SuperK's Guide to a Happy Computer!

[SuperK]

- Your Computer and You -
...............- Can prove to be a taxing relationship.

In a relationship, it takes two to cooperate for one to... operate.
We tend to just ask ask ask everything of our computer. But what do we give back to the computer?
1. A fist on the keyboard
2. A slap on the monitor
3. A kick to the tower
4. Teeth on the mouse
5. Flying flash media, with lots of screaming included.

So instead of, "I'M going to MX-3.com, I'M going to check MY email,"
try, "WE'RE going to MX-3.com, let's check OUR email."

Give your computer regular attention, and it will stay content.
Let's look at some basic steps to keeping your computer happy.


1. Get what your computer wants once in a while.
That's right, your computer has desires, too! So just in time for christmas, what CAN you get your computer to make it just a bit happier this holiday season? Here's a few ideas!

General Maintenance
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A. CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com
- A handy cleaner tool. cleans out all the "Grudges" your computer holds against you. Just run the cleaner tool regularly to keep any recent disputes off both your minds. Run the registry tool to make sure your computer forgets those bad gifts you gave it a while ago (run when you install/uninstall multiple programs. Doesn't need to be frequently run)

B. JK Defrag
http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag
- Your computer doesn't like it when you misplace it's belongings. Here's a handy tool that will put all it's stuff right where it can be easily found! Next time you ask for something, your computer will be able to pull it up for you in no time. Why? Because that "something" was placed where it should be! (specially optimized defragmenter tool that organizes and defragments your data based on file type, media files, free space and such. Fast and very advanced, one of the best available!)

C. utorrent
http://www.utorrent.com
http://www.mininova.org
- Using Peer to Peer software such as limewire? STOP! Discover the joys of torrents!
Easy to use, and a perfect method to distribute both large and small data, such as Linux distro's or archivable copies of audio/video media you currently own! (Pirates? Yarr!)
Download, install utorrent, run it, then browse mininova's website to search for the data you desire.

D. Firefox (Or Opera / Google Chrome)
http://wwwFirefox.com,
http://www.Opera.com
http://www.google.com/chrome
Because Internet Exploder makes everyone's attitude explode!
Firefox is currently the fastest windows browser
Opera is the most advanced and functional
Google Chrome is the simplest and newest-to-the-scene browser. but beware! Only use this on multiple-core computers.

E. Windows Royale
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-En ... inXP.shtml
- Your computer likes to dress up nice, too! This will take it's old, faded, raggedy wardrobe and replaces the theme with new clothing, but keeps your computer's original style in mind! (This is the theme released by Microsoft's New Zealand division, and is originally in the Media Center Edition of windows. Great upgrade from the old Fisher Price look)

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General Multimedia:
-----------------------------------------------------

A. Foobar2000
http://www.foobar2000.org/
- Great click-and-play audio player and music library. Extremely fast with an extremely small memory footprint

B. VLC Player (also Media Player Classic HC / MPlayer)
http://www.videolan.org
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/news.html
- VLC Player will play just about any video format known. WMP HC is an amazing recreation of WMP with hardware high definition video decoding. If you own up-to-date hardware, must-try! MPlayer is possibly the fastest video player, if speed is a concern.

C. Irfanview
http://irfanview.com
- Amazing and simple-to-use image viewer / format conversion / resizer. Best ever. Don't forget the plugin pack.

D. Paint.net
http://getpaint.net
- Free alternative to Photoshop, and extremely less powerful. However, if you're not a pirate, it's still an extremely respectable substitute, as well as easy to use.

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General Prevention / Protection:
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A. AVG Antivirus (alternatively, Avast! Antivirus)
http://www.avg.com/
http://www.avast.com/
- The highest rated antivirus on the free market is AVG. Alternatively is Avast. AVG will be more hassle-free, but both are extremely well-constructed antivirus programs that rival large-name brands such as McAffee and Norton.

B. Spybot: Search and Destroy
- Worried that some malicious material has made it's slimy way onto your computer? Here's a handy tool to make sure no one is stealing your precious personal information and slowing down your computer. Simple and fast, and possibly the most thorough scanner available. Most recommended.

