Basic Tune-Up to Maintain Your New Computer’s Performance

What are the first things you do when you buy a new PC? Assuming that it has Windows XP (or Windows 7), there are some basic steps that everyone should take in order to maintain the computer speed in the long run. Incorrect setup by your PC reseller or manufacturer can be corrected. You might have read that you should defragment your hard drive often, but that’s not enough. As well as take security measures (firewall, not just antivirus), here are what you should do.

1. Partition your hard disk to add a Swap/Temp partition. This is common setup for Linux systems. The logic is that this Swap partition will be configure to put all temporary Windows files. To do that, you need administrator priviledges. The steps are mentioned for Windows XP, but should be similar for Windows 7.Open Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management. Open Disk Management under the Storage.You should see the list of partitions here. Given that hard drives are usually 160GB or more, 320GB becoming common, manufacturers have a tendency to partition into two equal partition. Let’s take the case of a 320GB hard disk, being partitioned as C: 160 GB and D: 160GB.

   

   Since the first partition holds windows, and is huge(!), fragmentation is bound to happen in the long run, because Windows writes and erases 2 types of files: the Swap file and Temporary Files. So delete the D partition (backup your data to C first). Then right click on the C partition and resize it. Put it to a maximum of 100GB if possible.

   Then create another partition of 10GB only, formatting in FAT32 system, give it the letter T: for Temp. FAT32 is faster than the current NTFS for smaller partitions (under 11GB). Then create your additional partitions as desired. It is important that this is the 2nd partition because of the speed factor. Because of the way hard drives are read, C is always faster than D, which is faster than E etc. So by now you should have say, 4 partitions: System-Recovery, C:, T: and D: If you have a system recovery partition, do not delete it!

   If you have already used your PC for a while, it might not be possible to resize the first partition or sometimes, delete the second partition without losing data. In this case, you can still follow the next step

2. Once you have your T: Swap partition, it is time to configure Windows to save temporary files there. Press the Windows Key + Break on your keyboard to bring up System Properties. Or, right click on My Computer and click Properties. Open the Advanced Tab, click Environment Properties.
   

   You will see 2 lists, one above and one below. There are entries for TMP and TEMP on both. Double click to edit them and enter your new Swap partition’s location e.g. T:\ or T:\Temp instead of a folder under your windows installation. Press OK to validate.

3. Now the first part is done. Next move your Swap file to the new partition. Still under System Properties > Advanced, click on Settings under Performance. Select the Advanced Tab > Virtual Memory > Change.Now set No paging file for all partitions, except the Swap, where Custom Size is to be selected. Preferably put the same value for the minimum and maximum size for speed. This way Windows can allocate all the space as one big chunk (low fragmentation chances).
   
   

   The total Virtual Memory + your actual RAM (Physical Memory) should usually not exceed 3GB under Windows XP or 4Gb under Windows 7. Unless you know you’ll use more than that, keep the total to under 3GB, i.e. if you have 1GB memory and know that you are not doing big big photoshop work – just browsing and office work, putting 1.5GB virtual memory is more than enough. Validate and you’re done.

4. Next are the programs that open when you boot Windows, these might include essential utilities (e.g. antivirus, NVidia control panel) and some bloat (meaning software that you never use but are still running in background). Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog. Type msconfig and press Enter. Under the Start Up tab, uncheck the undesired software.Note that you should not disable things that you are not sure, e.g. applications under the Windows directory. Validate and restart your PC. Once you get back into Windows, you will be warned of some message saying that you’re not running normally. Uncheck the checkbox and continue.
5. Next is to check that all your drivers have been installed. Press Windows Key + Break to open System Properties. Look for Device Manager under Hardware. If there is any exclamation mark, look for the corresponding CD, or ask your reseller/manufacturer for help about installing the driver for that. I have seen some local resellers not installing graphics card drivers (display adapter). Although this might not be noticeable to some people using LCD screens, it does cause a health hazard to CRT screens since the refresh rate will be set to 60Hz.Refresh rate is important with CRT screens: they should be at least 75Hz, 85Hz is good, or it’ll tire your eyes out quickly. Another impact of a properly installed display adapter driver, is faster redrawing of the screen, noticeable especially when you scroll down a webpage, or watch a video.
6. Go install a good free antivirus e.g. Avast, AVG
7. Get a proper firewall e.g. Comodo Internet Security. This is as important as an antivirus.
8. Install Firefox 3.6, Opera 10.6 or another browser apart from Internet Explorer and make it become the default browser (you’ll be asked to do that the first time you run them). Internet Explorer, even IE8, remains slower than Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari. Which one you use among these, is up to you, as long is you don’t touch Internet Explorer 6! Not to mention that IE6 is a huge security hazard. Stay away!

Among other things, include the latest version of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader, but some people can do without them. I know that I might have sounded quite technical. Just remember that Google is your friend

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