The Little Geeni

Windows Vista was introduced a while ago as an upgrade to the Windows XP and 2000 users as something more tactile, easier to use – packed with security features that will ensure the safety of your work and your operating system experience. It was also more flashy, more user friendly and gained a lot of popularity because of its more palpable interface. Though it had some compatibility issues when it was first released, Windows Vista has really come ahead in the game and has become the solution for many computer users all over the world. But of course, Windows Vista is built on the same principles as the previous versions of the OS and because of that, it is inevitably an imperfect superstructure. A word of caution here – no OS is perfect because of the degradation effects of technology and the human element in the mix. There are actually quite a few common Windows Vista error messages and this article will discuss how to troubleshoot them if you ever encounter any of them.

The solution is no different from the solution that was available for previous editions of Microsoft’s incarnations. The common element here is the registry, and Windows Vista still operates with the registry as the integral matrix that it uses to ensure that all operations within its operating system environment run smoothly. With the registry, no matter how advanced the OS, common problems will always occur. When ever you introduce third party software and programs in Windows Vista, you will introduce the potential of new problems, especially in the registry. Bad registry keys left by rogue programs, invalid entries left by incomplete uninstalls and orphan keys are still features of an unhealthy Windows registry – be it XP or Vista. Surprised? Don’t be. Microsoft invented the registry for the simple fact that all executions in the computer need a reference point and all instructions for the different programs need somewhere to be stored. It hasn’t changed at all.

The same problems that made those runtime errors, mediahub errors and Active X errors still exist in Windows Vista, and would most likely still exist in future incarnations of Windows. The good thing about most of the registry cleaners is that they have adapted to the new operating system and is compatible with the new code and language that Vista is using. A quick look on the internet reveals many registry cleaners that have the ability to interface with Windows Vista and solve the problems that its registry might incur. Another good thing is that Vista has some bespoke problems that did not exist in XP, mainly because of the new security code and program structure that is being used by the operating system. Registry cleaners have adjusted to this and responded with more feature packed cleaners. Troubleshooting common Windows Vista error messages is now easy with the new stable of registry cleaners out there. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a new OS means a trouble free registry; you still need dedicated programs to deal with the problems associated with it.

Troubleshooting Common, Error, Messages, Them, Troubleshoot, Vista, Windows

Network Diagnostic Tools in Windows Vista

In the Network Sharing Center there is a Diagnose and Repair link that will scan your system for network issues. This diagnostic pings the remote host. If it is not found, you have the option to reset the network adapter Local Area Connection.

In addition to the automated Network Diagnostics interface, several tools are included with Windows Vista that can be used to test network components and connectivity.

Basic Tools

The following tools are fundamental in connectivity and name resolution troubleshooting. In addition, they are useful when troubleshooting failures with applications that communicate on the network or Internet.

Ipconfig

The Ipconfig command line tool displays all current TCP/IP network configuration values. Used without parameters, the ipconfig command displays the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for all adapters. In addition, you can use the following commands:

ipconfig /all – If you want to see more detailed information on the configuration for all interfaces on the computer, use this command.

ipconfig /release – This command releases any DHCP addresses assigned to interfaces on the computer. You can typically use it before the next command.

ipconfig /renew – This command causes the DHCP client service to request network addresses for all network connections. It is useful when you encounter connectivity problems and suspect a bad address. It is also used when troubleshooting name resolution failures to ensure the interface has the correct DNS server addresses assigned.

ipconfig /flushdns – This command clears the local DNS resolver cache. When you connect to machines by name, the DNS client software on the computer stores names and IP addresses as they are resolved. This is so that the name can be resolved without sending a repeat request to the DNS server. If a remote computer’s IP address changes, outdated information in this cache can cause connections by name to fail. Run this command on the local machine to clear the cache.

Ping

The ping command verifies IP-level connectivity to another TCP/IP computer by sending ICMP Echo Request messages. The receipt of corresponding Echo Reply messages is displayed along with round-trip times.

Ping is the primary TCP/IP command used to troubleshoot connectivity, reachability, and name resolution.

Because firewalls typically block ICMP traffic, ping does not receive a response from a system with a firewall configured. Check the firewall settings to ensure Ping or ICMP Echo is enabled while you are troubleshooting.

