INTERNET SPEED UP

Did you know that you might not be using 50 percent speed capability of your internet connection?

In windows 10 the update delivery systems utilize the bandwidth to spread updates to other windows 10 users and in windows XP/Vista/7 reserves bandwidth up to 20 percent for their QoS services. Follow the procedure given below to save your bandwidth:

Windows 10

1. Open Settings
2. Navigate to the Windows Update section
3. Select Advanced
4. Select the Choose how updates are delivered selection
5. Set toggle to Off

Windows XP

1. Click Start / Run
2. Type gpedit.msc, this opens the group policy editor.
3. Then go to: Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Network / QOS Packet Scheduler / Limit Reservable Bandwidth.
4. Enable reserved bandwidth, then set it to ZERO.

Windows XP/Vista/7

1. Press Win + R on your keyboard, type regedit.exe in the Run box that pops up, and hit OK.
2. Now the registry editor will open. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Psched folder
3. Double click on the ‘NonBestEffortLimit’
4. Set the value to ‘0’ and base to ‘Decimal’
5. Hit ‘Ok’

Other methods like TCP/IP optimization and Removing advertisements can be done using different software.

Alternate method using software:

You can use the Internet Booster feature in Advanced System Care.

INCREASING VIRTUAL MEMORY

Virtual memory, also known as page file or swap file, is a file on your hard disk that Windows uses in addition to physical memory (RAM) whenever the need arises. Usually the swap file is 1.5 times the amount of physical memory, i.e. a system with 512MB of RAM will have 768MB page file.

When there isn't enough RAM resources and more space is needed, the Virtual Memory Manager (VMM) scans the memory for sections that are not in use and transfers them to a swap file on the hard drive. The virtual memory is not as fast as real RAM because your hard drive isn't, but it can still help your computer run smoother.

If your swap file is too small, you don't have enough RAM, or you are running an application with a memory leak, your computer will start freezing up and you'll start getting the "Virtual memory too low" error. So it's really important to set the correct amount of virtual memory. The size of the swap file is set automatically by the operating system. However, in most cases it's best to configure virtual memory yourself. By default, Windows sets your page file 1.5 times the size of your physical memory. You can improve performance by setting your page file to twice the size of your RAM. If you don't feel like assigning that amount of disk space to your swap file, you can always set it to 1.75 the size of your RAM, as it will still be better than setting it to 1.5 the size. Here is how you can configure virtual memory:

Windows XP:

1. Right-click on My Computer and go to Properties
2. Click on the Advanced tab and then click on the Settings button in the Performance section
3. A new window will open. Go to the Advanced tab
4. Find the Virtual memory section and click on the Change button
5. Select the System managed size option or manually change the size of the swap file. Alternatively, you can set a Custom size by typing in the new size in MB in the Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB) boxes. Make sure it's the same amount to prevent your CPU from constantly adjusting virtual memory
6. Click on Set and then click OK
7. You might need to restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

Windows 7:

1. Click Start, right-click on Computer and go to Properties to open System
2. Click the Advanced System Settings link to open Advanced Tab
3. Click Settings under Performance
4. Go to the Advanced tab, find Virtual memory and click Change
5. Uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives checkbox.
6. Under Drive [Volume Label], click on the drive where you want to change the size of virtual memory
7. Click Custom size and type the new size in MB in the Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB) boxes. Make sure it's the same amount to prevent your CPU from constantly adjusting virtual memory
8. Click Set and then click OK
9. You might need to restart your system for the changes to take effect.

However, it's not always good to have a large page file. In fact, those of you who have 4GB of RAM or more will benefit from disabling the swap file altogether. Do not disable your swap file if you have less than 4GB of RAM, as you will start encountering multiple problems. Like applications crashing because there isn't enough memory for them to work.

 You can also increase performance by moving the swap file to a drive or partition other than where your operating system is installed. To do that, just select a different drive or click on C drive when changing the size of virtual memory and select a different partition. When you are done, click Set and then click OK.

HDD / SSD UPGRADE

We all use hard disk drives as storage solution for our computers. One thing most people overlook is that, hard disks have a significant part to contribute towards the performance of your computer. A sluggish hard drive will slow you down no matter how much faster your processor is or how much RAM you have installed.

There are mainly two types of hard drives available: Mechanical Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and the Solid State Drives (SSD).

