Tag: optimizing

Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience – Part 7

December 24, 2008 by Jason

In this episode of our Windows XP tweaking saga, we’ll learn how to customize a few default applications of this operating system. If you’re just joining us, please allow me to ‘fill you in’ on the details: the “Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience” series provides tweaks that do not require any IT knowledge whatsoever, that are easy and fast to apply and don’t need any third-party software to be installed on your computer. Notepad is all you need. During the process, you will create an optimization file with just the tweaks you’re interested in, that you can apply on any number of computers.

The first thing you have to do, if you’re not familiar with this series, is to read the first article. There, you’ll find the few steps that must be followed in order for the optimization process to be completed successfully (and for you to understand what must be done with the bolded lines below).

So, now that you’ve created your tweaks.reg file and wrote ‘Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00′ at the beginning, let’s start changing a few things under the hood of Notepad. Before making these modifications, please be sure that Notepad is not running. Read More»

Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience – Part 5

November 27, 2008 by Jason

Once again, it’s time to enhance your Windows XP operating system exactly the way you want and without paying a cent on expensive programs that do something so simple that even a kid could handle it. This series allows you to make important changes to the look, feel and behavior of your Microsoft Windows XP with just the help of the good ol’ Notepad. These tweaks, performed on the Windows Registry, can be undone, but it’s very important that you follow a few steps and remember that the lines you are about to copy must be carefully selected and/or copied, because a single misplaced / missing / added character may seriously damage your OS.

So, before continuing our journey into the land of magical tweaks, it’s imperative that you read the first article in the series to understand not only the basic rules that must be followed in order to get the job done right, but also… what’s the deal with all the bold lines below. Before starting yet another series of desktop tweaks, please allow me to remind you not to leave the tweaks.reg file blank after opening it. Therefore, now that you’re viewing it in Notepad and have placed the “Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00” [without the quotes] at the beginning, let’s start optimizing. Read More»

Speed Up Windows By Optimizing Your Page File

August 19, 2008 by Jason

The page file is a dedicated spot reserved on your hard drive that the computer refers back to when it needs extra memory for programs and applications. Page file, or virtual memory is the slowest component of the memory process, because your computer has to call to the hard drive to access the page file. By optimizing your page file you can speed up Windows’ responsiveness and performance.

Defragmenting The Page File

Defragmenting your hard drive is recommended by everyone, but what about your page file? Your page file too, like the hard drive, can get cluttered and fragmented so it’s important to make sure your page file is defragmented for optimum for performance.

There are two main methods for defragmenting your page file: Installing a page file defragmenting software, or disabling the page file then running the Windows Disk Defragmenter. Read More»

Give Firefox an Adrenalin Shot with Preloader

March 08, 2008 by Jason

Firefox may be my browser of choice but there are times when it is REALLY slow, so slow in fact that I am sorely tempted to defect to Opera or even gasp Safari!

It’s sometimes even worse when you’re opening up Firefox. You click on that little Fox icon and it sits there thinking “hmmm
.he wants me to start up
will I or won’t I? Let’s think about it for a few minutes”. Meanwhile you’re sitting there gnashing your teeth and flirting with the idea of walking on the wild side with Flock.

But you don’t have to wail and despair any more! During a little stroll through SourceForge, I found an interesting program called Firefox Preloader which was short on technical details but long on prospects. It claims to be able to “improve Firefox’s start-up time”. Read More»

Speed up your computer by optimizing your computer is appearance in Windows Vista

July 28, 2007 by Jason

For the many out there that are running Windows Vista with 512MB RAM and are left helpless without video card driver support, optimizing your computer’s appearance can mean the difference between a slow and a fast computer. I have just recently switched to Windows Classic and it cut down loading certain windows from 3-8 seconds to 1-3 (Yes my PC is really slow.)

Windows Classic has always been a popular theme for gamers because it gives a great performance boost to your computer. Your computer doesn’t have to spend it’s resources on those fancy taskbars and animations, and can focus on giving you power. Read More»