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.