HDD’s come in two varieties:

• Hard disks with 5400 RPM spinning speed.
• Hard disks with 7200 RPM spinning speed.

Higher speeds tend to offer better file transaction speeds.

Mechanical hard drives have a read/write head which has to move to the correct location on the disk before the reading of data begins. Hence it is slower.

SSD’s on the other hand do not have any physical moving parts. This helps to eliminate the extra read time and greatly improves the application loading time. But SSD’s are much more expensive than a mechanical drive. Hopefully they’ll get easily affordable in the future.

Some advantages of SSDs compared to HDDs are

• Way faster than HDDs.
• More reliability as there are no moving parts
• Less power consumption with no noise
• Low heat generation.

DRIVER DOWNLOADS AND UPDATES

Keeping your hardware drivers up-to-date is essential for stable and flawless computer performance. Outdated drivers can cause various conflicts and result in severe performance degradation. Luckily, it's very easy to update your drivers.

1. Open the Device Manager. To do this, press the Windows + Pause/break key to open System Properties and click on the Device Manager link
2. Check your devices for driver conflict signs (if any) and check the driver versions by right-clicking

1. on the device and going to Properties
2. Go to the manufacturers' website and download the latest drivers for your devices
3. In the Device Manager, right-click on the device you want to update and click Update Driver
4. Software
5. Specify that you will install the update from your hard drive (or search automatically)
6. Browse to the driver update file (.inf file) and click on Open
7. When finished, reboot your computer.

And last but not least, make sure that your software is always up-to-date. A lot of programs check for updates automatically, but you can always do it manually. Usually the Check for Updates feature is located in the program Help menu.

Alternate method using software:

Driver Booster is an easy to use application which searches for missing drivers on your computer and downloads them for you.

GAME MODES

Game modes are generally provided by top system optimization applications. The way it works is by

1. Terminating unnecessary processes.
2. Temporary disabling of system services.
3. Temporary disabling of services by selected external applications.
4. By controlling the graphics elements.
5. Closing background apps.
6. Tweaking the power plans

It is also possible for us to do the above processes and create our own game mode. Another way to spice things up is to create a custom power plan or just use the default ‘High performance’ plan in windows.

Alternate method using software:

You can use the Turbo boost feature in Advanced System Care. Please configure this feature prior to use.

DISABLE GADGETS

Windows 7 takes the idea of gadgets and sidebar a step further than its predecessor, Vista. It uses customizable gadgets that can be placed anywhere on the desktop. But that doesn't make them less resource-hungry. They still take up a portion of system resources to load and update. Turning off all gadgets is one more way to speed up Windows 7.

You can either turn off gadgets by right-clicking on your desktop, selecting Gadgets and disabling the ones you don't need, or you could disable the whole gadget platform. Here is how:

1. Go to the Control Panel, click on Programs and then choose Turn Windows features on or off under Programs and Features.
2. Uncheck the Windows Gadget Platform and click OK.
3. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Now your system should be running a lot faster than it used to. But there is still a lot you can do to make your Windows super-fast.

FASTER SHUTDOWN

One of the reasons why Windows can take a really long time to shut down is because it clears the page file every time you power off your PC. This is good from the security point of view, as the page file stores temporary files and other data. Sometimes unencrypted passwords can end up in your paging file, which means that clearing it on shutdown is not such a bad idea. However, if you have all your sensitive data encrypted or if extreme security is not high on your list of priorities, it's a good idea to stop Windows clearing the page file every time you shut down your computer. To do that, you'll need to change some stuff in the registry. Here is how:

1. Click on Start and type regedit in the Search box (XP users will need to click on Start - Run and type regedit there). Hit Enter
2. In the new window, locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\MemoryManagement
3. Now double-click on ClearPageFileAtShutdown and change the value to 1
4. Close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

Another way to speed up Windows shutdown is to decrease the time Windows waits to kill non-responding services. To do that, we will need to open regedit again:

1.   Click on Start and type regedit in the Search box (XP users will need to click on Start - Run and type regedit there). Hit Enter
2. Now navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
3. Now double-click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout. A new window will appear
4. Change the value to 5000
5. Click OK, close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.

EXTERNAL HDD CACHE

Some external Hard Disk Drives allows ReadyBoost feature and external caching. The performance difference is notable in USB 3.0 than in USB 2.0 devices. External caching allows the system to use external HDDs for caching the data and retrieving it when needed. It is similar to the caching on the native HDD installed inside the system except that the caching file is stored in external HDD.

