** Issue #4 October 1st, 2006**
Contents:
1) How To Set Up Your PC - Part #2
2) The Services
4) Stay Tuned. Coming Up Next On Dave TV
1) How to set up your PC - Part #2
In my last issue I covered many settings that should be changed to get the most "oomph" out of a PC. Everything in the last issue works on a Windows XP installation and most carries over to Windows 98, as well. This issue I'm going to cover everything that I wasn't able to cover in the last issue (I have to have something to write about, lol). As always, have a current backup or disk image handy in case you have any problems. If you haven't made a disk image before, or don't know what one is, I suggest you read about my backup plan in Issue #1. If you are not comfortable making these changes seek out someone with more experience. Let's get to the "fun" stuff!
** UpgrageMemory.com is offering free shipping for October! Coupon code=PUMPKIN **
These aren't something you attend on Sunday, or anything your government assures you they provide. Services in Windows refer to programs that start before you even get to the log on screen. These programs use memory and require CPU cycles just like any other program. The bad news: Many of these aren't needed, but are included because Microsoft wants to cover all the bases. The good news: Microsoft has in place a way to change how and when these programs start, if at all. I suggest you write down which services you change. If you have a problem it will make troubleshooting easier.
Let's open the Services Applet. Click Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services. The services window will open and it will look similar to below.
You will see several columns. You only need to be concerned about Name, Description, Status, and Startup Type. Name and description give you a lot of information about the service. Status and Startup Type tell you what the services current status is and whether it starts automatically with Windows, manually when needed, or is disabled. Your list will be slightly different than the picture above. Feel free to highlight a few service names. When you do the full description will display to the left.
Now let's find out a little more about a service and see exactly how to change it's behavior. Double click on Alerter. An Alerter Properties box will open.
The General tab is where you will make any changes. The Recovery tab is shown here so you can see that it is possible to change the way the service acts. I don't suggest you change these, unless you know what you are doing. The Dependencies tab shows what other services or processes this service depends on.
This service is currently Stopped on my computer. You can see that I have set this service to Disabled. The available choices are Automatic, Manual, and Disabled. Automatic allows the service to start each time Windows starts. Manual allows the service to start only when it is required. Disabled prevents the service from starting under any circumstance.
OK, let's see which services we can change and how we are going to do it. To change a service double click it's name. Select the drop down menu and change it to the recommended setting. Click OK. It's that easy!
Service |
Setting |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alerter | Manual | Manual is the SAFE setting, but disabled should be fine |
| Clipbook | Disabled | I have never seen a use for this service. Un-needed |
| Computer Browser | Disabled | This service should only be needed on very large networks |
| Distributed Link Tracking Client | Disabled | Maintains links between files on a network. May be needed for shortcuts to files across a network |
| Error Reporting Service | Disabled | Contacts Microsoft when an error is experienced |
| Fast User Switching | Disabled | Only needed if you frequently change users. Most owners only use one account so disable |
| Help and Support | Manual | Only needs to run when needed. |
| IMAPI CD-Burning | Manual | This service starts and stops itself. If you have trouble burning CDs change this to automatic. |
| Indexing Service | Disabled | Microsoft's attempt at making files easier to find. A huge resource hog. Not needed. |
| Messenger | Disabled | Sends messages between clients and servers in a corporate network. Not needed. |
| Microsoft Office Diagnostics | Manual | If you have Microsoft Office installed this service does not need to always run. |
| Net Logon | Disabled | Only used if you log onto a Domain Controller. Usually in a corporate environment. |
| NetMeeting Remote Desktop | Disabled | I can't think of any reason for this. In my opinion it's an unwanted open door to your PC. |
| Network DDE | Disabled | I have found no use for this service and no adverse affects when disabled. |
| Network DDE DSDM | Disabled | I have found no use for this service and no adverse affects when disabled. |
| Network Location Awareness | Manual | May be required in certain network configurations. |
| Office Source Engine | Manual | Manages Office update and installation files. |
| Performance Logs and Alerts | Disabled | Logs performance data and triggers alarms. This is a useful tools for the very geeky type only. |
| Remote Desktop Help Session | Disabled | This is another open door, in my opinion. |
