Is your computer running slow? Is it feeling sluggish? Well, unlike with people, there isn't a pill or dose of fiber you can give it to speed things along, but there are things you can do to help get your machine back up to speed. There isn't one set of rules or steps that will work on all computers, but the following tips and fixes may just be what you need.
      Before we get started, let's set some benchmarks. Have a stopwatch handy. Shut down your computer and restart it. Start timing from when you hit the power button to start it up, and stop timing when the boot process is done (when the little hourglass at the desktop cursor stops twirling and disappears). Now start a few applications that you noticed were getting slow, one at a time, and use the timer to record how long it takes for them to load. Shut each down before opening the next one. This is not very scientific, but it will give you a foundation from which to judge if you are making any progress as you accomplish the following remedies.
      1) First, it is important to be sure that you computer is not being influenced by outside sources or unwanted activities. Three things will help you with that:
      A) A Firewall- XP has one built in, included in the security center ["Start/Settings/Control Panel/Security Center"].

The Windows Firewall in XP can be found in the control panel- either as part of the Security Center or on its own.

      A really great firewall, and a free one at that, is the free version of ZoneAlarm from ZoneLabs of which I have spoken many, many times (See my article on ZoneAlarm in the FRCN Security Center for more details ). It really works- sometimes so well that if forgotten, things can become difficult and frustrating. If you set it to not show alerts and try to connect a new program to the Internet, it won't connect because it is being blocked by ZoneAlarm, and it will drive you crazy until you have the "flash of duh" go off in your head.

      B) An anti-virus program- If you ever insert a disc or CD into the computer or it is connected to the Internet, or if anyone other than you uses it, you NEED to have a dependable anti-virus application running and UP TO DATE! It should be set to update automatically, and to check for updates at least once a day. If you have been living in a cave somewhere and still don't have an anti-virus program running, I highly recommend AVG anti-virus from Grisoft (See my article on AVG in the FRCN Security Center for more details ). This is not only an excellent application but there is a free version (click on "Products" and scroll to the bottom of the screen for the free version). Whatever you are using, if it is not updated regularly (as in daily) then it is of little value. Check to be sure it is up-to-date now! Additionally, be sure that the program you use is set to filter E-Mail. It should also have a "scan all files" selection- find it and use it now to scan your entire computer just to be sure nothing is lurking in the background.
      Many of the sellers of the popular anti-virus programs have online scanning services which are free. Usually it is a link that says something like "Scan my computer now" or such. Do a Google search to find them. It's a good idea to try a couple of those just in case something was missed. This is particularly true if you are having problems and not so much so if your computer is running OK.

      C) Spyware removal- Spyware and adware and related malevolencies which get placed on your computer either through a website or through installed software. Many times you unknowingly give it permission to be installed when you install a free application from the Internet (that is why it is important to read the EULA- End User License Agreement, before installing any software).
      Ad-Aware from Lavasoft is an excellent program. I also recommend Spybot. Running both of these occasionally will take care of virtually any Spyware or Adware program installed on your computer. Be aware that some free applications depend on adware (such as Eudora Free version which is ad supported), so be careful what you choose to remove from your computer. Removing some adware can cause some applications to stop working. There aren't many like that, but if something suddenly stops working, that is possibly the problem- just reinstall the application to remedy the problem.
      These two applications should be used at least once per month- once per week if the computer is regularly used online or by multiple users. And just as you should keep your anti-virus application up-to-date, it is also important to update each of these programs before use. They depend on definition lists to find threats, and new lists are issued regularly.
      For more details on these applications, see my article in the FRCN Security Center .

      2) If your computer suddenly slowed down (as opposed to slowing over a longer period of time) try this- Reboot the computer and hit the "F8" key once per second or so after the first screen. You should get a screen that gives you choices for booting- choose "Safe Mode." Allow the computer to finish booting, and then restart it using the "Start/Turn Off Computer/Restart" option. This rewrites the swap file and sometimes this can be all the solution you need to help things along.