Tracert

The Trace Route (Tracert.exe) command determines the path taken to a destination by sending ICMP Echo Request messages to the destination with incrementally increasing Time to Live (TTL) field values. The path displayed is the list of near-side router interfaces of the routers in the path between a source host and a destination. The near-side interface is the interface of the router closest to the sending host in the path.

This command is useful for troubleshooting connectivity failures when you can ping the default gateway but cannot ping Internet servers. Such a situation can indicate a failure in the routing from the client machine to the Internet.

Running Tracert returns data on the failure indicating which hop in the routing is dropping the traffic. When used for Internet connectivity troubleshooting, the data gathered is often used to work with the ISP to resolve such routing issues. The output should identify the router at which the problem occurs.

For more details, please refer to www.wintechhelp.com

Troubleshooting Diagnostics, Network, Vista, Windows

Most of us have had the problem before. You start up your Windows machine and are greeted with a cryptic error message or “blue screen of death” before your system boots. It’s a sinking feeling. You cannot access the operating system and troubleshooting the problem can be difficult. In most cases, people end up resorting to drastic measures, such as reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system. It’s not always a lost cause. Windows Server 2003 includes a number of alternative boot options to help you troubleshoot and resolve these issues.

When attempting to recover from a Windows boot failure, the first step is to get to the boot options menu. You can do this by hitting the F8 key on your keyboard immediately after the Windows boot loader screen is displayed. Once you have accessed the boot options menu, you will have a number of options which are outlined below:

Safe Mode

This option starts the operating system with a bare minimum of system drivers. Safe Mode will help you when troubleshooting boot failures caused by device drivers and registry problems. This mode does not provide networking support and most system services are disabled.

Safe Mode with Networking

The same exact thing as Safe Mode, only with Networking support.

Safe Mode with Command Prompt

This is a command line interface. It can be useful for renaming files and doing other basic command line routines. The windows explorer shell is not loaded and it’s basically just a dos prompt.

Enable Boot Logging

Boot logging starts the system normally, but it creates a detailed log of all the services and drivers that are trying to load at boot time. This can help you determine what is causing the system to crash. The default location for the log file is C:Windows
tbtlog.txt.

Enable VGA Mode

This actually loads the currently installed video driver, but uses the lowest resolution and color depth available. This is a useful option if you are troubleshooting an issue with your video card or monitor driver.

Last Known Good Configuration

You can use this option to revert to a copy of the registry that was saved during the last successful login to Windows. Although it sounds great, I can’t remember a single instance that this has ever worked for me in the past, and believe me, I’ve tried it several times.

Directory Services Restore Mode

This is only applicable for Active Directory Domain Controllers. It allows you to perform maintenance and backup recovery tasks on Active Directory.

Debugging Mode

This will allow you to hook up a working server via a serial cable to send debugging messages for analysis. This requires a great deal of configuration on the receiving end and may not be a realistic option for most people.

Finally, you can use the Recovery Console to perform more advanced troubleshooting. The Recovery Console is not installed by default. If it is not installed, you can still use it by booting to the Operating System CD and choosing the “Repair with Recovery Console” option. The Recovery Console allows you to change service startup options, create or extend volumes and or select alternative boot options.

In this article we’ve covered the multiple boot options provided by Windows Server 2003. If you are not dealing with a hardware failure you can often narrow down and correct most boot problems in Windows Server 2003 using these tools.

Troubleshooting 2003, Boot, Failures, Server, Troubleshooting, Windows

Computer troubleshooting is in many ways more art than science; it’s more of a marriage between your basic computer understanding and all the peculiarities of your specific environment. Truth be told, this series of articles actually possesses very little capability in terms of helping you troubleshoot your network. What it can do, however, is get you pointed in the right direction so that you have a better idea of the troubleshooting resources that are at your fingertips within Vista.

Of course, there’s no way any computer article can possibly foresee every possible computer troubleshooting scenario. If you want to really know whether a particular troubleshooting approach will work, my best advice is to give it a try. It’s just a machine, after all, and you aren’t going to break it with a few clicks of the mouse.

