First, let me say that as an employee for a MAJOR internet company who works in tech support. I’m constantly having to walk someone through taking the necessary steps to do some spring cleaning for their computers. Today, I had to do it again with my partner. He needed me to email him the steps to take so that he could pass on the information to some coworkers. It made me realize that the general public and you, our devoted readers, are probably unaware of how to go about speeding your systems up. If you use Windows that is.
So here are the steps… Short simple and to the point!
Follow the list….. IN ORDER!
First, check for updates by going to Start > All Programs > Windows Updates. Choose the ones that you want and select OK to download them.
Now download ccleaner. (Remember, “run” not “save”) With it, you are able to schedule routine checks. What the program does is delete all cache, cookies, and temporary internet files(both on and offline). Just close your browser while you run it. Go ahead and use the ccleaner now.
We’ll need to make several alterations in various areas of your computer now. Go into your Start > Control Panel. From here, you’re going to have a lot to do. Start with Hardware > Devices > uninstall or delete those devices that you no longer use. Next, User Accounts > change your settings so that Windows doesn’t notify you EVERY time you make a change to your system (simply bc it is annoying). Follow this up with Appearance & Personalization > Display > adjust resolution to the highest setting (warning: the screen will go funky while it adjusts). This one is a doozy: Taskbar & Start Menu > this is where you are going to choose what is displayed at the bottom Task bar and when you click on Start….. Taskbar > choose how you want your taskbar (right hand side at bottom normally) to look. Start Menu > choose what you want to show in your Start Menu. Lastly, Toolbar > choose those programs that you want to show their toolbars in the taskbar. Click Apply and then OK.
Next in the Control Panel is System Security > System > System Properties > Hardware tab > Device Installation Settings > change this to update automatically (this way you dont have to constantly check for updates for what you use with your computer. Now go to the Advanced tab > Performance Settings > Visual Effects > Let Windows choose what is best. Advanced tab > best Performance. Data Exectution > run for essential programs. Click OK.
After this, you’ll be back at System Properties > Advanced > Start Up & Recovery Settings > Make changes as you would like. Click OK. If there are any other changes you want, do so. Click OK.
Now, go to Start > Computer > right click on Hard Disk C: drive. From here, you are going to do a few different tasks.
Go to Tools tab. Check for Errors (won’t do it until you restart the computer). Then click on Defragment Now (will take quite some time- an hour or so). ****DO NOT DO ANYTHING DURING THIS PROCESS**** When this finishes, go to General tab & select the checkbox to compress all files on the disk then uncheck the box that indexes file contents. Click Apply. Make sure that you choose to do this action to the disk and all files, subfiles, and subfolders. Not all of them will be able to make the changes > click ignore all. Next, still on the General tab, click on Disk Cleanup. This is going to clean up all the space on your computer. Once again, this takes some time.
After this, Start > Control Panel > Uninstall Programs. Choose those programs that you don’t use or need & uninstall them. NOTE: If you aren’t sure- LEAVE IT!!!! Some programs download other programs to run their software. One thing you will want to uninstall is Java & J2SE. At this point, Now you are going to go to Adobe and make sure that you update any programs that you currently use (will be listed in the Programs list for the uninstall section). When ALL of this is done, go to Java and click on Free Java Download. This will scan your computer and download the newest versions of Java to your computer (which is essential for almost all internet access).
Now, restart your computer. When it boots up, it will look like DOS. DON’T WORRY!!!
Congrats, you have just made changes to your computer so it will run better & more efficiently. This process may be time consuming but it will prevent massive delays in performance.