      3) The next step is to check your hard drive. As you use your computer, files get written, erased, and moved about. Most applications do best when all their related files are located together on the drive. Putting these fragments together and in order is called "defragging." To defragment your drive follow these steps:

      a) Open "MY COMPUTER." ["Windows key/E" is the fastest way- hold down the WIndows key and hit the "E" key].
      b) RIGHT click on the drive (Usually "C") and choose "PROPERTIES."
      c) Click on the "TOOLS" tab.

the "Tools" tab showing the choices for hard drive maintenance

      4) While we are on the subject, a less likely problem with contemporary computers is running out of disc space. You can easily check this. Once again, go to "My Computer," RIGHT click on the hard drive (C:) and choose "Properties." On the "General" tab there will be a pie chart:

The chart showing how much free space is left on the selected hard drive.

      4) Once those tasks are done it is time to clean up the registry. This is the control system that runs just about everything. Over time it can become polluted with bits and pieces of references from programs that were moved or removed and as it gets more and more bloated it causes the computer to run slower and slower. One free application I have found effective is RegScrubXP.

      RegScrubXP will go through the registry and remove most all of the odd bits that might be laying about. If you only find five like I did here, then you are doing pretty good. More likely you will find dozens, particularly the first time you run it.

Don't be too worried about removing something you need because you can go back and restore changes you have made right from within the RegScrubXP interface (the most recent set of changes will be at the top of the queue shown here).

      5) After removing all the loose ends from the registry it needs to be reorganized and compacted to work as quickly as possible. I would suggest "WinASO RegDefrag" (it's at the bottom of the page and there is a download button right there).

Here you see that WinASO RegDefrag shows I do not need to defragment the registry right now (I had done it the day before). I can assure you that you will need to defrag!

      When you have finished with that, have your stopwatch handy and restart your computer to see if there is any improvement. If not, then try this: At WinASO there is also an application called "WinASO Registry Optimizer." I have used it and it works quite well. The download and scanning functions are fully available, but it will only fix ten problems in the free version.

The "WinASO Registry Optimizer" interface is quite easy to understand and use. Basically, just click on "Scan."

      You need to register it ($30) to get it working completely. Before you pay, run it and see how many problems it finds, and decide for yourself if it is worth it. The first time I ran it there were over 2,500 problems on my computer! Lots and lots of little problems!
      At this point you should reboot, once again using the stopwatch, to check the boot time as an indicator of your progress.

      6) Optimize memory usage. If your computer is more than about 6 months or a year old, and/or it was bargain priced, odds are it doesn't have much system memory. I am not talking about hard drive space (which is almost always stated as Gigabytes, or GB, as in "80GB"). I am speaking of system RAM (Random Access Memory) which will be something like 256mb, 512mb, or 1.0gb. Odds are that you have either 256mb or 512mb of system memory. To find out, go to "Start/Settings/Control Panel" and run "System." The "General" tab shows system information that tells you how much memory is installed.

Lots of information to be found about your system here. This one shows my Pentium 4 2.8gHz system has 1.00GB of RAM memory

      How much RAM memory is enough? I believe that Microsoft says that XP can run on 256mb of memory but only if you don't have a life and have hours and hours to waste. XP will run fairly well on 512mb and that is the minimum that most experts will recommend. One GB (which is 1000mb) is much better. If you decide to increase the amount of memory, order carefully. There are some small differences in types of memory and you need to be sure to get exactly the correct type. Many websites that sell memory have online systems that allow you to input your system's information (model, brand, etc.). You do not need to purchase the manufacturer's memory, but you do need the correct memory!
      Whatever the amount of memory you have installed, it will help speed up your system to use the memory as efficiently as possible. My favorite application for that is FreeRAM XPpro from Yourware Solutions

      Most of the time you will never have to even look at or think about FreeRAm XP Pro. It happily runs in teh background, sittin in teh tool tray. Under "Settings" go to "Configure Settings" and that will contain about all selections you will need to change if any.
      This free program is loaded at start up and constantly monitors memory space. It will automatically free up as much memory as possible based on a lot of different parameters. You can adjust it in a lot of ways, or just let it do its thing automatically.
      On the other side of that is the possibility of bad memory. To test your system's memory, download the Microsoft Windows Memory Diagnostic tool. The download link is on that page along with a lot of information to help you in using the tool and interpreting its findings.
      Once again, reboot and time to see if you are making any progress.

