Miscellaneous Tips
There are a myriad of other free tweaks and tools to use to keep your pc running as fast as it did the day it left the factory, and as securely as if it were not connected to the Internet or had access to email (that is where the threats come from, after all). Of course, not having access to the web or email would leave the pc with not much to do, wouldn't it?
On this page we will explore some of them and supplement them with videos of how they can help keep your PC running in tip-top condition.
The Paging File
The mysterious paging file. Sometimes called the 'swap' file. When the computer uses up all the available RAM, but still has work to do, it runs an algorithm to determine which files currently in memory are not being used and not likely to be used for a while. The algoritm is really too complicated and techical to warrant much discussion here.
Once the files that can be moved have been determined, the computer then moves the files from memory to the paging file on the hard drive, which is in a special reserved area, essentially 'swapping' them out to make room for the new files. Then the new files are loaded into the newly vacated memory space. When the 'swapped' files are needed again, the process repeats.
In a computer configured with too little memory, this process can take quite a lot of processing by the computer, processing which is not productive for you. The result is long waits for anything to happpen, and can cause premature wear and tear on your hard drive. If your computer is running very slowly, look at the hard drive light on the front of the computer, or if it does not have a light, listen closely to see if there is a lot of soft 'clicking' from your computer's case. If the light is steadily on or rapidly flashing almost continuously, or there is a continuous clicking, you problably have an issue. (Also see File Fragmentation on the Files and Folders page)
To minimize the effects of swapping files, you should have sufficient memory in your computer. In a system with not enough physical memory, this can be the most cost-effective enhancement you can make. Additional memory is pretty cheap today, compared with several years ago, and is a relatively simple add-on. It is important, however, to get the correct type and size of memory for you computer, as there are physical as well as electrical differences between memory modules. An Internet search for memory, armed with your computer's make and model numbers, should produce good results.
Regardless of how much memory your computer has, configuring the paging file correctly can make maximum use of the memory you have. Setting the file to be a static size, instead of dynamically expanding, can save time, at the cost of hard drive space. The paging file should be anywhere from 2 to 3 times the amount of memory you have, so in a system with 512 MB of RAM, that would translate to 1 GB to 1.5 GB of paging file. A good rule of thumb would be that the less memory you have, the more the paging file should be towards three times its size, so in the case of 512 Mb or RAM a 1.5 GB paging file would be appropriate. A system with more memory would require a smaller multiple, but not less than 2, unless you are restricted by hard disc space.
A note of importance here: The mazimum swap file size may be limted by which version of Windows (either 32 bit or 64 bit) you are running. If the system is running 32 bit Windows, the swap file is physically limited to 4 Gb., which is the maximum amount of memory a 32 bit system can address. Likewise, the physical RAM is also limited to 4 Gb. for the same reason. A 64 bit system does not have that limitation.
The paging files works best when it is on a separate drive on a separate controller, but most computers only have one drive and one controller, so this option is not always available. Below is a video that will show you how to change the paging file size based on the amount of memory in your computer. You may have to reboot to see a significant change.
(video coming soon!)
Visual Effects
Changing the settings for visual effects can make a difference in performance in many cases. The special effects that Windows uses to give the users a good, smoothly performing visual experience require a decent amount of processing power that may better be used elsewhere, especially in an older, underpowered computer. The following video will show you how to adjust the video effects to improve performance.
(video coming soon!)
Startup Programs
The programs that start up with Windows are probably the most significant drain on any computer's resources. Virtually every computer program installed on your PC wants to run at startup, assuming that you are going to use that program all the time, when in reality nothing is further from the truth.
Not starting any programs at start-up would seem like a good idea, but there are programs that need to run everytime your computer starts up, such as your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. It can be tricky to reduce the number of programs that run at start-up and you might inadvertently stop something that needs to run.
Windows has a utility, "msconfig" that can be run to see what is starting up, but incorrect use of that utility may cause your computer to not start up at all, so you must exercise extreme caution when using it. The names of programs that are necessary to start up with Windows are not always easy to identify in this utility, so I would recommend that you err on the side of caution, rather than stopping things willy-nilly. The following video will demonstrate the msconfig utility and how to run it.
(video coming soon)
CCleaner also has a startup manager utility built-in.