| Remote Proceedure Call Locator | Disabled | I know of no need for this service. If you find something doesn't work change it to manual. |
| Routing and Remote Access | Disabled | This should only be needed with dial-up and VPN connections. If you have Dial-up DO NOT change |
| Secondary Login | Disabled | If you only have one user account on your PC you do not need to have this service running. |
| Security Center | Disabled | If you have a firewall program and anti-virus program installed you don't need this service running. |
| SSDP Discovery Service | Disabled | This service discovers uPNP devices on your network. Change to auto if they don't work. |
| TCP/IP NetBIOS | Disabled | Most networks don't require NetBIOS anymore. If yours doesn't function change to automatic. |
| Univeral Plug and Play Device | Disabled | I have found nothing that requires this service. If an external device fails to function change to auto. |
| WebClient | Disabled | There are very few uses for this service. If some .Net applications don't work return to auto. |
| Wireless Zero Configuration | Disabled | If you do not have or use a wireless connection you should disable this. Leave as is on notebooks. |
OK, hopefully you've finished changing each service to the settings above. Now comes the hard part! Reboot. OK, it wasn't that hard.
What you've just done is stopped quite a few programs from running in the background and saved yourself between 20MB and 45MB of memory. Things should be speeding up a bit already!
I'm not talking about water, electricity, gas, or cable. When I say utilities I'm talking about small programs that will make life much easier, and here are just a few!
MyUninstaller - This is a much better utility to uninstall programs than Microsoft's Add/Remove programs applet.
Startup.cpl - A great program to enable and disable startup programs. Download the 59kb version.
TweakUI - A free program from Microsoft that let's us easily change several system settings.
Download all three. MyUninstaller does not have an installation program built in. After you have downloaded it double click the file. It will open a new window which will show the files that were compressed in the original file. Open My Computer and navigate to Program Files. Choose a blank area and right click. A new menu will open. Choose New>New Folder and left click. A new folder will be created called, appropriately "New Folder". You will notice that the folder name is highlighted, so let's change it to MyUninstaller. Now copy the files from the original window into the MyUninstaller folder. Open the MyUninstaller folder and right click on Myuninstaller.exe. Choose Send To>Desktop, which will put a shortcut to the program on your desktop. You can click and hold the mouse button down and drag it to Start>Programs if you wish (more on this later).
Assuming that you followed the instructions in part #1 you have already installed all of your applications and all windows updates. we should be ready to go to the next step.
Click the shortcut we made above to open MyUninstaller. It will look similar to this:
First I want you to see that MyUninstaller offers much more information about installed applications than the standard Add/Remove applet. Second by right clicking on any entry you have a variety of options. We're concerned about Delete Selected Entries. This isn't really required, but I like to keep things uncluttered, so consider this housekeeping! Look for entries labeled "update for windows", "security update for windows", and "hotfix for windows". Right click on each of these and choose "Delete Selected Entries". Don't uninstall, as that will put you back to square one with an unpatched computer!
Next double click the Startup.cpl file you downloaded and install it. This will add an applet named "Startup" to your control panel. Once installed click Start>Control Panel>Startup, which will open a window similar to below:
Look at each tab except for Run Once, Deleted, and About. Each entry is a program that starts automatically with Windows. The problem is that very few actually need to. To prevent an application from starting all you need to do is remove the check from the box by clicking it. I can not give specific suggestions here because I don't know what software you have installed. I can tell you that you do not want to change the settings for your Anti-virus, Anti-spyware, or firewall program. These absolutely must run each time you start your computer! Instant messaging programs do not need to run at startup. If you use instant messaging may I suggest you use Trillian, which will do MSN, Yahoo, and AIM all within one small program saving you memory, CPU cycles and headaches. Back to the subject... Specific programs that I know do not need to run are anything Office, Adobe, Nero, Roxio, Sonic, and Intervideo. For all of the other programs look at the Path information provided. If you know what the program is and don't need it to automatically start I suggest you uncheck it. If you don't know what a program is please search google to find out what it is. Each program that you prevent from starting gives you more free memory and processor power for the applications that need it. It will also allow your computer to boot faster!