OK, you might break it, but if you follow some of the advice laid out in this article, you shouldn’t be able to do anything that you can’t undo. Here, we focus mainly on some of the troubleshooting tools that Windows Vista places in the hands of the administrator. As always, the focus is mainly on what’s new: we will examine a new utility called Problem Reports and Solutions, and I’ll bet you don’t need to read much further to guess what the nature of that one is. Also, we’ll explore some tools that an administrator might already know from previous operating systems like the System Restore utility, and we’ll look at situations in which System Restore just might save the day.

In this 5-part series of articles, we will discuss the various tools available for troubleshooting within Windows Vista. As I’m sure you’re aware, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If you’d like to get my entire book “Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide” by Brian Culp, Publisher: O’Reilly, ISBN-13: 978-0-59-652959-8 (or any of my 20+ other books and tutorials), you can pick it up at my website, www.TheAnswerHub.com or at most major book chains. In addition, I’m always happy to provide additional assistance for free (within reason, mind you…don’t go thinking this is some sort of a free ride). Visit me at my website and submit your questions to me. I’ll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Up next: we start with a look at a troubleshooting task that is meant to prevent many problems from happening in the first place. It’s the Vista Automatic Updates, which Vista admins should absolutely use to enforce good preventive health.

Troubleshooting Introduction, Microsoft, Part, Series, Troubleshooting, Vista, Windows

This vista problem troubleshooting article guide you how to troubleshoot various windows vista error problem and in detail windows vista troubleshooting solution.

There are lots of problems with windows vista and those are vary difficult to troubleshoot for a layman user. Here are the list of windows vista problems and troubleshooting guide for those vista problems.

Vista problem kernel data inpage error status no such device

During re-enumeration of a previously enumerated ide controller, a race condition exists between atapisys and pciidexsys or between Ataportsys and Pciidex.sys. In this race condition, the following conditions are true:

Atapi.sys and Ataport.sys use the stm method to select a transfer mode on a channel. The stm method is in the advanced configuration and power Interface bios. pciidex.sys verifies whether that channel exists by checking for the ide decode enable bit.

If the bios implementation of the stm method has cleared the ide decode enable bit, pciidex.sys determines that the channel does not exist. When this behavior occurs, pciidexsys does not enumerate the channel.

vista troubleshooting guide for this error

Because atapisys and ataportsys never run the stm method as long as there is i o on the channel, the stm method does not have to clear the ide decode enable bit. Therefore, BIOS manufacturers should not clear the ide decode enable bit in the stm method.

Path maximum transmission unit black hole router detection.The following is a list of black hole router detection changes that are included in windows server 2003 sp2.

By default, black hole detection is turned on.

Black hole probing is performed only for connections in established or advanced states.

Black hole probing is performed only for connections on which there is no full-size segment acknowledgement.

If black hole probing fails, the tcp maximum segment size of the connection is restored to what it used to be before probing.

• With black hole router detection turned off in versions of Windows that are earlier than windows server 2003 sp2, a connection times out approximately after 63 rtt. In windows server 2003 sp2, connections time out after 71 * rtt.

Remove Hibernation in Windows Vista troubleshooting

Hibernation is not made unavailable when you set the value of the hibernate after setting to never by using the power options item in windows vista control panel.

To make hibernation unavailable on windows vista, follow these steps:

1. Click start, and then type cmd in the start search box.

2. In the search results list, right-click command prompt, and then click run as administrator.

3. When you are prompted by user account control, click continue.

4. At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe hibernate off, and then press enter.

5. Type exit, and then press enter.

To make hibernation available, follow these steps for vista troubleshooting:

1. Click start on windows vista, and then type cmd in the start search box.

2. In the search results list, right-click command prompt, and then click run as administrator.

3. When you are prompted by user account control, clicks continue.

4. At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe hibernates on, and then press enter.

5. Type exit, and then press enter to close the command prompt window.

Troubleshooting Problems, Troubleshooting, Vista, Windows

All roads lead to Windows 7; especially when by “road” you mean “expectations cherished by a computer user”, by “lead to” you mean “let the dreams come true” and by “Windows 7” you mean “a new world of hope and possibilities”. It simply goes without saying that software giant Microsoft has always been invested its utmost effort to create something exceptional with the purpose of making its customers’ lives hassle-free as well as exciting and its newly launched ‘Windows 7’ has proved it again.

