Basic performance tuning for your PC

I am often asked, "How do I give my PC a tuneup?" The answer isn't really straight forward as you might expect. All you you need are some simple, free programs and do some house cleaning in the Windows startup environment.

Note: I am assuming that you have a basic knowledge of doing some tasks in Windows.

First, let's get some simple tools.

CCleaner is a free utility that removes temporary (aka junk) files from specific areas of your hard drive, some of which are hidden. To download click here and look on the upper right hand corner of the page. When you install CCleaner, be sure to uncheck the box that asks you if you want to install the Yahoo! toolbar (more on toolbars later).

Once installed, run the program and you should see the below image. Check the boxes as I have done:



Once you are finished, click the "Run Cleaner" button at the bottom right. Depending on how much temp files are on your hard drive will determine how long it will take to finish.

Note: In order to clear the temporary Internet cache files, you must have your browser closed.

Once complete, CCleaner will give a summary:



Next, we need to clean up the registry. The system registry is a sort of database that stores configuration information from file extensions to what programs load into memory after Windows loads. Some companies that make registry "boosters" claim that their software will fix your ailing machine, such as RegCure and UniBlue Registry Booster. However, these programs alter settings in the registry that ought not be messed with. CCleaner, on the other hand merely deletes unused entries.

Now, click the Registry icon in CCleaner. At the bottom left, click on the "Scan for issues" button. Depending on how many unused entries are in your registry will determine how long it takes to finish.

Once complete, you'll see something like the figure below:



Backing up the registry is your option and is not required. I don't do it, but may want to. If something goes wrong, you can reimport them back into the registry. I have yet to see anything bad happen, so you're probably safe not to. Another box will pop up prompting you to either fix one issue at a time (y-a-w-n), or Fix all. Fixing all will remove everything on the screen, which is what we want.

Keep pressing the "Scan for issues" button until it says "No issues found.

Continue...



Now that we're done cleaning the junk out. It's time to look at the startup environment.

Either hold down ALT + CTRL + Delete and let go, or locate an empty area on the taskbar, right click and select Task manager to bring up...you guessed it, the Task manager.



What we're looking for are the processes down at the lower left. So, let's talk a bit about processes.

Processes are what's going on in the background after Windows loads into memory. Some are required, some are not and the general idea is to get them as low as you can. If you look at the system tray in the lower right corner where the clock sits, look at the icons. Those are only some of what's loading that's not needed, with the exception of your antivirus program. Some of them reside in the startup folders, while others reside in the system registry.

Sidebar: There are two types of Windows operating systems, 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64). A 32-bit operating system can only address 3.25 gigabytes of RAM, a 64-bit Windows operating system can address 16 gigabytes.

Now, you may be tempted to open up the MSCONFIG utility, click on the startup tab and uncheck some boxes. This is a newbie way of doing things and will only cause your machine to start slower. Why? Because once you uncheck any of those boxes, the startup mode will change from normal to selective, which is what we don't want. Selective startup literally goes line by line, asking the operating system if it wants to load a process or not, depending on which items that were unchecked or not.