C. Comodo Firewall
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- Paranoia is a common state of mind for a computer, especially in the outside world (internet) with all the bad other computers trying to trip you while walking down the e-hall. With Comodo Firewall, when those nasties try to trip your computer, they just run into a invisible wall, AND you're notified who did it, where it was done, and when they tried to do it! (Very powerful and informative firewall logs and displays all programs and outgoing connections, the amount of data transmitting to and fro what IP addresses and what processes are being used, so you can trace any suspicious activity to it's exact location. Also is low footprint on memory)

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Quality Experience-Improving Options:
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A. Notepad2
http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html
- awesome note-jotting tool, along with syntax highlighting (bbcode, html, css, ect). If you ever do any coding, this is a definite must-have.

B. Miranda IM
http://www.miranda-im.org/
- All-in-one instant messenger client (msn-Y!-AIM for me) small memory footprint, simple, and... all in one. KISS (keep it simple, silly)

C. Sumatra PDF
http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/
- because Adobe Reader kills kittens and is huge it takes a while to load, always resides in memory, and updates itself often to the point of annoyance. Sumatra is tiny and does the exact same job extremely fast. Instantaneously.

PLEASE NOTE:
All these programs are LEGALLY FREE! They are either licensed GPL, Open Source, or simply freeware

And ALL are tested and 100% guaranteed against spyware/adware/malware.

I also do not use antivirus - a powerful firewall eliminates the need for one!

With this setup on my P3 800MHZ laptop with 512MB ram, everything runs amazingly fast in windows XP. just keep it clean, keep it organized, keep it maintained!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y169/S ... -02-07.jpg

nice, clean, organized and FAST!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y169/S ... -02-07.jpg

Look at that! IM, music, word processing, powerful firewall and a few other programs running with windows, only using 160mb!

[fowljesse]

Thanks!!
I'm computer illiterate, and need all the advice I can get. Beside that computers HATE me! I told a friend of mine that, and he didn't think anything of it until his Mac running Linux for 5 years without any problems - crashed when I checked my Email! Electronic devices get wierd when I'm around. My friend who is an engineer @ Intel built me one with a Pentium4 dual core, and and a Gig of memory, and it's just as slow as my last one.
It's a curse.

[SuperK]

I've made WinXP run fast on a P-3 500MHZ with 128MB RAM.


I've also made WinXP actually run on a celeron 400 with 96MB RAM at a usable speed.

Of course I heavily altered the windows installation (Thanks nliteos.com!) to do so.

[fowljesse]

I wish you were my neighbor, and wanted to learn how to be an acrobat, or sport fighter.

[hharb]

good advice man, however u dont really need a firewall program, and the defrag program is not needed because both these functions are built in to windows and by adding extra programs u are using up extra resources that could be saved. I always say to get your computer running fast u need to lose all the junk, for example u need to go to control panel then add/remove programs and remove any programs that u dont use, also u need to go to msconfig and disable any programs that are not needed o startup... i guess good luck with your computers and if u ever need help ill try my best

[mr1in6billion]

The easiest way to keep your computer clean is to not have it load anything extra on start up. "HiJack This" is the best program for controlling what controls your computer. I use it to ensure the only programs that load at start up are the ones that are needed to run windows. Programs put their icon on the task bar when you start them up anyways, there is no need to have them there otherwise. The only icon on my bottom right is the volume control. Other than that a quick defrag every few months keeps my computer quick and health. A clean 1ghz computer can boot XP in about 30 seconds.

[SuperK]

good advice man, however u dont really need a firewall program, and the defrag program is not needed because both these functions are built in to windows and by adding extra programs u are using up extra resources that could be saved. I always say to get your computer running fast u need to lose all the junk, for example u need to go to control panel then add/remove programs and remove any programs that u dont use, also u need to go to msconfig and disable any programs that are not needed o startup... i guess good luck with your computers and if u ever need help ill try my best :D

Might I clarify exactly WHY I placed those items in the list:

Firewall: True, you might not NEED a firewall, BUT, let's look at the advantages of such.

