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Speed Up Windows XP

Most people who ask me for computer support eventually need one of their computers to just be faster.

There are many cases where optimizing Windows for speed is useful. For slower machines (less than 1.3Ghz) or those with only a little RAM (512MB or less), these tips can allow applications to work faster.

PC Decrapifier

If you have a new PC with lots of bloatware (programs that are unneeded that Dell and others are often paid to include), consider running PC Decrapifier first. This runs a batch script to remove applications. It is free for personal use.

Add Remove Programs

While just removing programs that are on your hard drive does not speed up a computer, it is a good practice and will help if those programs auto-start. It also helps if you are very low on disk space. To remove programs, go to Add Remove Programs (Start – System – Add Remove Programs).

MSCONFIG

MSCONFIG allows control over many startup options. Be sure to only modify options if you understand what you are doing because you can accidentally disable needed Windows functions here. To reach MSCONFIC click Start, then Run, then type msconfig. From there you have a menu that will allow you to turn off startup items.

Startup Items Folder

The startup items folder (Programs – Startup) also lists items that will start up automatically. If you have applications such as AOL, MS Office, or music programs that you use but do not need to always have running, you can remove them here to save your active memory for other applications. Often applications will have helper programs that allow MS Office or iTunes, for example, to start up faster. If you don’t use those applications much, you can remove the applications from the startup folder.

Appearance

You can remove visual effects such as animating windows and having shadows under menus.

Click Start – Control Panel – System – Advanced tab – Performance Settings

From here you can adjust the computer for best performance or remove individual performance options

Desktop Wallpaper

If you have a picture background, you can replace it with a solid color background for a very small performance improvement.

To change your wallpaper or background image:

Right-click on the desktop, click Properties, Desktop tab

Disable Microsoft Messenger

Microsoft Messenger, in addition to taking up memory, can be a conduit for viruses. Messenger is not easy to remove and will attempt to launch when you run Outlook. I recommend using Steve Gilmore’s Shoot The Messenger application to disable Messenger.

Defragment the Hard Drive

Disk defragmenting can be useful when your computer has been used for a while and files are no longer in their optimal location on the disk. You can reach the Disk Deframenter here:

Start – Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Disk Defragmenter

Clean Install

Over time, Windows does become slower. And no matter what you do to clean it up, it may not be as fast as it was originally. So a fresh install may be the only real practical solution once your computer has been used for a long period of time with many programs having been installed over that period.

You will want to back up all of your documents and favorites from your browser before wiping out your system.

Add RAM

If you have 512MB or 1GB of RAM, adding RAM can be helpful depending on how many and what kind of programs you tend to run. Click CTRL-ALT-DELETE and then the Performance tab. From here you can see the physical memory available compared to how much total memory that you have.

Make sure to check how much memory your computer can physically see. This is a limitation of the motherboard and BIOS.

Also, XP’s standard 32-bit installation can only read a total of 3GB of RAM. The less popular 64-bit version, also known as x64 version, can use up to 128GB of RAM.

Buy a New Computer

Okay, this isn’t a very technical solution. But keep in mind that businesses typically replace computers every 3-4 years because beyond this point it is a better business decision to have a faster and more easily maintained computer. So if your computer is old, then consider that purchasing a new computer might be a better use of your time and money. A decent computer costs $500-$1500 depending on your needs. If you do decide that you need a new computer, be sure to properly recycle your old computer.

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Tivo HD Hard Drive Upgrade Guide


There are several Tivo hard drive upgrade guides out there.  I recently had to upgrade a Tivo HD drive for a Virginia customer and realized that most guides out there either don’t work or are unnecessarily complicated.  As a result, I’ve collected the simplest way to do it which requires just one command if you’ve got everything you need.

What you need

  1. The Tivo HD itself.  That link is to Amazon which almost always has the Tivo HD for less than $250.
  2. A new larger drive.  I recommend the Seagate DB35 750GB.  Not just any drive would do as you want to get one designed for DVRs with appropriate performance and noise levels.  That drive should yield 106 hours of HD recording.
  3. MFSLive linux boot disc.  You can download the ISO of this here: http://www.mfslive.org/download.htm.  Burn the ISO to disc.
  4. A desktop computer with 2 sata connectors and cables for the old drive and new drive.
  5. A Torx T-10 screwdriver.
What to do

  1. Remove your original Tivo drive and hook it up to your desktop’s first sata connector.
  2. Hook up the new drive to the desktop’s second sata connector.
  3. Boot off the linux boot disc.  When booted, you should just see a command prompt.  You can now type the following command to see your connected drives: 
    cat /proc/partitions
    If hooked up correctly, you should see your smaller original drive listed as sda and your new larger drive as sdb.  If you hook them up wrong, you could copy a blank drive to the original drive removing all Tivo data.  That would be very bad which is why you need to run this command and check the drives.
  4. Execute one command to begin the full copy and expansion to the new drive.  This command will copy all your settings and shows as well:
    backup -qTao – /dev/sda | restore -s 128 -r 4 -xzpi – /dev/sdb
    This command is nicer than many in that it tells you how much time is left. It should take about an hour.
  5. Once the command completes, turn off your computer and plug the new drive into your Tivo.  That’s it, boot up the Tivo and you should have a working box with much larger recording capacity.  It is a good idea to hold on to the original drive in case your new one ever breaks so you could duplicate it again to keep your Tivo working.
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Computer Recycling in the D.C. Area

While we are shopping for the holidays, we should remember to recycle our old electronics. This article covers recycling information and locations for the Virginia, D.C., and Maryland area.