All those people associated with the IT world and stay up-to-date with IT news must have found several criticisms about the predecessor of Windows 7 – Windows Vista in almost every issue of their favorite IT magazines. By keeping all the issues raised regarding Windows Vista in mind, Microsoft has come up with a new gift for all the computer affectionate – Windows 7. This is especially for those, who have become jaded with the tedious designed and slow Operating Systems.
Now a number of questions regarding this new-age operating system must be coming to your mind, like its operation, features and facilities, tools and applications, compatibility and so on. Well, the good news is that Microsoft has designed the OS as a much advanced version of Vista and that’s why you will not find any of the drawbacks that you have faced with Windows Vista.

Now let’s take a quick glance at all the features of Windows 7 and see how it is going to thrill the users:

•    Windows 7 comes with a unique designed Taskbar which will let the users experience the Windows through Start Menu and System Tray. Both the System Tray and Taskbar have got a completely new makeover.

•    Windows 7 will allow you to shrink the icons and bring the labels back in case you feel uncomfortable with them.

•    This most advanced OS comes power-packed with more advanced security features, for which you will not have to bother about your computer’s security issue.

•    Microsoft Windows 7 offers you a completely new feature named ‘Jump Lists’. This facilitates the users to perform multiple tasks within an application, even when the application is closed.

•    The operating system will let you access the Internet at much faster speed than Windows Vista.

•    With Windows 7 all your hassles related to backing up data will be gone.

So, if you have really become bored with your same old operating system and want to add more zeal to your life then nothing but Windows 7 would be an ideal choice for you.
If you are using the older version of Windows and confused how to upgrade it and which would be the perfect OS for you then don’t worry; remote PC support services would be perfect companions for you. Get yourself registered with a well-known remote technical assistant service provider today and avail all kinds of PC and laptop related services in easiest of manner.

Troubleshooting Computer, Experience, From, help, Thrilling, Windows

When it comes to the most advanced, technologically-rich and sophisticated operating system that will simply thrill anyone then no doubt the name of Windows 7 comes on the top. Within a very short time of its launch, Windows 7 has become extensively popular worldwide and many people have already done Windows 7 upgrade. Many experts say that after Windows XP, software giant Microsoft launched another exceptionally effective Operating System, named Windows 7.

The latest Windows 7 is fully features and power-packed with plethora of essential features. No matter in which profession you belong to and what types of jobs you need to perform in your computer, the Windows 7 operating system would be the right choice for you.

Now you must be thinking that what additional features and facilities come with this most recent operating system and why you choose go for Windows 7. Well, now let’s discuss about the distinct advantages that you will get from this operating system.

The operating system helps you to organize all your stuffs more smartly and quickly through its pin feature. Like you make notes of all your important tasks and paste those in your bulletin board, you can also create sticky notes on your computer and stick that on the desktop of your computer’s desktop.
While enjoying your favorite music or graphics you need not to install the required driver, because the Windows 7 does the same automatically.
With Windows 7 connecting with the internet would not be a matter of concern for you. The pre-installed Windows Live Essential will make it hassle-free to connect with the internet in the easiest of manner.
The Windows 7 operating system will help you to protect your valuable data stored in your computer. The OS comes equipped with data protection software, named BitLocker data encryption, which will help you to protect your data from any external use. By using this tool you can easily protect your folders and data in the smartest manner.

So, if you are using any other version or Windows or any other operating system then you are suggested to migrate to Windows 7. If you are unable to upgrade Windows 7 by yourself then you are suggested to go for remote tech service providers. There are several tech service providers who offer wide range of computer and laptop repair services at much cheaper prices than the traditional service providers. So, be smart and upgrade you Operating System to Windows 7 with a remote tech service provider.

Troubleshooting Benefitted, Operating, System, Windows

If you’re an amateur to the web world specially web hosting then there are many decisions you have to make. Hosting provides the concrete base on which every E-business works as well as blooms. There are numerous choices available in the market but it’s the Linux and Windows hosting which heads the list. Everyone has their own knowledge bag according to which they govern their business but which is profitable to you may not be profitable for someone else. That’s why majority of the people are in trouble waters while choosing the hosting server for their business. Let’s delve into each hosting and get the clear picture. The usual cost involved in running a server generally doesn’t affect the cost of complete web hosting package. Windows Hosting is owned and developed by Microsoft whereas Linux is an open source and free too. The crux is that using Windows Hosting can be more expensive at times but it has its own benefits too.

