email when you sign up for an account. Most email service providers continually circulate messages that contain an alternate email bar.

Change the password every month by clicking on the ‘forgot password’ on the email home screen.

Do not open email from an un-identified source, especially the ones that are related to financial incentives.

Avoid sending an email that contains your personal data or information to an un-identified user, in order to prevent breach of personal information.

Installing Drivers for Optimizing Windows

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We usually have to reinstall Windows after every six months or so just for the sake of improving the performance of operating systems. Pirated Copies of Windows create frequent problem for users as they get infected with malicious software and Trojans that affect overall performance of the system. For that reason, methods should be adopted so as to avoid these problems in the future and to elevate the performance of the operating system as a whole. This article will give the users a walkthrough of installing software and keeping them up to date.

 

Getting rid of an un-licensed Windows copy

The first step of any user should be to un-install the pirated version of Windows from the computer and install a genuine copy. For this purpose, a user can access Microsoft’s website for downloading the original version. Most university students are given a Microsoft ID these days for downloading Windows 7 directly on their computers free of cost.

 

Installing drivers

After a user has installed a fresh copy of genuine Windows, it is time to install the different drivers and softwares that will be needed. Some drivers are optional whereas, others are mandatory softwares that are linked to the Windows’s requirements, and need to be installed.

Install the sound and display drivers for Windows 7 and restart the computer as you do.

Install other software like the Microsoft Office. The computer will be restarted occasionally. It is important to keep in mind that a user puts his or her name in the credentials tab of the Windows and Microsoft Office. Next in line is the installation of a genuine copy of an Antivirus software that can receive regular updates from the server.

After a user has finished installing the software, it is now time to update them. Turn off Windows firewall for the programs that you want to update. This can be done by double clicking on the Control Panel typing ‘firewall’ in the search bar. Turn off the general windows firewall by unchecking the green icon. Now, proceed towards the programs tab to turn off firewall for the programs individually. Uncheck the options one by one and restart the computer. You are now ready to install updates for the programs.

Improving the Windows Gaming Experience

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With the advent of wild processing speeds, the gaming experience has assuredly improved on windows. Every day, new gaming cards, like NVIDIA and ATI Systems, surface the desktop computer market but still some people complain about their computers falling short of the expected performance. It can be attributed to the fact that games sometimes take too much space then one would expect, particularly when they have to be unzipped. This calls for improving the gaming experience by making necessary adjustments in Windows for smoothly operating a game.

From time to time, it is best to take both the external and internal factors into account throughout the search of a solution. The external factors that a person can take into account can be a regular power loss resulting in repeated system reboots, which should be minimized by installing an alternate power source.

The first step involves clearing up the PC of any malicious software or viruses that can potentially damage the computer. Use the Microsoft Security Essentials for the removal of viruses, malwares, or even Trojans.

Turn off all Automatic Updates for the computer. It can be done by clicking on the red balloon and unchecking the automatic updates option. Instead, a user can turn off updates through the Automatic Updates icon in the Control Panel. Turning off the updates is essential, as some users have reported automatic system restart during the course of their gaming session.

Then, put the installation disk in the computer and follow the instructions. Restart the computer upon successful installation of a game and give the computer at least five minutes before you can start playing. Double click on the desktop shortcut icon and navigate to the settings page. Locate the Screen Preferences search bar and reduce the resolution of the monitor without changing the graphics settings.

Apply the settings and navigate out of the game. Press the “shift” button on the keyboard, five times, and the sticky keys option will appear, which is important for players, especially those who are not using a joypad or other gaming controller. Set which keys you use and like for instance GTA San Andreas and some first person shooter games like the Call of Duty series require an extensive use of keys like Shift, Control, and Q. Several other keys might get pressed simultaneously during a gaming session which means that the session will minimize and the user will be redirected to the Stick Keys home page.

 

Finding an IP Address to Optimize LAN Usage for Windows

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Finding an Internet Protocol or IP address was quite difficult in the previous version of windows like windows 98 and 2000. People had to physically locate the IP address of a computer and make the necessary changes. However, this problem has been taken care of in the newer versions of windows and has removed hurdles that posed many problems to users, especially during Online Gaming. IP addresses have been physically made visible to computer users so that they can be conveyed to other users who have previous versions of windows installed on their computers and therefore, to optimize their gaming or Internet usage experience.

 

Locating an IP address of a computer

A dedicated program is installed with the windows 7 installation known as ‘Network and Sharing Center’ that manages all the Internet connection and displays the current available Internet or wireless connections. Double click on the Network and Sharing Center visible on the home screen. A user can also locate it by typing ‘network and sharing’ in the search bar located in My Computer or the Control Panel home menu.

A network icon will be visible on the desktop. If not, you can always set one up in the Network and Sharing Center. Right click on the desktop icon and click on the underlined Network and Sharing Center, if a network appears. A window will pop up showing a general map of the network. Click on the ‘View Full Map’ icon to view the detail network map of the connection. The network lines are indicated that distinguish a correct (operational) connection from an un-operational one.

Trace the operational line to the correct PC and hover the mouse pointer over it. The IP address will be visible to you. Instead, a user can also locate the IP address by right clicking on the icon and clicking on Properties. The process of obtaining an IP address of another computer becomes especially important if you want to create a remote connection for Internet gaming or server gaming (LAN gaming).

Locating an IP address enables windows users to effectively manage their gaming or file sharing tasks between two or more computers easily.

 

Activating System Restore to Optimize the Windows Experience

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Although creating a restore point in Windows is discouraged, particularly due to the fact that it creates an invisible hard drive that stores all the temporary files and data, still this feature has proven to be a life saver. For instance, a computer with vital information in its hard drive, which has been infected with viruses or other malware, can be saved with system restore as it recovers all the data so that a user can make necessary changes.

System Restore is also used for a variety of other reasons. As a case in point, most software installations go smooth and as planned but the tables get turned every once in a while, which means that System Restore will be needed to restore the settings to an already designated restore point. This article is devoted to setting up this life saving restore feature (Time Machine in Mac).

Using the System Restore feature

Click on the My Computer icon and click on the Control Panel icon in Windows. Then, you should locate the System Restore icon and open it. Alternatively, a windows user can always type System Restore in the search bar of the Start Menu. A security bar will pop up asking for permission to continue navigating to this program. Click “ok” and proceed towards the main menu. Now, two options are available for the users.

The first option is restore to a recommended restore point. Windows automatically sets up a restore point according to the previous statistics and restores the computer to that point.

To set a restore point manually, click on the ‘set a different restore point’ icon. You will be directed to a tab that contains all the restore points, with dates of major software installations and scheduled system checkpoints (Windows Update restore points are also created).

A user can always create a restore point beforehand by clicking on the System Properties Tab or by typing in System Properties in the Control Panel search bar. The operator should navigate to System Protection and create a C or Windows drives restore point.

It is imperative for a user to keep in mind that, by using this procedure, changes will be made to the system data and registry files of the computer and malicious software or bugs will not be fixed by the windows.

Get a Faster Computer in Five Minutes Flat!

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In the computer world nowadays, one of the things on every user’s top priority list is having a fast computer. Fast computer usually comes from great computer specifications. Top on the line processors, good video and sound cards, huge RAM, super branded motherboards and so on is the common ground for having a nice and speedy computer system. But if you already have a computer but doesn’t have that much in specifications, the computer doesn’t have to mean it’s slow. Sometimes any computer can be fast like those customized ones. You just have to know the basics in how to make your computer faster. Continue reading →