ENABLE READY BOOST

ReadyBoost is a feature that was first introduced in Windows Vista and made its way into Windows 7. Basically, it lets you use a USB flash drive as secondary memory cache, which helps your computer run faster. Keep in mind that it's no substitute for RAM, though.

To use ReadyBoost, simply insert a USB flash drive and if it meets certain requirements, Windows 7 will ask you if you want to use it for ReadyBoost and recommend the size to reserve.

If you insert the flash drive and nothing happens, AutoPlay could be disabled on your computer. In this case do the following:

1. Go to Computer, right-click on the removable storage device and select Properties.
2. If the drive is compatible, you will see ReadyBoost there. Click on it.
3. Select Use this device and set the amount of space to be used for ReadyBoost system file.
4. Click OK.

 Depending on your initial system speed, ReadyBoost can improve the performance of your PC quite significantly. On average, you can expect something like a 15-20% improvement in some applications.   

ENABLE QUICK BOOT

In the past, computers needed to run POSTs (power-on self-tests), which are no longer necessary. However, some systems still perform them and thus increase your PCs startup time. Memory check is the longest of them all and can last for several seconds. The Quick Boot option still performs all the necessary tests, but it does that quicker. This makes sense, because the complete version of POSTs is not really needed every time you power up your PC.

Turning on Quick Boot is pretty easy:

1. Enter BIOS settings
2. Depending on BIOS version, you will see either “Quick Boot”, “Fast Boot” or “Memory Check”. Use the arrow keys to highlight it.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to either enable "Quick Boot" or disable "Memory Check"
4. Press Esc to exit the BIOS and don't forget to save all changes
5. Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect

ENABLE DIRECT MEMORY ACCESS

It's not only disabling things that can increase PC speed. Enabling features that are disabled by default can significantly speed things up.

Direct Memory Access (DMA) is a feature that allows your hard drive and CD-ROM drive to transfer data directly to and from the memory without using the microprocessor. Basically, Direct Memory Access decreases the CPU load and thus makes your system work faster.

Direct memory access is usually enabled by default for devices that support it. However, sometimes you might need to manually enable DMA, especially if the device was improperly installed or a system error occurred. To enable DMA, do the following:

1. Click on the Start button, type devmgmt.msc in the Search box and hit Enter. This will open Device Manager. Click on Confirm if UAC prompts you so.

2. In the left-hand pane, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers by clicking on the + sign

3. Locate the icons that have the word Channel as part of their label

4. Right-click on the icon, and then click Properties

5. Go to the Advanced Settings tab, and then check the Enable DMA checkbox under Device Properties.

 6. Click OK and you are done.

ENABLE ADVANCED DISK PERFORMANCE

One more way to speed up your SATA hard drive and improve overall Windows 7 performance is to enable write caching. Be careful, though, and only enable this option if you have a UPS and there is absolutely no risk of power cuts. Otherwise you can lose your data. To enable advanced disk performance, do the following:

1.   Click on Start, right-click on Computer and go to Properties.
2. Click on the Device Manager on the left-hand side.
3. Open the Disk drives section, right-click on your hard drive and select Properties.
4. Go to the Policies tab.
5. Check Enable write caching on the disk.
6. Click OK and you're done.

DISABLING STARTUP ITEMS

Your computer may have many programs configured to load on windows startup. These programs can make your PC startup very slow and you don't need all of them at startup anyway. As you install more software, more programs automatically add themselves to your startup list. The more there are, the more RAM gets taken up on Windows boot. That's how your computer becomes sluggish on startup. The solution is to go through your startup list and disabling all the unwanted programs.

When you start your computer, Windows has to load a whole bunch of system files without which it can't run. However, a lot of other programs also put themselves in the startup folder. These can be anything, from Google Update to Skype and Windows Live Messenger. Adobe programs are also notorious for launching on startup by default.

Unnecessary startup items are easy to manage with the help of the System Configuration Utility. Here's how:

1. Click on the Start button, then click Run (for Windows XP) or Search Programs and files (for Windows 7).
2. Type msconfig in the box and hit Enter. This will launch the System Configuration Utility.
3. Go to the Startup tab. You will see a list of all programs launching on Windows Startup.
4. Now go through the list and simply uncheck the programs you don't want to start automatically. Be careful and don't start disabling recklessly. If you don't know what something is, it's best to leave it alone or at least Google it before disabling.
5. Click Apply and then click OK.
6. Reboot Windows for the changes to take effect.