According to the common myth people assume that because their computer runs Windows they too have to buy Windows hosting package. But this myth is absolutely wrong. You can normally access your web account through FTP or a control panel and both the servers support these methods. But the major difference lies in the FTP commands that are somewhat different in Linux and Windows. In short, occasionally when you try to get your FTP program to do something it returns an error message. Still, this won’t happen very often. Linux and Windows Hosting provide same features that include PHP, mySQL, POP3 and many more. The major difference arises when you want to create your site using Access, Windows Streaming Media, ASP, .NET environment, FrontPage or any other Microsoft technologies. Then you’re bound to use a Windows as your hosting server. However, in Linux there is a limited support for these technologies and what all are available are very expensive. That’s why it’s wise to think twice before selecting a hosting server as shifting from one server to another can be very hard.

The next points to argue are the reliability and stability of the servers. Windows is far more insecure in comparison to Linux. Windows is widely used operating system for home PC’s but not Linux. However, Linux is equally insecure as whooping number of successful hack attempts have been made on it till now. Thus, in the end we can say that the security of both the servers usually depends upon the competency of the system administrators. Herein, if you’re security minded then you’ll choose the best and secured hosting company irrespective of the chosen server. Now discussing the performance there isn’t much difference between the two. Linux is faster than Windows as Linux is loaded with extendable implementation. Whereas Windows tries to provide “‘all in one” package which isn’t fruitful at times. There isn’t much difference between both the servers but in terms of performance Linux outshines Windows.

Thus, if you’re hunting for the server for your E-business then think before you jump on any conclusion and don’t leave any stone unturned.

Linux Domains and Hosting, Linux, Windows

This guide provides the basic tips on computer networking, hardware, security, troubleshooting and configurations in the Windows XP Professional. These tips can also be applied to Windows 2000/2003 and Windows Vista.

How to Determine the IP address of the Computer

You can determine the IP address of the computer by the following method.

Start Run > Type CMD > Type Ipconfig at the command prompt.

In this way you will get the IP address your computer.

How to Determine the Computer name ?

Start Run > Type CMD > Type Hostname at the command prompt.

You will get the computer name by this command.

How to convert FAT32 to NTFS?

If you want to convert your system’s drive to NTFS use the following command

Covert [drivename]: /FS:NTFS

This command will convert the file system of any specified drive to NTFS. NTFS provides more advanced features as compared to FAT32 such as security, disk quota, encryption and other features.

How to Enable/Disable Firewall in Widows XP?

Firewall is useful for blocking unauthorized access to your computer network as well as blocking the certain applications, URLs and IP addresses on the internet. Windows XP Professional has built-in firewall in it and if you want to enable it, do the following steps.

Start > Control Panel > Double click Windows Firewall icon

Turn on or off Windows firewall according to your choice.

How to Add/Remove Programs from the Start menu?

Click Start > Right click on the empty space > Properties > Click start menu > customize

Here you can increase or decrease the number of programs that appear on the start menu.

Click advance for more options on the start menu.

Removing the programs from Start up?

If can limit the number of programs that loads when Windows starts up.

Click Start > Run > type Msconfig > go to start up and uncheck the programs that you don’t want to load when Windows starts up. You can increase the Windows loading time by decreasing the number of programs at the time of startup.

How to install Net Meeting in Windows XP?

Netmeeting is installed by default in the Windows XP and you can load it by the following method.

Start > Run > type Conf

Netmeeting Window will appear and now you can get connected with your friends family and colleagues.

Hopefully these simple tips will help you out with you working in Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000/2003. More tips, how tos and IT tutorials will come soon.

Troubleshooting Tips, Windows

Times are Uncertain – do you really need that upgrade or new PC?

Our customers and prospective customers frequently come to us and ask that we suggest either upgrades or whole new PC’s that will solve their current non-performance nightmare with an aging PC.  It’s quite amazing how sometimes as the conversation and understanding of requirements and problems experienced proceeds we discover that actually the PC they already have may just still have a few laps around the circuit left in its tired chassis.  In this article we will explain how you can diagnose your performance woes, streamline and tune them up.  You’d be surprised just how much more you can get out of what you have.

