Make Your Computer Faster

Are you wondering, "Why is my computer slow?" Do you need
help figuring out how to speed up your computer? Computers
are wonderful devices that allow us to do many things but
things can get rough once the garbage that comes in through
our internet connection begins to stop up our system.
I have put together a step-by-step procedure for cleaning all
of this out.

Follow the steps below and you will see a noticeable
improvement in your system.
1. Download Microsoft's Anti-Spyware program, Adaware, and
Spybot Search and Destroy. Microsoft's program can be
downloaded at Microsoft Windows Defender. Adaware can be
downloaded at Lavasoft Downloads. Spybot can be downloaded at
The Home of Spybot-S&D. All of these programs are free.
2. Install Microsoft's anti-spyware program now, but not the
other two.
3. Run MSconfig. To do this, select Start>Run and type
msconfig into the space. Select the Startup tab and get rid
of all unnecessary programs. The way to determine this is to
go to ProcessLibrary.com and check it against their database.
4. Boot into Safe Mode. To do this, restart the computer and
press F8 continuously. Select the Safe Mode option from the
list and continue to desktop.
5. Delete any spyware programs from your add/remove. To do
this, select Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs.
Check all unknown programs against SpywareGuide.com.
6. Locate the temp folder in your computer and delete
everything in the folder. This is located, usually, in
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\local settings.
7. Still in Safe Mode, install Adaware and Spybot. Run
Adaware, Microsoft's anti-spyware and Spybot. Update to the
most recent definitions in each program and run them in full
scan mode. Microsoft's program cannot be installed in Safe
Mode. You have already installed it.
8. Reboot into standard Windows mode.
9. Download HijackThis. You can get this program here
Merijn.org. Install and run it. Click Do A System Scan and
Save A Logfile. HijackThis will analyze processes that are
running on your computer and alert you when there are things
running that should not be there. It will also let you know
when there are programs running that are not malicious but
can safely be gotten rid of because they are not needed.
10. Post the logfile in the Automated Log Analyzer at
HijackThis.
11. After determining what's safe and isn't, check
appropriate boxes and click Fix Checked.
12. Run the Microsoft Anti-Malicious program, which you can
download at the Microsoft Download Center. This program is
designed by Microsoft to detect and remove programs whose
sole purpose is harming your computer. The technical term for
this type of program is a rootkit.
13. Download and run BLBeta Expert. This can be downloaded at
F-Secure Blacklight. Make sure to carefully review anything
it detects before removing. BlBeta is another program that is
designed to get rid of rootkits.
14. For Internet Explorer, click Tools> Internet Options>
Security Tab. Click on the Internet Globe icon and select
Custom Level. Disable the following:

a. Download Unsigned ActiveX Controls.

b. Initialize And Script ActiveX Controls Not Marked As
Safe.

c. Active Scripting.

d. Scripting Of Java Applets.

Also click High Safety under Java Permissions.

If this causes trouble viewing any favorite sites,
click the Trusted Sites icon of the Security Tab and use the
Sites button to add the URL's of sites that are exempt from
these requirements. The purpose of these changes is to
tighten the security of your system so that not so many
malicious programs make it to your system.
15. For Firefox, type about:config in the address bar.
Right click in the window and click New and Integer. In the
first box, type privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins. In the
second box, type 2. This will prevent Flash popups in Firefox.

16. Open Regedit by clicking Start>Run and type in regedit.
17. Once Regedit is open, click the plus symbol next to the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder, the plus symbol next to Control
Panel, and then click the Desktop folder icon to display its
contents. In the right pane, double-click MenuShowDelay to
change its value. (This Registry location is referred to as
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL\PANEL\DESKTOP\MENUSHOWDELAY.) The
default Value Data is 400, or 4/10 of a second. Change the
Value Data to 0 for the least delay, and click OK. This will
make menus appear instantly on your computer instead of having
a delay.
18. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\
FILESYSTEM. Right-click Filesystem, select New, and DWORD
Value. Rename NewValue#1 on the right-side pane to
DisableNTFSLast-AccessUpdate. Double-click this new entry,
change the Value Data field from 0 to 1, and then click OK.
This disables the constant updating of the dates when a file
or folder were last updated. This will speed up the system.
19. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\
CURRENTVERSION\EXPLORER. Create a new DWORD Value called
DesktopProcess, and set its Value Data to 1.
20. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click
Desktop. Double-click the AutoEndTasks string and change the
value to 1. This causes all of the components of the explorer
to run in one process, making your computer faster.

There is a caveat for some users here. Do not make this
change if you are not running at least a Pentium processor and
16 MB of physical memory.
21. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand SOFTWARE, expand
Microsoft, expand Windows, and expand CurrentVersion.
Right-click Explorer, expand New, click Key, and name the
new key AlwaysUnloadDLL. Click AlwaysUnloadDLL, double-click
the Default string, and change the value to 1. Windows tries
to keep some DLL's in memory when the program uses them. If
a user has low memory, this can cause performance issues.
22. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click
Desktop. Double-click the HungAppTimeout string and change the
value to 1000. Now, double-click the WaitToKillAppTimeout,
string and change the value to 2000. This sets your system up
to more efficiently handle application hangups. It also will
optimize the amount of time a system takes to close a program
when you try to end Windows.
23. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand System, expand
CurrentControlSet, and click Control. Double-click the
WaitToKillServiceTimeout string and change the value to 2000.
This optimizes the time that it will take for Windows Services
to close when the system is set to shut down.
24. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, click
Desktop, and double-click the MenuShowDelay string in the
right-hand pane. Change the value to 100. This will cause
Desktop menus to appear almost instantly.
25. Close regedit.
26. Set Recycle Bin to 1-3 percent of the hard drive space.
To do this, right click on the Recycle Bin. Select properties.
Move the slider down to the desired amount and click Ok. By
default, the Recycle bin takes up too much of your space.
27. To ensure DMA is in use, click Start, right-click My
Computer, click Properties, select the Hardware tab, and click
Device Manager. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers entry,
double-click the entry for the channel where your hard drive
is installed (most likely the Primary IDE Channel), and use
the Transfer Mode drop-down menu to select DMA If Available
if PIO Only mode is selected. Click Ok, reboot, and recheck
the setting to make sure it sticks. When this is enabled, it
will allow information from your CD/DVD to go straight to
memory, bypassing the system processor and speeding up the
system.

You should notice markedly increased speeds in your computer.
Remember that this is not a "do once and forget it" procedure.

Crud is constantly building up in your computer, so make sure
and set up a maintenance plan to keep your computer clean.

It's important to keep your Windows registry running lean,
and that takes regular computer maintenance. This will
prevent your computer from running slow.