1. Application Monitor: You know EXACTLY what program is accessing the internet at what times and What their overhead is.
2. Network Controls: If you're on a large network, say you are connected to your school's network on your laptop, you can control restrictions and permissions for the whole network. No one snooping to your laptop OR pinging the mess out of you while you're browsing.
3. Traffic Control: Websites EVERYWHERE are pinging you. DDOS attacks, your ISP, ect. Firewall can block any requests thereby keeping your network overhead low and more responsive.
4. Privacy: Like was said earlier, Websites EVERYWHERE are pinging you. They want to know who you are, where you are, what you are and where you are browsing. A firewall can prevent such.
If you're a "Yarrr!" Pirate, then your ISP also cannot monitor your traffic.
5. Working around Packet Filtering:

OK here's the biggest issue: Comcast. Have any of you read what they're doing lately? Apparently they are heavily reducing the effectiveness of torrents.
At short intervals, your computer will connect with another torrent user, a "peer" and will upload/download data back and forth.
Comcast doesn't throttle the bandwidth, instead they periodically (like every 30 seconds) send a "stop, break operation, reset" signal to the connection that torrents use. this makes torrents just a pain in the rear to use.
However, a firewall, once again, will take that "stop, F up connection" command, and turn it into a "LOL! Nevermind!" command

^^^^^^^ that above is a very broken method of explaining the situation, but the concept is still the same.




You're right, you don't NEED a firewall...
But I'll be damned if I throw mine out.

[SuperK]

the defrag program is not needed because both these functions are built in to windows and by adding extra programs u are using up extra resources that could be saved.

Might I add the defrag program I listed also uses less overhead than the built in windows one?

Do you know that the windows implementation of a defragmenting tool is based on an old Diskeeper Lite engine?

Windows does a VERY basic "reorganization" of your data. Basically, if file A has data in cluster 3 and WAY far away in cluster 78, it will move the cluster to #4 so the data is continuous, and not fragmented in several sectors of the hard drive


JK Defrag uses the Windows API of defragmentation, which is good, because that means it doesn't have to load an external engine and is low overhead. Also means you have NO risk of loosing data in case of computer failure in the middle of a defrag process.
Why JK Defrag? Optimization strategies.

A. Sort By Name: Best idea ever. takes FOLDER NAME>SUB FOLDER NAME>FILE and sorts it as such. This means, ALL your pictures in My Pictures are no longer on the 1st, 98th and 153rd section of the hard drive.
Each picture file is next to each other in alphabetical order. Benefits?
1. Faster access time
2. The actuator arm does not have to overexert itself, longer hard drive lifespan.
3. just a darned good idea

Windows defragment DOES NOT do this.

and a big list of other reasons:

Why use this defragger instead of the standard Windows defragger?

* Much faster.
* Totally automatic, extremely easy to use.
* Optimized for daily use.
* Data optimization, several strategies.
* Directories are moved to the beginning of the disk.
* Reclaims MFT reserved space after disk-full.
* Maintains free spaces for temporary files.
* Can defragment very full harddisks.
* Can defragment very large files.
* Can defragment individual directories and files.
* Can be run automatically with the Windows Scheduler.
* Can be used from the commandline.
* Can be used as a screen saver.
* Sources available, can be customized.

Why use this defragger instead of a commercial or shareware defragger?

* It's free.
* Totally automatic, extremely easy to use.
* Optimized for daily use.
* Several optimization strategies.
* Directories are moved to the beginning of the disk.
* Reclaims MFT reserved space after disk-full.
* Maintains free spaces for temporary files.
* Can defragment individual directories and files.
* Can be used from the commandline.
* Can be used as a screen saver.
* Sources available, guaranteed to be free of spyware, malware, nagware, and such.

[SuperK]

And if you want to get SUPER TECHNICAL

cleaning up unused programs simply frees up space on your hard drive.
If you want more system resources, you want to be removing SERVICES that are continuously running using threads and physical memory.
Such as:
A. 3rd party software that installs services, such as Logitech and their input plugins and such.
B. Standard Windows Services, such as
Indexing
Remote Desktop
Office Source Engines
Terminal Services
Quality of Service protocols
Web Clients
Help and Support services


the mentioned above and MANY more are initialized and continuously running.
Depending on what your computer needs are, you can trim down the list of active services. There are VERY large speed benefits to gain from this.


