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Windows XP / 98 Tips & Tricks!
 All
these tips and tricks have been tested on my own computers and are
based on 15 years of experience and research. Most of them are simple
tweaks and recommendations and if followed exactly there should be
no problems. If you're not sure about something please have the it
double-checked. A good place to start? Microsoft
I'm not responsible for problems, or damage, that may occur to your computer even if to the best of my knowledge the information presented is correct and safe. |
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Backup your data! - any computer
I've heard too many horror stories. For example, a professional writer who lost 10 years of her writings and a college friend who lost all his data. If your hard drive is damaged and you don't have a backup you'll possibly end up spending hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars having your files recovered by a data retrieval service. Keep your system backed up with the idea it could fail at any time. If you're a daily user that means at least every two or three days. I backup my important files every night. Typical backup media are CD R/RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW as well as tape drives or second hard drive, either internal or external. There are ghosting programs that create a mirror image of your hard drive. With these programs the original setup of your operating system and programs are preserved, instead of having to start totally over and reinstall everything. If you really want to be sure you don't lose important data or sensitive info, store your backup media separate from your computer somewhere secure from fire or theft, like in a safe or other location. Even though you diligently backup your files a thief could steal them, or fire destroy them.
Streamline Your Startup Programs - XP / 98 When you install a new program it sometimes adds itself to your computer's startup. Unless you want the program starting when you start a Windows session, there's no need to have the program running in the background using your computer's resources. To find out what programs are in your startup go to: Start, Run and type in msconfig and hit enter, or click OK. In the System Configuration Utility, click the Startup tab and uncheck the programs you don't want starting automatically. If you don't know what something is don't uncheck it until you find out. Don't uncheck anything from C:Windows\System32 or C:\Windows unless you're positively sure it's not a necessary file. If you have any doubts leave it alone! If you click on the Performance tab you can see your CPU Usage and other system information. You can view all the programs and processes that are running by right-clicking an empty space on your task bar (the bar at the bottom of your monitor with Start and shortcut icons) and click on Task Manager. After you've made changes to the System Configuration Utility and reboot your computer a window will popup saying there have been changes in the system config. Check: "Don't show this message or launch the system config again." If you want a detailed view of what processes are running get free Process Explorer.
End-it-All also recommends which programs can be safely closed and those that may be necessary for your computer's operations. You can watch, in real-time, what processes are running by hitting the refresh button. This program is also good when you want to run defrag (defragment) or scandisk, since running programs cause cause a defrag program to continually restart. I had someone tell me his defrag program ran continuously for a week! He didn't know it was constantly restarting due to his anti-virus program running. Shut down every program you can before running defrag or before doing an antivirus scan. TweakUI is part of Microsoft PowerToys. Tweak UI gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default interface, including settings for the mouse, Explorer, taskbar and more. Other tools let you resize images with a right-click, manage four virtual desktops, and switch users without going through the log-on screen. I like being able to remove the arrows on desktop icons. You can download TweakUI free here. What is the beep, or beeps if you're computer is malfunctioning, when your computer starts? The single beep you hear when you start your computer is the motherboard completing its POST, or Power On Self Test. When you turn on or reboot your computer before the operating system loads, the motherboard runs diagnostics on itself, testing the RAM (Random Access Memory), buses (buses allow the motherboard to talk to the other components, like the video card) and other components. For example, if the RAM isn't properly seated properly or defective, the motherboard will report this by two, or more, beeps. Sometimes it's just a matter and removing and re-seating your RAM stick. Anything over one beep indicates something isn't right. The POST is part of the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). You can typically see the BIOS in action when your computer first starts - it's the lines of text the scroll down your monitor before the operating system loads. Like many things with PCs, there's not much standardization with the various BIOSs, so when you get error beeps you'll need to find out what BIOS your motherboard has (Award, AMI BIOS, etc.) to determine what the beeps mean. You can usually find your motherboard's BIOS error beeps by doing a Google search using the brand and model. Trivia: Even when your computer is off the motherboard is still being powered; unless the power is shutoff, either by hitting the power switch usually located on the rear of your PC (part of the power supply unit or PSU) or unplugging it. There are sometimes LEDs on the motherboard that indicate it's being powered. The power consumption is negligible. Speed up graphics performance - XP By default, Windows XP has a lot of desktop visual effects turned on like shadows, fades, menu slides etc. They look pretty, but can slow down your computer's graphics performance, especially if you have an older graphics card, slower processor and/or minimal RAM or if you just want top performance from your PC. To turn off these effects right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Advanced tab, under Performance select Settings. Under the Visual effects tab you can select Adjust for Best Performance or Custom to individually select and deselect effects. Want your Start Menu to open faster? There are two ways to do this. One is covered in "Speed up graphics performance" above, specifically uncheck Show shadows under menus. There's also a registry edit. Before you edit your registry be aware that incorrectly editing the registry can cause serious damage to your computer that may require a total reinstall of your operating system! Though this is an easy registry edit and you should have no problems if you follow these simple instructions exactly:
Turn off Indexing Service - XP / 2k Indexing Service creates indexes of the contents and properties of all files on local and network drives in order to increase file searching speed. It's quite similar to "Find Fast" that ships with Microsoft Office. Indexing Service runs continuously and can slow down your PC's general performance because it has to index files continuously. If you don't need slightly faster file searches [I haven't noticed much of a difference], the feature can be safely turned off. Note: Indexing Service is turned on by default for all NTFS partitions. Turning this service off to increase overall performance: Open My Computer -> right-click on a Drive icon -> Select Properties -> Remove the checkmark from "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching" -> Click Apply. Make sure to select "Apply changes to :\, subfolders and files" before clicking OK in the new window. Alternatively, you can navigate to: Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> Disable Indexing Services. Tip: Windows XP search is inefficient and often will not find a file, or files, you're looking for (even with Indexing Service turned on). I recommend a better search program called Agent Ransack. It's a more powerful search program and free. You can gain a little more real estate on your desktop by hiding the Taskbar. Click on Start, Settings, Taskbar and Start Menu. Under the Taskbar tab check Auto-hide the taskbar. To bring up the Taskbar when it's hidden move your mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen. You can also adjust the transparency of your Taskbar by using Transbar Screen
savers are pretty to look at, but if you want maximum performance
from your computer don't run To turn off a screen saver right-click anywhere on your Desktop, click on Properties, Screen Saver, under Screen Saver click none, Apply, OK. When your computer locks-up - XP When a program stops responding and won't close press Ctrl-Alt-Del all at once (the reboot command), this should bring up the Task Manager. Click on Applications tab. There you can see what program isn't responding, highlight it and hit End Task. If that doesn't work click on Shutdown, Restart. Give your computer a few minutes to restart if it's not responding. If it's still locked-up hit your reset button. Turning your computer off and back on when it's not responding is a last resort. It's not good for it, since programs may not have closed properly and you may lose unsaved data. In the Task Manager you can also view your computer's CPU Usage, Running Processes, etc. by clicking on the Performance tab. Information about your Network and Users can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate tabs. Delete MSN Messenger (Instant Messaging) from startup Note: MSN Messenger is Microsoft's Instant Messaging chat program, not Messenger (see below). To stop MSN Instant Messenger from starting during startup click here.
Messenger [not Instant Messaging] is part of MS networking that allows messaging between computers on a network and Remote Assistance, which is used to remotely troubleshoot someone's computer. Unless you plan to use Remote Assistance, I recommend disabling it since it's a potential exploit [you can always re-enable it later]. To find out how to disable Messenger click here. System Tools - go under the hood - XP / 98 Underneath XP's pretty - and Win98's somewhat less than XP's pretty - exterior is a heck of a lot of information about your computer, including your hardware (hard drives, CD/DVD drives, processor, BIOS*, what version of Windows you're running, etc), software environment (drivers, running tasks, services) and more. Support technicians sometimes require specific information about your computer so they can resolve problems. You can use System Information to quickly find the data they need. There are two ways to access System Tools. Click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information. Or click on Start, Run, type in msinfo32, hit enter or click OK. There's a wealth of information there and you can learn a lot about your computer by poking around in the various categories. *An acronym for Basic Input/Output System. The BIOS is software built-in your motherboard that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk. The BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communications and a number of miscellaneous functions. It gives your computer basic functionality until the operating system is loaded. For more see What is the beep, or beeps if you're computer is malfunctioning, when my computer starts? The registry is the storehouse of information for your computer and its programs and not readily accessessible.* For good reason: fiddling with your registry without knowing what you're doing is a recipe for disaster and could require a complete reinstall of your operating system! As you use your computer and install and uninstall programs, the registry becomes bloated with useless entries. Doing something as simple as moving a file from one location to another leaves a registry entry to the original location and is essentially useless. There are dozens of free and shareware registry cleaner programs that scan your registry for useless entries and deletes them. There is some controversy about these programs. Some people, even Microsoft MVPs (Most Valuable People), claim these programs are useless and could even do harm to your computer by removing needed registry entries. They also claim that leaving useless registry entries on your computer doesn't affect performance. This goes against my knowledge of computers that says keeping your computer free of clutter can not only help its performance, but free up hard disk space (thought registry entries are small in size). I noticed that Firefox browser opened faster after running a registry cleaner. I looked at both sides, then went to what should be the most trusted source: Microsoft. Indeed, MS does recommend using a registry cleaner! There's one you can use online. I tried it and it not only cleaned up useless, or orphaned, registry entries, but found over 300MB of temp files. To use Microsoft's online registry cleaner click here. There are also many stand-alone registry cleaners. Most are shareware, but you can still find free ones with a little searching. One I've used many times without problem is RegClean. The free version can be found here. There you'll also find other freeware versions of software. *To access the registry click on Start, Run, type in regedit and click OK, or hit enter. How fast is your PC? Find out with Performance Test from PassMark Software. More
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Failure is not an option; it's bundled with your software.
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Backing
up your important data files and programs is not an option!
People will spend big bucks on a new computer, but won't invest
in some type of backup system. At any time your computer could fail,
have an unrecoverable crash, get infected with a virus that wipes
your hard drive, etc. even if it's new. The motherboard, CPU and
RAM in my computer all went out at once when it was only 10 months
old. Luckily, all were under warranty! Though I usually don't buy
extended warranties, I recommend getting one for your new computer.
Unless you regularly backup your data, important information could
be lost forever! 
one.
Screen savers sit in the background using your computer's resources,
until triggered by a preset idle period. Screen savers were originally
created to prevent monitor burn caused by a static image
burning into the phosphorescence of the monitor's CRT [Cathode Ray
Tube]. Today's monitors have a high enough refresh rate that screen
savers aren't needed anymore [except for something pretty to look
at].