Tip!  Before making any serious system changes such as some of these are its wise to take a backup or restore point of your system before each change.  Then should you subsequently find something is ‘broken’ you can restore back to a previous working configuration.

Analyse the problem before implementing the solution…

Use monitoring tools regularly – get in the habit of watching Task Manager and lookout for tasks and processes that are hogging your system memory or CPU.  Task manager displays both in the process view as you can see below, you can also sort by clicking on the column headings.  Even if you only use the Internet and eMail both these applications are renowned for memory leaks and processor bound loops (see an explanation of these problems in the next section).

Monitor Free Disk Space – ensure you have at least 20% disk space, preferably 30% or more should be free.  If you don’t the file system struggles to operate as it needs some space in order to allocate and deallocate files the operating system and applications require while in use.  Imagine walking into a hall full of boxes and you need to order them all by colour, in a room 70% full you’ve got 30% free space to temporarily put things in while you move other stuff around, in a room 99% full you may have no room at all to use as a temporary store.  Use our earlier tip for reducing disk space consumption by eliminating unused installed programs or disk space is cheap these days with 1TB at under £100, upgrade your disk.

New Software invariably uses more Memory – finally, if you need an upgrade the one that makes the biggest difference in 80% of cases is simply adding more memory.  RAM is now fairly cheap and you should consider 2GB to be the minimum of practical RAM to have installed.  Every time you upgrade it try to double it or you’re unlikely to really notice the difference.  On 32-bit systems there is little advantage to having more than 3GB of memory but usually it makes sense to upgrade to 4GB due to the size of memory kits available.  If you need more than 4GB you will also need to upgrade to a 64-bit operating system.  You can see your memory utilisation by consulting the Task Manager, ctrl-alt-del presents you an option to start the task manager.

In a typical example 2GB of physical memory is installed, of which roughly 1GB is available, although windows is misleading us a bit here as it will always make sure some memory remains available or it will simply cease to function.  So don’t look for 0 available free memory as an indicator that you need more, it never will be allowed to reach 0 as windows will swap a process out into the page file to free more memory up.  There is 1.11GB of memory currently consumed (in the page file ‘PF Usage’, Commit Charge – Total).  The page file is actually virtual memory on disk as tasks become active and inactive they may be swapped into and out of memory into the page file, hence that pause sometimes when you switch to another task as the disk is accessed to bring it back out of the page file.  Activity in the page file and virtual memory is complex and I won’t go into any more of that here as it doesn’t help you with performance issues.  The key point to remember is if Windows is swapping memory out to the page file on disk then your system will be going a lot slower as you can be sure however fast your disk is it’s an awful lot slower than physical memory.

What we care most about is activity in real physical memory and the point at which we might run out of it and the page file becomes more active hence slowing down the system.  Crucially the Commit Charge Peak should balance the physical memory available otherwise it means an awful lot of page file swapping is going on (known as ‘Page Faults’).  If it was the yellow line in Page File Usage history would be bouncing around, or worse just steadily increasing.   

Adjust Total Page File size – following on from the point above if your system page file size is too small your system will slow down or even fail to start tasks (usually with a system message to tell you the computer is out of memory).  You can check this by looking at the Page File Total versus Peak size.  If they are close to each other then you need to increase your page file size.  With most windows default configurations this will happen automatically.

The exotic world of Deadlocks, Infinite Loops and Cartesian products – are all programming jargon that essentially describe bugs (though not always).  The programmer of an application or product you’re using (and that includes the ones you take for granted like Windows and Device drivers) has likely made an error in designing or implementing the code such that logically it can never get past a certain point in its execution.  The consequence of this poorly designed code can be that the processor cycles used in this ‘loop’ consume all the available resources of your PC (check your task manager, which process is using 99-100% of the processor!? Or just ‘not responding’).  You will notice this as your machine will suddenly lock-up, go dead slow, or the application in question will just hang.  Thankfully with multi-core PC’s hanging is less of a problem as the other free cores can be used to KILL the task off and bring your PC back to life…