Alternate method using software:

 You can use the Startup Manager feature in Advanced System Care or use the native one in Wise cleaner.

DELETE DUPLICATE FILES

Removing duplicate files is desirable for many reason such as saving storage space, Faster search operations, more efficient de-fragmentation etc. The usual method used is manually finding the duplicate files and remove them one by one.

Alternate method using software:

You can save some time by using the Cloned Files Scanner feature in Advanced System Care.

CHECK FOR DISK ERRORS

Minor hard drive errors can be easily fixed with the help of a tool called Check Disk. Check Disk (CHKDSK) is a built-in Windows utility that can scan your hard drive for errors and bad sectors, repair logical errors, prevent further deterioration by moving data to the healthier parts of the disk and make sure new data is not saved to the bad sectors. This way Check Disk can improve the stability of your PC. Generally speaking, it's good to run Check Disk on a regular basis, like once a month.

How to run Check Disk?

Running Check Disk is really easy even though the scan can take a long time to complete. Basically, the larger your disk, the longer Check Disk will need to complete the scan.

The process of running Check Disk is the same for all Windows versions. You can launch the tool in two ways - from (My) Computer or from the Command Prompt.

To launch from (My) Computer:

1. Go to Start and open (My) Computer
2. Right-click on the drive you wish to check and go to Properties
3. Go to the Tools tab and click on the Check Now button
4. A pop-up window will appear and ask you whether you want to Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors Make sure you check both checkboxes, otherwise Check Disk will only report errors without fixing them.
5. Click Start to launch the tool. Check Disk needs exclusive access to the drive. This means that no other programs should be running. This includes Windows. So if you are checking your system drive, Check Disk will not be able to perform the scan straight away. Instead, it will offer you to schedule the scan for the next reboot. To do that, just click on Schedule Disk Check and then click OK.

Now, reboot your computer and let Check Disk do the work. And if you don't feel like doing the disk checking after you reboot your PC, don't worry - you'll have 10 seconds to cancel.

To launch Check Disk from the command prompt:

XP users

1. Click on Start and then click on Run
2. Type cmd in the box that appears and hit OK

Windows 7 users

1. Run CMD with administrative privileges. To do that, click on Start and type CMD.exe in the Search box. Don't hit Enter, but right-click on CMD.exe and select Run as Administrator
2. Now type CHKDSK C: /f in the DOS window. “C:” is the letter of the drive you will be checking and /f will make the tool fix file system errors. Check Disk will try to lock your drive and you will be prompted to schedule the task for the next reboot.

There are more command prompt options for CHKDSK. To get the full list of CHKDSK command prompt options: just type CHKDSK /? in the command prompt itself.

Alternate method using software:

You can use the Disk Doctor feature in Advanced System Care.

DISK DEFRAGMENT

When your Windows PC starts taking longer to open files and launch applications, the first thing you should do is defragment your hard drive. But before we proceed with defragmentation, let me explain why your hard drive becomes fragmented in the first place.

All Windows-based computers suffer from disk fragmentation, a phenomenon that occurs because of how Windows saves new data. When you create a new file, download something from the Web, or simply edit a Word document, Windows doesn't save the new data as a whole, but rather splits it into little pieces and fills available bits of free space on the hard drive. As a result, the newly saved data becomes fragmented. And when you delete files, free space becomes fragmented, which eventually causes data fragmentation. It's this simple.

When Windows needs to access a fragmented file, the hard drive read/write heads have to move all over the disk to collect all the fragments of the file you want to open. Naturally, this takes a lot longer than simply opening a non-fragmented file in one smooth read movement. Fragmentation also decreases the lifetime of your hard drive, since it has to work more and harder.

The solution is to run disk defragmentation on a regular basis, like once a week. All versions of Windows have a built-in Disk Defragmenter and the Windows 7 one is even scheduled to run once a week right out of the box. Here is how you can launch disk defragmentation:

Windows XP:

1. Click on the Start button and go to All Programs.
2. Navigate to Accessories and then go to System Tools.
3. Launch the Disk Defragmenter.
4. Click on the Analyze button and let the tool analyze your drive. If the fragmentation level is significant, you will be prompted to defragment your drive.
5. Click on the Defragment button to defragment your hard disk.