Run>services.msc <<<knock yourself out.

[Flyer]

There are other useful tools that allow you to tweak services and other system settings such as TweakUI from Microsoft and xp-AntiSpy. Msot of these are easy to use and does the job.

If you want to get technical and clean out spyware and/or see what's going on in your network, I recommend using WireShark to monitor traffic. Useful if you think you may have some rootkits on your system or hard to remove spyware.

[Tropical Emerald 1993]

Any updetes on this Superk?

I found out that tinyXP is probably the mos efficient OS

[tmac4t4]

this threads great!
my computer was violated through the backdoor and has acquired an STD, this thread has taught me to be nice to the computer rather than slap it around like the ugly step child

[Daninski]

Ok I wrote a nice post up here and it never made it into this forum. Must of been a virus, patio door violator or perhaps one of the few WIN32 Tojans and we know there's only a couple of those. People download free programs and never consult the licence and terms. They hide the fact that third party software may be installed as well. So read the licence and if you see third party software abort the install. I'm a firm believer in Firewalls and has saved my as* many times (ZoneAlarm). I download lots of stuff using UTorrent, Limewire, etc and a good virus scan is invalueable. I also find a good pop up stopper saves a lot of aggravation as well. Finally it really bugs me when I go on someones computer to help fix a problem to find half the screen is taken up by Google tool Bar, Yahoo tool bar, and all those other bullsh*t bars people end up installing because you didn't read the install information close enough. Why is MSN always running in everyones taskbar. Shut that sh*t off. Thanks

[projectzemx3]

wow thats a lot of steps to a happy PC. glad i got a mac....

[Dark_Rider2k3]

I would just like to add the following:

1. Spybot: Search and Destroy
2. AdAware
3. Spyware Blaster

Spybot: Search and Destroy is a program that will search your computer for any "spyware" (Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent. *wikipedia citation) and remove it. It is IMO the best "free" spyware program out there, though if you are going for the pay route, then i'd suggest SpyBlaster 3.

Spyware Blaster is like Spybot, as it monitors for spyware, but it prevents spyware from being installed. It is another great program, but I must stress that you need another spyware removal program (my recommendation was spybot), as Spyware baster does not prevent everything from being installed onto your PC. It is still a very good program that does work wonders. With this program, you should notice a drastic decrease in the amount of spyware you have on your PC.

AdAware is a program that searches for "adware" (Adware or advertising-supported software is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer after the software is installed on it or while the application is being used. Some types of adware are also spyware and can be classified as privacy-invasive software. *wikipedia citation) and removes it. It is my favorite program for Adware removal, but if you have Windows Live One care, then you shouldn't get this program (windows live throws up a problem and suggests you remove AdAware). The best "free" version, that also has a "pro" that you can upgrade to for a fee that will monitor your PC in what i belive is the same fashion as Spyware blaster.


I suggest running those programs once a week, and to make sure that you check for updates prior to doing any scan. If you do this, it should also help in keeping your computer running fast and smooth.

I know that SuperK mentioned if you have a good firewall, you won't need any virus scanning tools, but if you can get 'em I still say to get them.. I recommend McAfee but yeah.. I tend to err on the safe side with these things.

Another good thing to do is if you are using Internet Explorer, make sure that every so often you do the following:

windows XP/Earlier:

if you are running "Classic" mode in XP, or if you are using an earlier version of Windows, then look for the internet explorer icon on your desktop.

Right click it, and hit "properties".

You should see an "Internet Options" box show up.

One of the options is to remove the temporary files.

Click that, and then click the check mark that says, remove all files.

Click ok, and wait. You may have to wait a few minutes depending on how many files are in there (Internet explorer does put a cap on the amount of files, and this cap can be adjusted.

You can also delete cookies, but I do not do this unless AdAware or Spybot found a lot of "bad files".

NOTE: If you delete your cookies, you will have to re-login to ANY sites that you have set to "keep me logged in." Examples would be the MX-3 forums, Ebay, Amazon.com... pretty much if you will have to log into all of your sites again...

I have lots more tips and stuff, but I must be getting ready for work.. hope this helps!!!