Run concurrently as few tasks as you need – each time you open up a task remember each one is using up a little more memory.  If your memory or processing power is limited try to keep open only what you regularly need and close what you don’t it doesn’t take so long to reopen, and if it does it probably means you have too many open already!  Also bear in mind just because you can’t see an application doesn’t mean it’s not using up any processing cycles, it will be.  All applications process events which might be system activity, emails being sent/received, diary alarms going off, keyboard or mouse movements, activity from external devices like printers and USB drives.  They also monitor activity in the background even when you aren’t doing anything with them.  This consumes more of those valuable clock cycles…

Typical solutions to try or consider

De-install and delete any unused software – take a look at your control panel Add/Remove Software icon and go through the list of installed applications line by line.  If you don’t need or use it remove it.  It may be taking up valuable space or cycles on your machine.

Disable Windows Defender – For Vista users there are a number of new Windows ‘features’ that if you are an experienced PC User who understands how to roam the internet or email and download files safely you do not need. Windows Defender and Firewall are such services, if you have a third party or router firewall you more than likely just don’t need this services enabled.  To disable windows defender, go to control panel->administrative tools -> services -> windows defender and stop the service, setting it to disabled or manual so that it does not restart on reboot.

Disable UAC (User Access Control) – To experienced Windows XP users this feature has won a thousand polls as the most annoying new feature. Whenever you execute anything which affects system configuration or the filesystem (which is just about everything you might want to do that’s useful!), a modal popup asks whether you want the operation to proceed.  Again use your judgement on your experience and competency with Windows, inexperienced users should probably leave it as is otherwise you will want to disable it.  To disable user access control, go to control panel->user account->turn user account control off.  You can also disable it using the msconfig.exe utility on the Tools tab, or directly in the registry.

Optmise the Windows GUI – Windows Vista Premium and above has by default the Aero user interface enabled, this uses the 3D capabilities of your graphics card and will use up some precious CPU cycles.  Unless you love the new look interface feel free to reduce load on your processor and memory and turn it off.  To optimise system configuration for maximum performance, go to control panel->performance information and tools-> advanced tools-> adjust the appearance and performance of windows-> Select Adjust for best performance radio button and hit Apply.

Remove Startup programs – A lot of applications helpfully install themselves on your machine to startup and drop into the System Tools tray as your machine boots or, or as you log in depending on how they are configured.  Almost none of these programs will actually be required and they are only installed this way to save on the time taken for their first execution (as they are already in memory, in theory).  Our recommendations are you remove all programs to reduce startup time, reduce memory overhead and to improve overall system performance. You can change startup programs using msconfig.exe or directly in the registry with the regedit command (alter the registry with caution!).  Our recommendation is that you use msconfig.exe (pictured below, Windows XP version) and scroll through the list of startup programs unchecking anything you know you don’t use or need to startup on boot/login.  In the registry find the startup programs under Computer-> HKEY_CURRENT_USER->Software-> Microsoft-> Windows-> CurrentVersion-> Run.  In Windows XP you can safely remove ALL startup programs without it being terminal, you need to be a bit more careful with Vista. 

AntiVirus (AV) – programs are notorious for reducing system performance and increasing hard disk load.  Take a long and careful look at the configuration of your AV product and turn off any scanning or intervention that is unnecessary, turning off any supplementary tools, and any duplication of tools such as double spam checking etc.  Typically you should treat AV as your second line of defence behind the firewall.  You are only really likely to get a virus from outside the secure zone that is ‘Your PC’, unless you’re in the habit of writing your own.  So a viral attack is only likely to come from a software download, a rogue floppy or CD install, or a malicious Browser add on from the Internet.  Some scare mongers have led us to believe that the viruses crawl down the wires and install themselves on your PC, they don’t, they only get installed from outside and only then if you allow it.

For this protection all you need virus scanned is inbound email, inbound software installs from removable media (CD, DVD, USB, eSATA, Firewire, Blu-Ray, Floppy etc.).  We recommend turning off automated and scheduled scans, these are real system hogs and should be totally unnecessary if all inbound scans are working as they should be.  Instead manually choose for yourself when you would like a total system scan just in case something was missed as it came in.  We like minimalist AV tools that just do the simple jobs well and no more.  A good AntiVirus should be like good children, nice to know you have it, but invisible and unobtrusive.