Windows 7:

1. Click on the Start button and click on All Programs.
2. Go to Accessories - System Tools.
3. Select Disk Defragmenter. Alternatively, simply click on Start, type dfrgui in the Search box and press Enter.
4. Select a disk and click on the Analyze disk button to find out how much fragmentation there is. Defrag if it's above 10%.
5. To defragment a disk, select it and click on the Defragment disk button. Depending on the fragmentation level, defragmentation may take from something like five minutes to a couple of hours.

This will only defragment your files, but your free space will stay fragmented. So if you want to prevent further fragmentation, it's good to run the Windows 7 Disk Defragmenter from the command prompt with the free space consolidation option enabled.

Here is how you can do it:

1. Click on Start, go to All Programs and then to Accessories.
2. Right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. Alternatively, you can click on Start, type cmd in the search box and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
3. In the command prompt type:
   1. $> defrag C: /X.
   2. C: is the drive letter you want to defrag and X is the switch for the free space consolidation option.

There is no doubt that the Windows 7 Disk Defragmenter is a lot better than the XP or Vista one, but it still doesn't do much in terms of disk optimization. For example, it doesn't optimize system files placement. And that's not good because files placement can affect hard drive performance as much as fragmentation, if not more. You see, the outer tracks of a hard drive are a lot faster than the inner tracks. Therefore, it makes sense to put frequently accessed data, such as system files needed at boot-up, to the faster tracks. This will make your computer launch a lot quicker than if those system files were scattered all over the place.

Alternate method using software:

 You can use the smart defrag feature in Advanced System Care or use the native one in Wise cleaner.

DISABLE INDEXING

Indexing is one of those Microsoft features that was designed to speed up Windows search. Basically, it indexes all files and folders on your hard drive, so that the indexes can be used to find files and folders more quickly when the need arises. In theory, your files and folders should only be indexed when the computer is idle, so that there aren't any performance issues.

Unfortunately, the indexing feature is not perfect. Indexing often runs while you are using your computer. This causes your hard drive to start making noises and slows everything down. So, if you don't use Windows search all that often, you can either disable indexing completely or modify indexing options. You can simply right-click on your hard drive in (My) Computer, go to Properties and uncheck Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching (in Windows XP) or Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties (in Windows 7).

Steps to completely disable the Indexing Service:

1. Click on Start and type services.msc in the Search box (XP users will need to click on Start - Run and type services.msc there). Hit Enter
2. Locate the Indexing Service (Windows XP) or Windows Search (Windows 7), change the service startup type to Disabled and then click on the Stop button.
3. Click OK, close services.msc and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect

If you are running Windows 7, you can choose to adjust indexing options. This way you will make sure that Windows still indexes your frequently searched locations, but doesn't hog your computer by indexing folders you never search. Here is how you can configure indexing on a Windows 7 computer:

1.   Go to the Control Panel, type indexing options in the search box, and then click Indexing Options.
2. Click on Modify. Make sure you have ‘Show All Locations’ enabled.
3. Clear the checkboxes for the folders you rarely search and click OK when you are finished.

DISABLE WINDOWS SOUNDS

We've already adjusted display settings for best performance. But did you know that the sounds Windows makes on startup, shutdown, when you insert a USB stick, when you encounter an error, etc. don't do system performance any good? Even though Windows sounds don't affect computer speed as much as graphics, disabling them will still give you a small performance boost.

Disabling Windows sounds will not affect any other sounds on your computer. There won't be any problems when you listen to music, watch videos and so on.

To disable Windows sounds, do the following:

1.   Click on Start and go to the Control Panel.
2. Locate and double-click Sounds and Audio Devices (Windows XP) or Hardware and Sound - Change system sounds (Windows 7)
3. In the new window, go to the Sounds tab and select No Sounds from the drop- down menu and click OK   

DISABLING UNNECESSARY SERVICES

Windows runs a number of different services in the background. Some of them are absolutely essential for the proper functioning of your computer, but some of them are never needed by a home user. Disabling them can considerably speed up your computer.

Unfortunately, it's not all that easy to tweak Windows services. You have to be absolutely sure which services you are disabling. Make a mistake and your computer will be ruined. If something happens you may need to reinstall windows and start all over again.

