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Microsoft Windows Defender Lavasoft Downloads The Home of Spybot-S&D

This document provides 27 steps to speed up a slow computer by cleaning out junk files, malware, and unnecessary startup programs. It recommends downloading and using various free anti-spyware and cleaning tools like AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and HijackThis to remove viruses, spyware, and unnecessary registry entries. Adjusting security and performance settings in the control panel and registry can also help improve speed. Regular maintenance following these steps is needed to keep a computer running quickly.

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Bidya Nath
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119 views

Microsoft Windows Defender Lavasoft Downloads The Home of Spybot-S&D

This document provides 27 steps to speed up a slow computer by cleaning out junk files, malware, and unnecessary startup programs. It recommends downloading and using various free anti-spyware and cleaning tools like AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy, and HijackThis to remove viruses, spyware, and unnecessary registry entries. Adjusting security and performance settings in the control panel and registry can also help improve speed. Regular maintenance following these steps is needed to keep a computer running quickly.

Uploaded by

Bidya Nath
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Are you wondering, "Why is my computer slow? How can I fix my computer?

" I'm going to


help you figure out how to speed up your computer and solve those slow computer problems
once and for all.

Computers are wonderful devices that allow us to do many things but things can get rough
once the garbage that comes in through our internet connection begins to stop up our system.
I have put together a step-by-step PC maintenance procedure for cleaning all of this out.

Follow the steps below and you will see a noticeable improvement in your PC performance.
If you're looking to really speed up your PC -- like make your computer twice as fast -- check
out Computer Secrets Unleashed. Remember if you run Windows XP, keep the registry
clean. Enjoy!

1. Download Microsoft's Anti-Spyware program, Adaware, and Spybot Search and


Destroy. Microsoft's program can be downloaded at Microsoft Windows Defender.
Adaware can be downloaded at Lavasoft Downloads. Spybot can be downloaded at
The Home of Spybot-S&D. All of these programs are free.
2. Install Microsoft's anti-spyware program now, but not the other two.
3. Run MSconfig. To do this, select Start>Run and type msconfig into the space. Select
the Startup tab and get rid of all unnecessary programs. The way to determine this is
to go to ProcessLibrary.com and check it against their database.
4. Boot into Safe Mode. To do this, restart the computer and press F8 continuously.
Select the Safe Mode option from the list and continue to desktop.
5. Delete any spyware programs from your add/remove. To do this, select Start>Control
Panel>Add or Remove Programs. Check all unknown programs against
SpywareGuide.com.
6. Locate the temp folder in your computer and delete everything in the folder. This is
located, usually, in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\local settings.
7. Still in Safe Mode, install Adaware and Spybot. Run Adaware, Microsoft's anti-
spyware and Spybot. Update to the most recent definitions in each program and run
them in full scan mode. Microsoft's program cannot be installed in Safe Mode. You
have already installed it.
8. Reboot into standard Windows mode.
9. Download HijackThis. You can get this program here Merijn.org. Install and run it.
Click Do A System Scan and Save A Logfile. HijackThis will analyze processes that
are running on your computer and alert you when there are things running that should
not be there. It will also let you know when there are programs running that are not
malicious but can safely be gotten rid of because they are not needed.
10. Post the logfile in the Automated Log Analyzer at HijackThis.
11. After determining what's safe and isn't, check appropriate boxes and click Fix
Checked.
12. Run the Microsoft Anti-Malicious program, which you can download at the Microsoft
Download Center. This program is designed by Microsoft to detect and remove
programs whose sole purpose is harming your computer. The technical term for this
type of program is a rootkit.
13. Download and run BLBeta Expert. This can be downloaded at F-Secure Blacklight.
Make sure to carefully review anything it detects before removing. BlBeta is another
program that is designed to get rid of rootkits.
14. For Internet Explorer, click Tools> Internet Options> Security Tab. Click on the
Internet Globe icon and select Custom Level. Disable the following:
a. Download Unsigned ActiveX Controls.

b. Initialize And Script ActiveX Controls Not Marked As Safe.

c. Active Scripting.

d. Scripting Of Java Applets.

