New laptops with Vista

[slrguy]

Marco,

Just a quick note of thanks. I'd used the full spectrum of Norton crap for years. Finally it was taking 6+ minutes just to boot up, so I called Norton. Their response? "You must have malicious code in there somewhere - sorry we can't help you".

I followed your path here- and feel like I bought a new laptop!

Apparently the only "malicious code" was all that Norton crap.

Thanks a million!

 

[Rocky]

Marco,

Just a quick note of thanks. I'd used the full spectrum of Norton crap for years. Finally it was taking 6+ minutes just to boot up, so I called Norton. Their response? "You must have malicious code in there somewhere - sorry we can't help you".

I followed your path here- and feel like I bought a new laptop!

Apparently the only "malicious code" was all that Norton crap.

Thanks a million!

You just made my day.
Thanks....:bunny:

 

[Matilda]

Sorted!!!! If you press phone only in Messenger and then talk to the person at the other end (my mum), and then press view webcam for her and send webcam for me it works brilliantly!!!!! She has a fast line too so that wasn't the problem. So if anyone else has that problem that is the solution. Now off to try and find Word and transfer some files ho hum!

Matilda

 

[Rocky]

This is my preferred desktop appearance.
It's clean, practical and looks kool.
If anyone likes it and wants to do it, just let me know and I'll run through the procedure.

(Click on image to play)

 

[Me_again]

Saucy! But it didn't play anything for me.

 

[Rocky]

Saucy! But it didn't play anything for me.

Too bad.
I just click on the image and it takes approx 15 seconds to load and start playing the clip.
Perhaps we have a faster connection here.
Anyhow, the nice thing about the clip, is that you get to see the functionality of the icon dock.
Maybe you can try it again later.

 

[apostropheman]

works for me. it pops another tab open to a photobucket account and then plays.

Rocky,

what were you watching when you made this?
interesting background dialog

 

[Rocky]

Unusual problem/half speed CPU

Here's a new one to me, as mentioned in this thread.
http://www.dr1.com/forums/trip-reports/74758-back-my-first-trip-ever-d-r.html
After working all my clean up magic, this particular laptop was still slower than it should have been, with it's particular hardware.
It turns out that the dual core processor was only working at half speed, even when plugged into AC.
By way of a small program called CPU ID, ( CPU-Z 1.44 can be downloaded at CPUID ) I was able to establish that the processor never sped up to full speed.
The power saving settings were set correctly, as they should have been, ie: power saving mode "on" while on battery and "full power" when plugged in.
That being said, I took a shot in the dark and removed the power saving feature, and bingo, the processor immediately jumped up to full speed.
I can't say why it is that the laptop applied the power saving settings even when plugged in, but it did.
Computers do lie, you know......irate:

 

[BIZC8]

Here's a new one to me, as mentioned in this thread.
http://www.dr1.com/forums/trip-reports/74758-back-my-first-trip-ever-d-r.html
After working all my clean up magic, this particular laptop was still slower than it should have been, with it's particular hardware.
It turns out that the dual core processor was only working at half speed, even when plugged into AC.
By way of a small program called CPU ID, ( CPU-Z 1.44 can be downloaded at CPUID ) I was able to establish that the processor never sped up to full speed.
The power saving settings were set correctly, as they should have been, ie: power saving mode "on" while on battery and "full power" when plugged in.
That being said, I took a shot in the dark and removed the power saving feature, and bingo, the processor immediately jumped up to full speed.
I can't say why it is that the laptop applied the power saving settings even when plugged in, but it did.
Computers do lie, you know......irate:

You actually didn't have to disable your power saving features. All you had to do was to set your power saving feature to "high performance."

 

[Rocky]

You actually didn't have to disable your power saving features. All you had to do was to set your power saving feature to "high performance."

That is exactly what I did.
Perhaps my choice of words, did not make that clear.

 

[Rocky]

Let's get up to speed.

A lot of things have changed since this thread was started.
There are new programs, new tricks, updated programs, major changes with AVG, etc.

Advanced Windows Care has a beta version available right now (likely it will expire soon) at MajorGeeks.Com - Contacting Download Site
This is fantastic for solving problems that slow puters down, as well as improving performance when you surf the net.

For now, you can download the program and install it, but we'll do a general clean up before using it.


Open "My Computer"

Right click on your main hard drive, usually labeled "C" drive, and left click on "Properties",

On the subsequent window that opens, left click on "Disc Cleanup",

A small window will appear, calculating what can be cleaned.

Then another window will appear, allowing you to choose what you want deleted.
I deselect the top option, "Downloaded Program Files" as they can be essential to certain programs I have on my computer.
I select all the others except "thumbnails", as I like the quicker response when viewing picture files.

Scrolling down with the slidebar will reveal all the options.

Rather than clean up by clicking on "OK", select "More Options" at the top, then click on the bottom icon for the restore system, marked "Clean up".