Basically, there are two ways to optimize Windows services - you could either find a list of services and use it as guidelines for tweaking, or you could use a software optimizer. Using a good quality optimizer is a lot easier and a lot safer than tweaking services manually.

When you are managing services manually, the best way to do it is via services.msc and not msconfig. This way you will get a better description of what each service does. Another golden rule is that you shouldn't set the service startup type to "Disabled" straight away. Set it to "Manual" first and see what happens. If it's set to "Manual", it will be launched on demand and use less system resources. Here is a short list of services that most home users can safely set to "Manual" or even disable later on:

1. Application Experience (AeLookupSvc) - this service checks problems with applications against Microsoft's online database.
2. Remote Registry (RemoteRegistry) - this service allows your Windows registry to be managed remotely. If your computer is not part of a corporate network, it's best to disable this service as it's a potential security hole.
3. Smart Card Service (SCardSvr) - gives access to Smart Cards. These cards are used for logging in. If you don't use Smart Cards, you can disable this service along with SCPolicySvr (Smart Card removal policy service) and CertPropSvc (Smart Card certificate preparation service).
4. Tablet PC Input Service (TabletInputService) - can be safely disabled if you don't use any PC pens and graphic tablets.
5. Windows Error Reporting Service (WerSvc) - sends error reports to Microsoft.
6. Windows Time (W32Time) - this service synchronizes time and date across your network.

Of course, there are other services that can be disabled, but disabling them is not relevant for all users and there is always the big IF (for example, you can disable the Spooler Service if you don't have a printer).

Alternate method using software:

You can use the Startup Manager feature in Advanced System Care or use the one in Wise cleaner.

DISABLE REMOTE DIFFERENTIAL COMPRESSION

Remote Differential Compression is a Windows Vista and 7 feature that detects file changes over a network, so that the changes can be transferred with minimal bandwidth usage instead of having to transfer the whole file after it has been moved. While this feature can potentially be useful, it's not needed by average home users. Besides, it can consume quite a bit of system resources, so it's not a bad idea to disable it.

To disable Remote Differential Compression, do the following:

1.   Go to Start and open the Control Panel.
2. Under Programs, click on Uninstall a program.
3. Now find the Tasks section and click on Turn Windows features on or off.
4. In the new window, locate Remote Differential Compression and uncheck it.
5. Click OK and you're done!   

DISABLE MULTIMEDIA FEATURES

Windows media player comes pre-installed as the default media player in windows. But its lack of features forces many users to use alternatives such as VLC player, KMPlayer, etc. If you are the type of user who finds Windows Media Player is not enough for your needs, and you no longer need it, you can easily disable the Media Features and save some space on your system.

1.   Open Control Panel.
2. Select Programs
3. Click on Turn Windows feature on or off.
4. From the check box uncheck Media Features.
5. Click OK.
6. Reboot the system to reflect the changes.

DISABLE INTERNET EXPLORER

Internet Explorer comes installed as default browser in windows systems. But because of many issues users tends to use alternatives such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera etc. Since disabling the Internet Explorer can have some space and speed advantage on our system we are providing the steps to disable Internet explorer.

1.   Open Control Panel .
2. Select Programs
3. Click on Turn Windows feature on or off.
4. From the check box uncheck Internet Explorer.
5. Click OK.
6. Reboot the system to reflect the changes.

DISABLE HIBERNATION

Hibernation is one of the power-saving modes offered by Windows. This feature is very useful if you want to turn off your computer without losing all your open documents, browsers, programs, and current settings. So the next time your computer starts up, you can resume working from where you left off.

However, hibernation has some downsides. The shutdown takes longer because all your open files and settings from the RAM will be written to a file on your hard disk. This file is called hiberfil.sys, which is roughly the size of your RAM. This means that if you have 2GB of RAM, your hiberfil.sys file is something close to 2GB. Now, that's perfectly fine if you do use hibernation. But if you don't, then this file is just a waste of space. You can free up this extra space by disabling hibernation. Here is how:

1. Make sure you are logged in as administrator
2. Click on the Start button and type cmd in the Search box (XP users will need to click on Start - Run and type cmd). Hit Enter. This will open the Command Line
3. In the Command Line, type powercfg /hibernate off and hit Enter.

If at any time you'd like to re-enable hibernation, simply repeat steps 1-4, but type powercfg /hibernate on in step 3 instead.

DISABLE GUI BOOT

Another way to speed up Windows boot by a few seconds is to disable a feature called GUI boot. Remember that little animated progress bar you see when you boot up Windows? A pretty useless thing if you ask me. We are going to disable it:

1. Click on Start and type msconfig in the Search bar (XP users will need to click on Start - Run and type msconfig there). Hit Enter.
2. In the new window, go to the Boot tab (BOOT.INI in Windows XP)
3. Find and check the No GUI Boot option (/NOGUIBOOT in XP)
4. Click Apply, close Msconfig and reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.

DELETING TEMPORARY FILES

You can save some space on your computer by deleting temporary files. Temporary files are being created as a part of installation of a new software or by running programs.

The temporary files are stored in ‘C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Temp’.

To access this easily press ‘Windows + r’ key combination.

In the displayed box type ‘%temp%’

 Select the files and press ‘Shift + Delete’ key combination to delete them permanently.

CLEANUP GARBAGE FILES

Disk cleanup is one of the most important parts of computer maintenance. Remember that more the free space there is, the faster your computer will run. Performing disk cleanup is essential because Windows accumulates unnecessary junk files that massively reduce computer performance. These files are just like the junk hidden deep in your wardrobe - you can't see it, but it's still there and it's wasting space. So how do they get created in the first place?

Most Windows programs create temporary files for a number of purposes, but mostly when a program needs more memory for its tasks or when a program is working with large chunks of data. Programs like Microsoft Office also create temporary files and use them for keeping a copy of your data in case the program crashes.

In the perfect world, temporary files would be deleted automatically when the programs close. Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong. Poorly written applications, improper shutdowns, and freeze-ups often leave temp files behind. That's how gigabytes of clutter are created. Another type of temporary files is Temporary Internet Files. These files are created by the browser and are often kept for a lot longer than necessary.

Deleting junk files is easy enough - all you need to do is run the built-in Disk Cleanup tool.

Windows XP:

1. Click on Start and go to Programs - Accessories - System Tools
2. Launch the Disk Cleanup tool
3. Select the drive you want to cleanup and let the program analyze it
4. Review the results and click OK to clean up junk files

This should free up a considerable amount of disk space. If you want to free up even more space, delete all except the most recent System Restore Points. To do that, just click on the More Options tab and click on Clean up under System Restore

Windows 7:

1. Click on Start, type Disk Cleanup into the search box
2. Launch the Disk Cleanup tool. It will offer you to choose the drive you wish to clean up
3. Click OK and let the tool analyze your drive
4. Now review the list of files to be deleted and click OK

Just like XP, Windows 7 allows you to delete old System Restore Points and shadow copies. To do that, simply click on Clean up system files and then click on Clean up under System Restore and Shadow Copies. Make sure you are running the tool as administrator - otherwise you won't get the option to delete System Restore Points

Alternate method using software:

You can use the Disk Cleaner feature in Advanced System Care or use the native one in Wise cleaner.

DELETING UNDELETABLE FILE

You may sometimes run into a situation where a file can't be deleted. This usually happens due to a program error a malware attack. An easy and effective solution to delete these files is to use a program called ‘Unlocker’. Use the Unlocker by pointing the directory or file that is creating the problem for you and click on delete button.

You can download Unlocker from the following link:

 http://filehippo.com/download_unlocker/

DELETING EMPTY FOLDERS

You need to get rid of empty folders that are left behind by some applications even when the actual programs are gone. To remove empty folders, simply open My Computer, navigate to drive C:, and go to the Program Files directory. Now find the empty folders by hovering your mouse pointer over folders to see folder size and delete them. Alternatively, you can use Windows Search to search for the names of recently uninstalled programs and delete the empty folders that Windows finds. After you find and delete all of the empty folders, don't forget to empty the Recycle Bin and they will be gone for good.

 You can get it done easily by using the Empty Folder Scanner feature in Advanced System Care.

CREATING WINDOWS RECOVERY IMAGE

Windows 7 and upwards has a built-in feature that allows you to create disk images in just a couple of clicks. By creating a disk image, you can be sure that your data is safe. With a disk image you can restore literally everything, including your operating system and all your programs, in a quick and easy way.

Here is how it's done:

1. Click on Start, go to Getting Started and click on Backup your files
2. Now click on the Create a system image link
3. Select where you want to save the image. It is recommended to use an external hard drive to store your backup
4. Select which drives you want to back up
5. Confirm.