Also click High Safety under Java Permissions.

If this causes trouble viewing any favorite sites, click the Trusted Sites icon of the
Security Tab and use the Sites button to add the URL's of sites that are exempt from
these requirements. The purpose of these changes is to tighten the security of your
system so that not so many malicious programs make it to your system.

15. For Firefox, type about:config in the address bar. Right click in the window and click
New and Integer. In the first box, type privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins. In the
second box, type 2. This will prevent Flash popups in Firefox.
16. Open Regedit by clicking Start>Run and type in regedit.
17. Once Regedit is open, click the plus symbol next to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER
folder, the plus symbol next to Control Panel, and then click the Desktop folder icon
to display its contents. In the right pane, double-click MenuShowDelay to change its
value. (This Registry location is referred to as
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL\PANEL\DESKTOP\MENUSHOWDELAY.)
The default Value Data is 400, or 4/10 of a second. Change the Value Data to 0 for
the least delay, and click OK. This will make menus appear instantly on your
computer instead of having a delay.
18. Open
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\FIL
ESYSTEM. Right-click Filesystem, select New, and DWORD Value. Rename
NewValue#1 on the right-side pane to DisableNTFSLast-AccessUpdate. Double-click
this new entry, change the Value Data field from 0 to 1, and then click OK. This
disables the constant updating of the dates when a file or folder were last updated.
This will speed up the system.
19. Open
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVE
RSION\EXPLORER. Create a new DWORD Value called DesktopProcess, and set its
Value Data to 1.
20. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
Double-click the AutoEndTasks string and change the value to 1. This causes all of
the components of the explorer to run in one process, making your computer faster.

There is a caveat for some users here. Do not make this change if you are not running
at least a Pentium processor and 16 MB of physical memory. Dating Blogs.

21. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand SOFTWARE, expand Microsoft,


expand Windows, and expand CurrentVersion. Right-click Explorer, expand New,
click Key, and name the new key AlwaysUnloadDLL. Click AlwaysUnloadDLL,
double-click the Default string, and change the value to 1. Windows tries to keep
some DLL's in memory when the program uses them. If a user has low memory, this
can cause performance issues.
22. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
Double-click the HungAppTimeout string and change the value to 1000. Now,
double-click the WaitToKillAppTimeout, string and change the value to 2000. This
sets your system up to more efficiently handle application hangups. It also will
optimize the amount of time a system takes to close a program when you try to end
Windows.
23. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand System, expand CurrentControlSet,
and click Control. Double-click the WaitToKillServiceTimeout string and change the
value to 2000. This optimizes the time that it will take for Windows Services to close
when the system is set to shut down.
24. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, click Desktop, and
double-click the MenuShowDelay string in the right-hand pane. Change the value to
100. This will cause Desktop menus to appear almost instantly.
25. Close regedit.
26. Set Recycle Bin to 1-3 percent of the hard drive space. To do this, right click on the
Recycle Bin. Select properties. Move the slider down to the desired amount and click
Ok. By default, the Recycle bin takes up too much of your space.
27. To ensure DMA is in use, click Start, right-click My Computer, click Properties,
select the Hardware tab, and click Device Manager. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI
Controllers entry, double-click the entry for the channel where your hard drive is
installed (most likely the Primary IDE Channel), and use the Transfer Mode drop-
down menu to select DMA If Available if PIO Only mode is selected. Click Ok,
reboot, and recheck the setting to make sure it sticks. When this is enabled, it will
allow information from your CD/DVD to go straight to memory, bypassing the
system processor and speeding up the system.

You should notice markedly increased speeds in your computer. Remember that this is not a
"do once and forget it" procedure.

Crud is constantly building up in your computer, so make sure and set up a maintenance plan
to keep your computer clean.

It's important to keep your Windows registry clean, and that takes regular computer
maintenance. If you can get your windows registry cleaner, you can speed up your PC
dramatically. This alone will prevent your computer from running slow.

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