 

[Rocky]

Continued,

A small window will appear, click on "Delete",

Then click on "OK" at the bottom,

Click on "Delete Files" on the subsequent window,

Another window will appear as it cleans everything up.

You will notice that the used space is lesser that before.

You can now close all the windows that remained open.

 

[Rocky]

Advanced Windows Care (Beta version)

There is a standard Advanced Windows Care program that is rather essential to maximizing PC performance, but we will not be using it, as long as this beta version is available.


Open the newly downloaded AWC program and click on "Options" at the top.

Deselect "Execute at Windows Startup" then click on "OK", to prevent the program from loading each time you boot up the puter. (The more programs that run in the background, the slower the PC will perform)

Now, click on "Daily Maintenance".

You can choose the options you like.
In this case, "Privacy Sweep" is deselected, so as to not remove all automatic sign ins.
For those who don't mind rewriting names and passwords, and who would like top security, then leave the "Privacy Sweep" selected.

Click on "Scan" at the bottom and the program will start calculating.

Any options that you do not want repaired, can still be deselected, although I can think of no reason why you might.
Click on "Repair" at the bottom.

Clean up/repair will begin.

When finished, it will look like this.
Now it's time for the next step.
Click on "System Advisor".

 

[Rocky]

Continued,

Deselect "Security Analyser", unless you're a PC guru and think that you can understand the highly technical report.
Now click "Scan"

AWC will now scan.

In my case, the results showed no problems, as I have run the program before. When your's finishes scanning, click on "repair".

Click on "System Utilities" and select "Firefox TCP Optimizer".

Click on "Auto Optimize".

Select the "Connection" option that is applicable to you, then click on "Boost Now".

Program will optimize.

When finished, click "OK".

 

[Rocky]

Continued,

Click on "Firefox Optimize" and select the option that best describes your system, then click on "Apply".

Click on "OK".

Click on "Other Optimization" and select all options, then click on "Apply".

Click "OK".

Click on "Useful Settings" and select all the options, then click on "Apply".

Click OK

Click on "TCP Optimize", then "Recommend", then on "Apply".

Click "OK".

Select "Advanced Settings" then click "Recommend", then "Apply".

Click OK, then close the window.

 

[Rocky]

Continued,

Click on "Shortcut Fixer".

Program will scan.

Click on Repair

Click "Yes" on the subsequent window.

Close window, unless the scanner has found more, in which case, click on repair again.
When there are none left, close the window.

Click on "Startup Manager".

Deselect any programs that you do not want to start each time you boot up. All programs that are selected, will run in the background and take a certain amount of resources, contributing to a slower machine.
There is no reason to have programs which are continuously looking to update, nor TKBell.exe, nor Quick Time, nor Microsoft Office, etc.
When satisfied of your choices, click "OK".

Close this window and the main AWC program window.
We are finished here for now.

 

[Rocky]

Defrag

The AWC program already defragged but we'll run Window's own defragger too, just to be sure.

Open "My Computer",

Right click on your main hard drive (normally called "C") and click on "Properties".

On the subsequent window, select "Tools" at the top.

Click on "Defragment Now".

On the next window shown below, also click on "Defragment Now".

Select appropriate drive (normally "C") and click "OK".

Windows will start defragmenting and you can minimize the window and continue to work, as it takes very little resources and will not slow you down.

;

 

[Rocky]

Yet to come...

We will deal with which anti virus program to use, how to uninstall unwanted programs, controlling programs that run in the background through "Services MSC", install various spyware programs and tweak them for best performance and lastly, some handy "toys" that can be useful.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

[Squat]

I think Steve Balmer definitly owns you a paycheck

 

[Rocky]

Tweaks and anti virus programs.

Assuming that you would like to remove your present anti virus program and replace it with one you consider to be better, you would normally go to the control panel to make the removal.
Vista has some menus that I find inconvenient, so we'll "tweak" the menu views along the way.


This is the standard Vista menu that appears by clicking on "Start".
It offers limited space for viewing "All Programs", so I prefer the old "Classic View".

To change it to "Classic View", right click on "Start" and select "Properties".

On the subsequent window that opens, select "Classic Start Menu" then "OK".

This will be the "old style" menu view.

To remove your anti virus program (or any other program you wish to remove), open the "Start" menu, go to "Settings" and click on "Control Panel".

This is the Vista view of the subsequent window. As I find it a bit confusing and difficult to navigate, I also change this menu to the "Classic view".
Click on "Classic View" to change it.

On this next window, click on "Programs and Features" to get to the window which allows you to uninstall programs. (This option used to be called "Add/Remove Programs".)

Click on "View" to get the preferred view of all the programs that are installed on your computer.

To uninstall the anti virus program, you can double click on it or single click and click on "Uninstall/Change".

.