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BOOT CAMP 164 (01/03/01)
SPRING CLEAN YOUR PC part 2
If you followed last week's introduction to PC spring
cleaning your computer hardware will be clean and shiny and hopefully running at
peak efficiency, but what about the software?
After a few months of regular use most PCs show clear signs
of slowing down. Windows takes longer to load, applications that used to fly
along now take ages to open or access files and crashes and lock-ups happen more
frequently. These are all signs that the hard disc drive is full of clutter and
its filing system is badly disorganised or 'fragmented', and it's only going to
get worse, unless you do something about it!
The first step is to remove all unwanted and unused software,
paying special attention to those freebie and demo programs and games loaded
from magazine cover-mount CD-ROMs that you may have forgotten about. Ideally you
will have an uninstaller program on your PC, like CleanSweep, Nuts and Bolts
etc, which monitors each installation so it can be completely removed. If not
get one, they're a real investment and used properly they'll keep your PC hard
disc drive running smoothly. Otherwise you will have to use Add/Remove Programs
in Control Panel or the applications own uninstaller utility if it has one
which you may find listed alongside the application on the Start > Programs
list, or in the application's folder when opened in Windows Explorer. Remove
only one program at a time restart the PC each time, watching out for any error
messages during the re-boot.
Windows 98 and ME have a useful disk cleanup utility (Start
> Programs > System Tools), which empties the Temporary Internet Files,
Recycle Bin and the Temporary folder and this is worth running every week or
so.
To get your hard disc filing system back into shape you
should run the Windows disc defragmenter or 'Defrag' utility, in fact you should
be doing that at least once a month, weekly if the PC is in daily use and you do
a lot of web browsing or regularly download material. Fortunately it's never too
late to start, but before you run Defrag get into the habit of shutting down all
running programs, empty the Recycle bin, disable power management and switch off
any screensavers and anti virus software. The latter can usually be disabled
from the System Tray (next to the clock), right-click on the icon and select
Exit or Shutdown. If any programs are left running in the background and they
accesses the hard disc, Defrag will forced to restart and it'll never finish the
job. To maximise the space on your hard disc empty your web browser's cache (in
Internet Explorer click on Internet Options on the Tools menu, select the
General tab and click Delete Files). When you've done that run the Scandisk
utility which can be found by clicking Start > Programs > Accessories >
System Tools.
Now you are ready to defrag. There are actually several
versions of Defrag, the best one can be found alongside Scandisk in System Tools
in the Accessories folder. This one has the option to optimise your hard disc's
file structure by grouping the most frequently used programs together. (When
Defrag opens click the Settings butt and check the item 'Rearrange files so my
programs start faster'). There's another slightly faster but less thorough
version available from My Computer (right-click drive C:/ and select Properties
and the Tools tab). If you are using Windows 98 and either of these two versions
consistently 'hang', (and you've switched off all running programs) then try
this. Insert your Windows 98 CD-ROM, if it starts automatically click on 'Browse
This CD', otherwise use Windows Explorer to open the disc and work your way to
the Tools and Mtsutil folders, right-click on Defrag.inf and select Install.
Exit and re-boot, Defrag will run and give your PC's filing system a really
comprehensive once-over.
Now that your PC's filing system is in apple-pie order it's
time to clean up the Registry. As regular readers will know the Windows Registry
is a huge set of files that configure your PC, stores user preferences and keep
tabs on all of the software loaded on the hard disc. Every time you install new
software or make any changes to the way Windows or your programs work and look
it's entered in the Registry, however, when you delete programs redundant
Registry entries are often left behind and can sometimes cause conflicts. There
is a basic Registry checker utility in Windows (Start > Programs >
Accessories > System Tools > System Information, select Registry Checker
on the Tools menu) but it's only going to find the most serious faults. For a
more in depth check you should use a Registry Cleaner (see Software),
RegClean will fix most common problems, but there is an even
better third-party alternative called Reg Cleaner, developed by Finnish Student
Jouni Vuorio. This excellent freeware program automatically identifies redundant
and corrupt entries and lets you manually decide which ones to delete. It also
backs up any changes, so they can be undone, if anything unfortunate happens.
You can download Reg Cleaner from: http://www.jv16.org/,
it's less than 500kb in size so it should only take a few minutes. Its
self-extracting, so click on the downloaded file and follow the
instructions.
Before you run Reg Clean, or do anything to the Registry it's
wise to make a backup. You can do this by going to Run on the Start menu, type
in 'regedit' (without the inverted commas), when the Registry Editor opens go to
the Registry menu and click on Export Registry File, select a location where you
will know to find it, call the file regbak and click Save. If anything goes
wrong simply double-click on your newly created 'regbak.reg' file and the
Registry will be automatically restored.
Next week Presentation on your PC
JARGON FILTER
DEFRAGGING
Over time the files on a PC's hard disc drive become
disorganised, 'defragging' the drive restores order and speeds up reading and
writing data
POWER MANAGEMENT
Windows utilities that help to reduce power consumption by
switching off components when they are not being used. It can be disabled by
clicking on the Power Management icon in Control Panel (Start > Settings, or
Control Panel icon in My Computer)
SCANDISK
A Windows utility that checks the integrity of data stored on
a hard disc drive, identifies problems, and where possible, puts them right
TOP TIP
The Function keys running along the top of your keyboard do
different things according to the application in use at the time. F1 is almost
always help, but what about the others? Here's an easy way to find out what they
all do in Word 2000. Right click into an empty area next to a Toolbar at the top
of the screen, and select Customize from the drop-down menu. Put a check mark
next to 'Function Key display' and a new toolbar will appear at the bottom of
the screen, with clickable buttons showing what each key does, plus their
alternative functions, when you press the Alt, Shift or Ctrl keys.
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