50 tools to speed up your pc

Some low-voltage GMA chipsets are drastically underclocked, though, and are able to perform far better than the default settings suggest. Some BIOSes contain a setting that makes your hard drive run more quietly. This sounds great, but unfortunately it negatively affects performance. If you're more concerned with increasing your system's speed than reducing the amount of noise it makes, check your BIOS program for a setting like HDD Acoustic mode it's in the Performance section on Dell desktops, for example and make sure that it's set to 'Performance' rather than 'Quiet'.

Windows Vista stores your hard drive writes in a cache. This helps it to write data more efficiently and improves performance. To run faster still, launch devmgmt. Windows now uses a larger cache and writes from it less often, improving performance but also increasing the risk of data loss if the drive loses power.

Windows Vista can use high-speed USB flash drives to cache data and hopefully improve performance. To try it out, plug in a USB device and then confirm that you'd like to use it with ReadyBoost if you're asked.

If you're not, go to Computer, right-click the device and select Properties. If the feature can be used, there will be a ReadyBoost tab; click this, select Use this device , choose the space that you'd like to give to Windows and click OK. Alternatively, if you have no interest in using ReadyBoost, turn it off to save a few system resources. To do this, launch services. Poor wireless network performance is sometimes down to interference, perhaps because your neighbours are also running a Wi-Fi network on the same channel.

To find out if this is happening, run a network detector like Inssider or Vistumbler to see what's going on. If you find that your neighbours already have wireless kit working on channel 11 a common default then switch your kit to channel six, say, to see a real performance boost.

They're more expensive and less portable than USB flash drives, but CompactFlash cards can be much faster to use. It also worked with ReadyBoost on our PC and delivered a noticeable improvement in performance. If you must stick with USB drives instead of switching to CompactFlash cards, make sure that they're formatted using the best filesystem. NTFS delivers the worst performance, so avoid it like the plague. It also includes a good cookie cleaner that displays all your cookies, lists their contents, and then lets you eliminate ones you don't want.

Features beyond system cleaning include Registry tools that claim to speed up Internet access. And how about a screen-capture program and wallpaper randomizer on top of that? Given that Super Utilities has 27 tools for cleaning and optimizing your PC, you're sure to find a module that you want.

Included are a startup organizer, a Registry cleaner, defragmentation tools, antispyware features, and much more. This excellent no-cost tool promises one-click cleanup and optimization, and it delivers.

It scans your system for problems with the Registry, shortcuts, startup programs, and spyware, and then gives you the option of which to clean up. It also deletes traces of your Internet surfing and erases temporary files. Optimization doesn't get simpler than this. The program also creates a restore point so you can restore the Registry if necessary.

If your PC is infected with malware, it runs at less than its peak. So if you have a sluggish system that seems to go on the fritz regularly, an infection may be the cause. Use these programs to kill infections and stop them from attacking your machine in the first place. It offers two-way protection, and a great view into your system and your Internet connection as well. It also scans e-mail including Web-based e-mail for viruses, and offers protection against instant-messaging viruses, peer-to-peer dangers, and other threats.

Download Avast Price: Free. What else could you want? Keep your system in top running form by stopping the installation of ActiveX-based malware and other types of spyware. A particularly useful feature is the System Snapshot, which will take a snapshot of your PC so that if it gets infected, you can revert to a clean version.

Download SpywareBlaster Price: Free. A longtime favorite free program, Spybot offers live protection from spyware installation, and scans your system for preexisting spyware and kills it. The software has a restore function, as well. Using more than one antispyware scanner is a good idea. So even if you have another, this free one, which has been around for years, is worth trying. Download Ad-Aware Price: Free. After HijackThis analyzes your Registry and file settings, it creates a log file, which you can upload to a HijackThis Web forum for the community to analyze.

All of these programs will get the job done. If you run Vista, this utility is an excellent way to tweak the OS. Through its simple interface you can customize many Vista features. Turn off the dreaded User Account Control, customize the power button, disable or enable the Aero environment, change the behavior of Windows Updates, and more.

Download Vista4Experts Price: Free. This program offers countless options for tweaking Windows. It can change the icons for various system features, create a custom desktop-shortcut arrow, change how Windows Explorer looks and works, tweak your network connection, hide menus, customize the Start menu, and adjust Windows security, just for starters. Place it at the top, bottom, or side of your screen, and you get instant access to your favorite programs and features.

Download RocketDock Price: Free. You can optimize numerous aspects of your system, including its RAM, cache, and hard disk. The utility also manages startup and shutdown, cleans your system, improves your security, and customizes how your network functions. Through this simple-to-use program, you can make Windows work the way you want and gain instant access to deeply hidden Windows customization features.

For example, you can change icon resolution, size, spacing, and shortcut arrows. And a wallpaper changer rotates the scenery displayed every time your PC starts. You have plenty of other ways to optimize your PC. It tells you everything you need to know—and far more. The program goes beyond a hardware inventory, too, giving information about your Windows installation, including user accounts, security hotfixes that are installed or missing, and a list of all the software on your machine.

Download Belarc Advisor Price: Free. Driver Sweeper finds old drivers and deletes them. It also backs them up if you need to restore them. Download Driver Sweeper Price: Free. A monitoring tool—software that can show you overall system use—is essential for optimizing a PC. This nifty little freebie tracks RAM, CPU, Internet, and hard-disk use, and shows everything on your desktop in four small colored boxes.

Reading the information in the boxes is tough, so hover your mouse over them. With just a click, you can also easily and conveniently let System Mechanic run hundreds of critical diagnostic tests and then safely apply any combination of the individual tools necessary to restore speed, maximize performance and increase stability.

Easily adjust system resources when working with high-demand apps or when system stamina is required, such as in a battery-powered setting. PowerSense fine-tunes processor and other settings through 7 built-in modes customized for gaming, multimedia production, graphic design and more. Speed up your PC by allowing this feature to dynamically sense which open apps are your current priority. Enable file writing to disk in contiguous batches to improve overall system performance and reduce the need for secondary file defragmentation.

Each article is packed with easy tips and practical advice on the latest issues affecting computers to help you get the most out of your PC. We respect your privacy and would never share your information.

Tips for Taking Care of Your Files Keep your files in check, and your PC will thank you The files within your PC are a lot like the appliances in your house: the more you use them, the more they need attention—-such as cleaning, wiping, and org Digital privacy can be tricky, but there are a ways users can reduce online vulnerability.

PCs require intelligent automated solutions to ensure performance runs at optimal capacity. As user needs change and develop, there are many ways to maintain optimal PC performance.