      7) After all of that, if things are still sluggish, take a look at what is running on your computer. Hit "CTRL/ALT/DELETE" (in that order, holding down each key until you hit the DELETE key and then release all of them at once) and the Windows Task manager will appear.

Select the "Processes" tab and then click on the CPU header twice. This will place the applications using the most Central Processor Unit's (CPU's) resources at the top. Now click twice on "Mem Usage" and see what is filling the most memory. Use the information you gather there to decide is there is something using a lot of resources that you do not need to have running.
      So what do you do? If you find something that seems lie you can live without, select it and click the "End Process" button. Windows will usually not allow you to end an important process, and wost case is that you may have to reboot to start things again. If things suddenly speed up then you found a possible contributor to the problem.
      Do the same using the "Applications" tab to see what programs you have running.

      8) Start Me Up- There are a number of programs that load at startup, behind the scenes as the computer is booted. Some of them are part of the operating system and others have been added by you. Your Anti-Virus application is a good example of an application you have added that loads when the computer starts- it better! But what about all the other things that are loaded at the same time? What are they? One easy way to find out is to install "Quick Startup" from Glarysoft. This free application will list every program that starts with Windows and will let you easily select to not load any you choose. It makes it very simple to trouble shoot problems by de-selecting a program and then rebooting to see if things change. The help file is fairly unhelpful, but the basics of this program are fairly easily understood without assistance.

The Quick Startup" interface is easy to use with virtually all its functions either intuitive or easily discovered.

      One thing that was hard to figure out were the green and red bars. These are evidently threat graphs based on "votes" from users at the Glarysoft website. Select an application and click on "More Information" to see that in greater detail.

One excellent function in "Quick Startup" is the ability to get more information about any of the listings there. Select a entry by clicking on it. In the box at the bottom of the interface click on "More information." A page will open in your browser which may contain a lot of information about the selected entry including whether it should be allowed to run or not. If you choose to permanently stop a program from loading you can choose to remove it in the "Quick Startup" interface.

      If Shakespeare had a computer he would say, "What to allow and what to deny? That is the question!" To save more resources, take a look at the applications that are running and decide if some of them are not really necessary or are only used occasionally. Select to not start them by either changing the permission in the program itself or by using that option in "Quick Startup." If it is a program that you still want to use occasionally just place a shortcut for the application on the desktop to allow easier access to the program while still saving resources.
      One more time, if you have made any changes, restart and time the process to see if you are getting anywhere.

      9) It is possible that your computer is dirty- no, I do not mean filled with pornography nor do I want you to get out the Pledge. If various parts inside the computer's case get dusty it can cause overheating and the computer may slow things down to lessen the chance of heat damage. Whatever the case, if you haven't had the inside of the computer cleaned, it should be done. I clean mine out every couple of months. There are a few areas to check:

      A) The CPU and its heat sink and cooling fan and ductwork if so equipped
      B) The memory chip set
      C) The video card's heat sink and fan if so equipped
      D) The area around the hard drive(s)
      E) Case cooling fans and screens or guards
      F) The power supply and its fan

      This should be done with the power disconnected, and preferably out of doors. Use just enough air pressure to blow off the dust. Care should be taken not to spin any of the fans at high speed with the compressed air (hold the fan still using a Q-Tip between two of the blades while blowing it off). If you can't identify any of the above parts or are not comfortable messing about with the internals of the computer, it is best to either hire someone to do it or take it to a shop. If there is enough interest I will do an article to cover this task in a future issue. It really is not that difficult nor risky if a modicum of care is taken.
      Hopefully that took care of your problem, or at least sped things up a bit. If not you may have other problems beyond the scope of this column.