Disable unnecessary services – Your system might have a lot of services which you may not need. But identifying them may not be very easy.  Open up control panel-> administrative tools-> services and stop/disable services. Some of the services which should be disabled are Windows Search, Windows Defender, Windows Cardspace, and usually a number of third party tools such as HP print managers, Adobe tools, Real player, MSN, Google toolbar, Antivirus control panels etc.

Windows Search Indexing – A tricky one as it sometimes speeds things up, but at other times can slow things down.  In theory it only runs when your machine is idle, but we’ve found that is not always the case and it can also consume shared network bandwidth.  We suggest you disable Windows Search indexing as it may improve performance substantially, especially if you have a new system as it will expend a considerable amount of system resources building indexes. However, once the indexes are built it will reduce the time to find files with a file search (if you do that much?) considerably.  So, if this something you do a lot you should turn it off while you are using the PC then turn it on again when you’re done and just leave it running.  Windows Search will then just happily build indexes in the background while the PC is idle.  Eventually you will have a fully populated index and you can just leave it on so that the index is automatically maintained.

Defragment hard drive – perhaps one of the oldest tricks in the book.  As you install, deinstall, and move files around on your PC clusters of files and parts of files get distributed all over the disks surface.  Over time this gets worse and worse, more and more fragmented.  Every time you read a file of the disk the disk head has to reposition to pickup all these different fragments which slows down file access radically.  The ideal scenario is to have all files contiguous, no fragmentation, and have the most frequently used files around the centre of the disk to minimise average head movement time (seek time).  The defragmentation tool analyses and then defragments the disk for you and is available on the tools tab of the disk properties option (right click on your disk, select properties).  You need to defragment roughly every two to three months, more often if you install and reinstall a lot of programs and files.  It’s a good idea to run Error Check (also on the tools tab) and close all tasks and as many services as you can before defragmenting.  Files currently open or in use cannot be moved…

Check for BIOS updates – For an experienced overclocker BIOS updates are a no brainer as they usually fix performance holes or issues with the motherboard.  For most users we recommend if you have no known BIOS issues then do not update it.  Either way close all programs before flashing an update to the BIOS, should the BIOS flash fail, be interrupted, or get corrupted (and you would be surprised how easily this can happen!) then your PC will be dead and you will need a new BIOS chip.

Check for chipset and operating system updates – Often new drivers or windows updates can speed things up a little or a lot.  Windows Update is a blessing and a curse.  With Vista you are now able to do ALL updates with the Windows update tool, including many third party drivers.  Our usual recommendation is to leave it on Automatic, however, sometimes a new update can introduce instability or worse.  If this happens revert to the last Restore point.  If you are an experienced power user we recommend you manually run Windows Update and carefully select updates you know are comfortable with or know you need.

Easy performance boost – Vista’s ReadyBoost feature allows you to plug in a USB flash drive or a flash memory card and use its available capacity to cache frequently used files, augmenting the system file cache in main memory.  Though slower than main memory Flash memory is an awful lot faster than the hard disk and will speed up general file access markedly.  Even quite large Flash drives are now very inexpensive.

Restart regularly – Even large Enterprises and Government datacentres have a regular restart regime to clear down processes that have been executing memory for some time and refresh the operating systems own memory and programming state.  Any problems with stale resources or processes is compounded by possible memory leaks and memory fragmentation occurring over time (which happens in the same way as disks can get fragmented).  If you find your PC is getting slower the longer its left on you probably have some runaway process or processes eating up memory or cycles and you can either kill the processes or restart the whole machine.  If you are monitoring your process and memory utilisation as we discussed earlier you will have noticed this happening.  If it’s a problem deep in Windows that’s causing a performance problem over time then it’s unlikely you will be able to diagnose it and only a restart will fix it.  Generally you should be looking to restart your PC at least once a week.  We restart non critical desktops and servers daily, our long term benchmark tests can run for up to a month non-stop without a restart.  In the latter case we use a stripped down Windows build that we have tested as stable for at least a month.  Remember Hibernate or Standy shutdowns are NOT a reboot, only Shutdown or Restart.  Preferably do a cold reboot by shutting down and switching off completely and leaving for 10 minutes before powering on.  This will also reinitialise your BIOS and all PC hardware.

 

Troubleshooting Assets, Optimisation, Performance, Sweat, Troubleshooting, Windows