Dangers of Computer Waste

Old computers and monitors have harmful materials that can seep into the ground water and air if thrown in your normal trash. The cadmium and mercury in displays can damage the nervous system. Computers also may contain lead (causing birth defects and learning disabilities) and CFCs (destroying the ozone layer).

Donations

If you have a working computer, you can get rid of it through:

  1. Craigslist (Washington D.C. metro area) has sections for selling or giving away free stuff.
  2. Freecycle is a free program to give people items for reuse. They have groups everywhere, including, Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.
  3. D.C. Goodwill accepts computers that are not more than 5 years old. They will not take CRT monitors, the older large monitors that have been replaced by LCDs.

Recycling Computers and eWaste

The easiest way to recycle an old computer is to do it with the purchase of a new computer. Apple, Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba and others have a corporate recycling program that allows you to give them your old computer after buying your new computer.

This image shows the Free Recycling Kit option that Dell provides in their services customization when you buy a new computer.

Drop-off Locations for Computers and other eWaste

The EPA eCycling site is the closest thing to a definitive set of inks to eCycling programs across the country. Below are the best links I found to the D.C. area programs:

Washington D.C.

DC Free Electronic Disposal Sites:
DPW (Department of Public Works) offers free, weekly Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) and electronic recycling (e-cycling) drop-off service at the Benning Road Trash Transfer Station, 3200 Benning Road, NE, and at the Ft. Totten Trash Transfer Station, 4900 Bates Road, NE, each Saturday from 8 am to 3 pm.

Virginia

Arlington, VA HAZMAT Program:
Arlington residential households can recycle computers and other electronic items at the County’s HHM drop off sites.

Virginia Department of Environment Computers and Electronics Recycling, List of Virginia Collections Centers

Maryland

Maryland Department of Environment Electronic Recycling Collection Events and Locations:
Montgomery Country Shady Grove Transfer Station and Recycling Center

Ink Cartridges

Ink cartridges can be dropped off at Micro Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Office supply stores such as Staples, Office Max, and Office Depot take used toner cartridges and sometimes even give you credit toward a store purchase for dropping them off.

Cell Phones

Cell phones can be dropped off at cell phone stores. Working phones can also be donated to women’s shelters. Unactivated phones still have the ability to call 911 so they can be useful.

Recycling Can Be Easy

With many recycling options, you can easily dispose of your electronics safely.

Please let us know if you have any corrections or additions to this post.

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LCD Image Persistence

Most people have heard of screen burn-in. It is an imprint of an image on a display that is caused by that image being displayed too long. CRT burn-in was very common for things like taskbars that were always displayed on the screen in the same place. To prevent this, screen savers were invented to display different images to counteract the burn-in effects. Most people thought this problem went away when LCDs were created but that isn’t entirely true. It is uncommon in LCDs but it can happen.  The crystals change their natural state enough to cause an imprinting of the persistent image, kind of like a shadow of it.

See the LCD screen to the right which has a menu at the top that still displays on a blank screen.

Prevention

Much like CRT burn-in, screen savers can help prevent the problem.  It is a good idea to pick a screen server with lots of changing colors.  Having your screen auto turn off when not in use will also help by not displaying the image more than it has to be.

Fixing

Unfortunately, preventative techniques will only do so much if you are always at your computer and not giving it an opportunity to turn off or run a screen saver.  In that case, you need to know how to fix the problem.  It is important to try to fix it as soon as you notice it as it is possible to become permanent if it continues too long.  To fix it, you can try one of these following techniques:

  1. Leave your monitor off for very long periods of time.  This could take hours or many days.
  2. Use a screen saver with lots of colors and let it run for a long period of time.  The length of time can vary depending on how bad the persistence is.
  3. Display a solid single color or white for a long period of time.

If none of those work, your image is probably permanent and you are at your computer far too often.

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Acer Aspire One running Windows Vista

The Acer Aspire One is a fun little netbook, but it’s just not fast enough to run Windows Vista. That’s why Windows XP was included instead of Vista. Right? Well, I put that to the test and found that by modifying Vista as I described earlier, Vista runs great on the Aspire One.

It actually ran more fluidly than Windows XP did. I attribute that mainly to Vista’s support of:

  1. the Atom chipset’s hyperthreading. XP Home does not take full advantage of the chipset.
  2. ReadyBoost, a Vista feature that uses a flash drive to cache and speed up random reads that would otherwise go to the hard drive.

See this video of my Aspire One showing the speed of opening several applications: