System speedup?

[KenK]

Anyone know of a helpful utility to speed up an old clogged computer
running XP Home? Something more friendly and especially more informative
than DOS's msconfig > startup. I have no idea what many of the aps it lists
do. Am I stuck with the need to Google each of the unknowns?

TIA

 

[aeroloose]

Anyone know of a helpful utility to speed up an old clogged computer
running XP Home? Something more friendly and especially more informative
than DOS's msconfig > startup. I have no idea what many of the aps it lists
do. Am I stuck with the need to Google each of the unknowns?

TIA

WinPatrol works well. It will categorize services, start-up
programs, tasks, BHOs, etc. and allow easy viewing and
control. I have Plus, so I can one-click look-up any file
of interest. I don't recall if that feature is available in
the free version.

 

[Nil]

Anyone know of a helpful utility to speed up an old clogged
computer running XP Home? Something more friendly and especially
more informative than DOS's msconfig > startup. I have no idea
what many of the aps it lists do. Am I stuck with the need to
Google each of the unknowns?

Your computer can be running slowly for any many number of reasons. The
hardware could be failing. It could be infected with malware. It could
be misconfigured. I don't know of any utility that I would trust to
automatically "speed up" my computer without my understanding what it
was doing.

You would be best off identifying the cause of the problem before
applying snake oil.

For controlling startup processes, Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel
hides most of the more dangerous options from you - most of what he
lets you disable won't be fatal, but I'm sure you can still hose the
system if you're not careful.

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

 

[Bert]

In KenK

Something more friendly and especially more informative
than DOS's msconfig > startup. I have no idea what many of the aps it
lists do.

Unless your machine is infected, all those startup activities either
belong to Windows or to some program you installed yourself.

Take a look at what you have installed and get rid of what you don't
want. Anything left after that is probably something you actually need.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Anyone know of a helpful utility to speed up an old clogged computer
running XP Home? Something more friendly and especially more informative
than DOS's msconfig > startup. I have no idea what many of the aps it lists
do. Am I stuck with the need to Google each of the unknowns?

First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that
start automatically, not just with those that go into the system tray.
Not all auto-starting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the
tray.

On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its
Options to see if it has the choice not to start (make sure you
actually choose the option not to run it, not just a "don't show icon"
option). Many can easily and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't
work, run MSCONFIG from the Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab,
uncheck the programs you don't want to start automatically.

However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of
running the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell
you, you should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs
you run, but *which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but
others have no effect on performance.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do
is determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what
the cost in performance is of its running all the time. You can try
internet searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed
decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Your computer can be running slowly for any many number of reasons. The
hardware could be failing. It could be infected with malware. It could
be misconfigured. I don't know of any utility that I would trust to
automatically "speed up" my computer without my understanding what it
was doing.

You would be best off identifying the cause of the problem before
applying snake oil.

Ditto! A very strong ditto!

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[aeroloose]

Ditto! A very strong ditto!

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

I keep seeing these warnings about "snake oil" fixes. What
are some examples?

 

[philo]

I keep seeing these warnings about "snake oil" fixes. What are some
examples?

There are a lot of registry cleaners that spot all kinds of "problems"
and when one "fixes" the "problems" one is very often left with real
*problems*.

Registry editing should be left to those who know exactly what they are
doing .

Taking items out of start-up through the use of msconfig is fairly safe.
The last time I saw a problem there was ten years ago or more on a Win98
system. It was easy enough to just run msconfig again and put back the
needed application.

 

[Nil]

I keep seeing these warnings about "snake oil" fixes. What
are some examples?

I've seen a series of TV commercials advertising some miraculous
program you can buy that claims to instantly turn your old, messed
up computer into a lightning-fast cutting-edge speed demon. It cures
blue screens, it makes your email faster, it slices, it dices, it
walks your dog, it cures erectile dysfunction.

I don't know if this is the same one, but it looks similar to this:

http://www.speeditupfree.com/

Now, check out the reviews here:

http://download.cnet.com/SpeedItup-Free/3000-18512_4-10766309.html?tag=mncol;1

People complain that the product actually slowed down their
computer, that it installed toolbars that they didn't want, that the
maker tried to extort money from them, etc. This seems common with
this type of product.

Any time you see such breathless hyperbole you should be suspicious.
It's not doing anything that you can easily do yourself with
Windows' built-in tools, and if it's not from a well-known,
reputable software house, there's a good chance that it's actually
malware in disguise.

 

[Greegor]

Anyone know of a helpful utility to speed up an old clogged computer
running XP Home? Something more friendly and especially more informative
than DOS's msconfig > startup. I have no idea what many of the aps it lists
do. Am I stuck with the need to Google each of the unknowns?

TIA

The "snake oil" registry cleaner scams have given
most people such a bad attitude about registry cleaners
that even the good free ones are generally panned
by many techies. Not all are scams though.

It's preferable to build a clean install
from your original Windows install files/CD and install
all of the updates and everyday programs that you
use, and then "bottle it" by making an image copy
or partition clone.

Whereas some OEM computer makers used hidden
partitions on the top end of the hard disk, I like to
make an openly visible partition and clone the
first boot partition to it. XXClone (free) allows me to
actually boot from either one, a nice way to test
the upper partition, but since you can't clone
to the drive you booted on, while it's running, booting
on the last partition is a means to repair the
first partition by cloning to it.

None of this takes the place of serious unattached backups
which can be done as a detached partition image file or
a detached clone partition as I described above.

However, I have found that cloning from the last
partition to the first partition solves 90% of all problems
where a backup might ordinarily be used.

If somebody runs into an uninstaller that fails, leaving
garbage files and garbage registry entries buried deep
in the system's "craw" I just boot from the last
partition and xxclone from the last to the first parition.
I do something else for half an hour, while it works.
Then I run the built in tools to ensure that the newly
minted first parition is bootable. Then I boot the first partition.

An image file might work better for detached removable backup.

Lookup:
XXClone (free version partition cloner)
Macrium reflect (free version makes partition images?)

Do you have the original CD/files/hidden install partition?
No registry cleaner is preferable to a clean install.
Got backups?