Ryft's Guide To Computer Happiness!

I decided to post some tips and suggested programs you can use to possibly help your PC perform better. I will list some simple things that everyone SHOULD do, and then a list of certain programs that I personally use on my own computer and how to operate them. This guide is only for users of PCs with Windows. If someone wants to make a Mac or Linux guide, be my guest. NOTE: I am in no way affiliated with the creators of any third-party programs I list here. These may also not be the “best” programs; they are just ones I have personal experience with. I have tested all of these and used some of them for years… but I must still state the usual cry of USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! I must also state that I am NOT a professional techie in any sense… I just really love troubleshooting as a hobby.  

Simple Tips

1. Always make sure your Windows is up to date. Microsoft regularly releases compatibility updates and security fixes that can protect your computer and make sure future problems don’t arise. Most of the time Windows will update automatically, but you can also visit the Windows Update site for the latest updates.

2. Make sure your drivers are up to date! I am mostly referring to video drivers here. The two main manufacturers of video cards that most people are familiar with are nVidia and ATI/AMD. They release updates for most video cards around once every 1-2 months which can increase performance and compatibility. To find what video card and model you have, click Start, type “dxdiag” and hit enter in the search bar on if you are on Windows 7, or click Run… on Windows XP and type it there. It may ask to verify certificates blah blah just click no. First take note of what type of operating system you have on this first screen (32-bit or 64-bit). Click the Display tab at the top. At the top left, it should have a Device section and should have the name and model of your card (for example mine is NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT). On the right, it shows what date your drivers are from. If it’s an nVidia card, your drivers can be found here; for ATI/AMD, go here. The driver pages are pretty easy to use… just match up the model numbers of your card and see if their driver is a newer date then what you already have installed. If your card is a different manufacturer then these two, you will have to visit their site for drivers. A simple Google search should help you.

3. Be careful what you download! Some free programs that you download can contain malware that can slow your computer down or send information about your browsing habits for advertisement purposes. You ALWAYS want to second guess what you are downloading. It’s normally a good idea to do some quick research before you download something to find out if it’s really more than what it seems. Typing “(program name) reviews” into Google will usually direct you to information from other users about a programs functionality. On an added note, even if you are installing a legit program, make sure you read EVERY screen of the install process. Some programs like to add toolbars/advertisements that you may not want. All you have to do is click the “I do not want to install the ____ toolbar/program” and it will skip it and install the normal program by itself.

Now I will list some of the programs I use to keep my computer running as if it were brand new.

CCleaner
This free program clears your computer of temporary files that can muddle up your system. It is totally customizable and lets you control exactly what you want to delete in case you want to save internet history, etc. Super fast and easy to use, this is one I run about once every couple days. It also has a registry cleaner that can remove orphan registry entries and help keep your registry clean. I have been using this for at least 3 years and haven’t had any problems with it. All features are free: paid version has better support… but I have never had any reason to need it.

AVG Antivirus Free
Many people have differing opinions on the “best” free antivirus program, but I have had a fairly good experience with this one. It runs and updates quietly and seems to catch viruses rather quickly too. NOTE: If you want to install this, be sure to tell the installer you want the CUSTOM install… then uncheck any of the extra stuff (email scanner, identity theft, etc) you may not find useful. I personally only use the antivirus function since the other stuff can usually be protected against by using common sense (I.E. don’t open suspicious emails =P) but it’s up to you. You can also choose to install their toolbar which checks the validity of websites in real-time.

Tune Up Utilities – 15 day free trial.
This awesome program basically just applies some of the most common Windows and browser performance tweaks that you normally have to do manually. I actually bought a license for this because I found it to be so awesome and I have used it on many computers for other people as well. Even though it is only free for 15 days, everything it applies stays after the trial is up… even if you uninstall it! It also has the ability to undo anything it has done if you find out you don’t like some of the changes. It is kind of complicated to use at first… but I can guide you through it.

1. Run the installer (the installation process shouldn’t be too difficult)

2. After it is installed and loaded, the first thing you want to do is click the button to create a profile (should be the second section of the first tab).

3. Here it will ask you some simple questions so that it can optimize your computer based on your setup and preferences. Select your internet connection type (mine is DSL, TV cable or power line). Next, select what speed it is. If you are not sure, you can do a speed test here. Select the speed that is closest to yours rounding DOWN (so if the test says 8 Mbit/s, select the From 6 Mbit/s option). Where it says “Which criteria should be used to optimize visual effects?” I personally select the option “Maximum performance (regardless of visual appearance). This setting makes it suggest tweaks that turn off all the flashy Windows features which slow your system down. For the bottom option… this is entirely up to you. I tell it to not suggest removing any programs because I usually know what I still use and don’t use.

4. After you set up a profile, it will give you some suggestions to optimize performance. Some of these are browser tweaks that speed up browsing and some will be graphical and animation related tweaks (depending on what option you chose for optimizing visual effects) that can make Windows run smoother. I would suggest just telling it to optimize all. If you chose the same option I did for visual effects, it’s going to change your theme to Windows Classic and remove your wallpaper in order to maximize performance. If you don’t like this, you can reset it… I have always been in favor of function over form myself.

5. Next, it will show some problems your computer may have. You can choose to let the program fix these, or click a box in the top right to tell it to ignore it for a certain amount of time or forever. Some of these you should let it fix (you may see one for SVN hacks, shared registry, etc) unless you know what you are doing and prefer some of these to stay as they are. These are the main things that I thought may need some explanation with this program.

The rest of this program is pretty self-explanatory... don't be afraid to explore the various other features it has. Like I said, you can easily reset anything it does. Feel free to post questions if you want to try using it and need help. I HIGHLY recommend everyone use this program at least once, even if you uninstall it right after.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
This is a fairly decent program for scanning and removing malware and spyware that may be slowing down your computer. It’s free to use; the paid version has real-time scanning (pretty much meaning that it auto-scans for malware). Should be pretty easy to install and use. I would say run this maybe once a week or so, depending on how many people use your computer.  

Using these programs and tips, I keep my computer running fairly well for its age. I hope some of you find this useful and feel free to ask questions or leave your own suggestions! 

Here is a quick list of great, 100% free programs I use for different purposes:

Disc Burning Software – Imgburn
Media Player – VLC Player
Browser – Firefox (with AdBlock addon)
Disk Management Tool - EASEUS Partition Master (USE ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!)
Disk Emulation (.iso mounting, etc) – Daemon Tools Lite
Word Processor – OpenOffice

Posted 13 years ago by Ryft | Permalink