Now you just have to wait till Windows Backup does the job.

REGISTRY ERRORS

Registry errors are an important issue to be addressed while optimizing your PC. Cleaning the registry errors can help speed up your computer significantly. Editing the registry manually is dangerous, unless you know exactly what you are doing. Don’t worry, there are many capable software’s out there which gets the job done safely with just a couple of clicks.

 You can use the Registry Cleaner feature in Advanced System Care or use the native one in Wise cleaner.

COOLING EFFICIENCY

Cooling is an important factor in the performance of your computer. The cooling system varies from a simple fan based system to liquid based system. The foam factor of the system also contributes towards efficient cooling. During use, your computer produces heat. This heat increases the resistance of components inside and thus affects the performance.

Some ways to increase the cooling efficiency are:

1.   Clear the air vents. Usually after a period of usage the vents will be clogged with dust. Unclogging the vent will restore the efficiency of cooling. It can be done by opening the system as a whole or you can use a hair dryer / vacuum cleaner.
2. External cooling pads are available in the market. This helps in keeping the system cool. Gaming is a pretty resource intensive process. Hence, a lot of heat will be generated. If the cooling system installed in your computer is not able to keep up with the amount of heat generated, a cooling pad may help.

COMPRESS FILES AND DIRECTORIES

Modern versions of Windows use NTFS file system, which is a lot more efficient than the previous FAT16 and FAT32. NTFS also has some very useful built-in features like file compression. Unlike .zip and .rar compression, this compression feature leaves the files in their native format, but forces them to occupy a smaller space on the hard drive. The average compression factor is 1.6/1, although with some files you'll get a 10/1 or even 50/1 compression factor. Some files, like .jpeg image files, can't be compressed. In any case, using NTFS compression will save disk space and improve hard drive performance. Keep in mind that if you have an SSD drive, you shouldn't use NTFS compression, as it will only slow things down and jeopardize stability.

To experience the maximum performance increase, you'll need to compress the following directories:

• Users (Documents and Settings in Windows XP)
• Program Files
• Program Data (Windows Vista and Windows 7)
• Windows
• All your .exe and .dll files

NTFS file compression is done through the Command Prompt with a simple command:

compact /c /s /i

Before you open the Command Prompt, make sure that you are logged in as administrator.

Follow the below given steps.

1. Click on Start, type cmd in the Search box (Run box in Windows XP) and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter
2. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, type CD \Users and press Enter to change the directory. If you are on Windows XP, type CD \Documents and Settings and press Enter
3. Now type the compression command compact /c /s /i and press Enter. Depending on the amount of files and their size, compression can take like 10 to 20 minutes.
4. When that's done, do the same for Program Files by typing CD \Program Files, pressing Enter (CD \Program Files (x86) for 64-bit systems), typing compact /c /s /i and hitting Enter for the second time. Again, this could take a while.
5. And now we'll do the same for the Windows directory. To do that, type CD \Windows, then press Enter to change the directory and then type the compression command compact /c /s /i and press Enter. Wait for the compression to complete.
6. Then we are going to compress all .exe and .dll files. To do that, type CD\ and press Enter to change the directory to C:\>. Then type the compact /c /s /i *.exe command, press Enter, and when it's done, issue the compact /c /s /i *.dll command and press Enter. Wait for it to complete.

When everything is done, you'll need to make sure that files that were in use and couldn't be compressed will be compressed.

You will need to reboot your computer into Safe Mode and repeat steps 1-6 in Safe Mode. To enter Safe Mode, restart your PC and keep tapping F8 until the option to boot in Safe Mode appears. Select the option and proceed. When the compression is finished, reboot your computer once again, keep tapping F8 and enter Normal Mode.

NTFS compression will make the files in the compressed directories occupy 2/3 of the original space and your hard drive will open them faster. This should give you a bit of a performance increase. But the main performance boost comes from defragmenting your hard drive and optimizing system files placement.

CLEAN UNNECESSARY TOOLBARS

Toolbars can be a menace or irritation for most computer users. The entry of most toolbars are through software installation, clicking on ads shown on the webpages and through malware. Once installed some of these applications are a bit difficult to remove and for some it may be an inconvenience as they change the homepage and utilize bandwidth unnecessarily. The most common method to clean these items are by using uninstallers.