4). Stay tuned. Coming up next on Dave TV
This has turned into a three part mini-series! I'm going to break this up into another issue. I've included some very big screen shots (pictures) to show you what things will look like and give you a heads up on what to expect. I don't want the newsletter to be so large that it takes an eternity to load in your browser.
In the next issue I'll cover TweakUI and the settings that should be changed. I'll also finish up with some housecleaning so you will have a lean, mean, computing machine. Do your homework and find out exactly which programs are starting every time you boot.
Stay tuned! Same Bat time! Same Bat channel!
Antivirus/Firewall Software
NOD32 - Currently the best available antivirus. Small, fast, low system resource usage, and consistent 100% ratings in the Virus Bulletin test!
Sunbelt Kerio Firewall - You shouldn't be on the internet without a firewall that offers inbound and outbound protection. Sunbelt Kerio is my firewall choice. The best protection with a good user interface and informative dialog boxes. Sunbelt Kerio Firewall recently received the Reader's Choice Award from Windows IT Pro magazine.
CD/DVD/mp3/Video Software
Acoustica Audio Converter Pro - This program converts audio formats and bitrates. Perfect for those with portable audio players or large music collections.
Adobe Premier - Premier is the Cadillac of video editors. This is the application if you want to make professional videos.
Adobe Premier Elements - Elements is the consumer version of Premier. It costs 1/6th the price, but is very capable of making videos that will impress everyone.
Ashampoo Burning Studio - My current pick for a low resource, easy to use CD/DVD burning application. Easier to use than Nero or Roxio, with a low memory footprint and much smaller installation requirement.
Computer Hardware
CyberGuys - The place to get those hard to find cables and accessories for your computer!
Dell Computers - My current pick for new laptops and desktops.
Newegg - Newegg.com is known for great service and awesome pricing on computers, upgrades, and electronics. If you're looking for computers, computer parts, or electronics you owe it to yourself to start here!
UpgradeMemory.com - Need to add memory? Upgrade Memory provides memory upgrades for almost any computer, camera, or mp3 player you can imagine. Use their site to find exactly which memory you need.
Computer Maintenance Software
Acronis Disk Director - My favorite tool to partition, format, and resize hard drives.
Diskeeper - My current favorite defrag program. As files are written and erased from the hard drive they begin to leave "spaces" behind. When the drive is written to again files are broken up to fill in these spaces. This causes the drive to go to several different locations to read an entire file, which slows performance greatly. Diskeeper has several advanced features such as; automatic defrag, scheduled defrag, and the ability to defrag the MFT (Master File Table) and paging file.
Registry Mechanic - A very thorough and efficient registry cleaner and defragmenter. A definite must to maintain peak performance and stabile operation.
Computer Utility Software
Acronis True Image - My pick for computer backups. Whether you choose file or image based backups (you should use both!) True Image will perform better than any other application I've used. Disk images created with True Image are generally 10-20% smaller than those from comparable programs. If your time and files are as important to you as mine are to me this is a must have.
Roboform - This program is the next best thing to sliced bread in my book! This program integrates into Internet Explorer and firefox. It generates uncrackable passwords at the click of a button. How do I remember these complex passwords? Roboform allows you to save passwords and personal data in an encrypted format. A master password (yes only one password to remember!) allows access. Roboform in IE and FireFox works like a super powered bookmark. You click the site you want to go to and Roboform opens the site, enters your username and password for the site (if required) and as if by magic clicks the submit button. If you shop online Roboform can enter your personal information and credit card information in one click. A real time saver with great security thrown in to boot!
WinRar - Is what is commonly called a zip utility, similar to the more widely known WinZip. WinRar is faster and works with more formats for about 1/2 the price of WinZip.
Desktop Utility Software
Bootskin - Change the screen that appears when you boot Windows (the one with the moving bar graph). There are hundreds of free skins available online.
Cursor XP Plus - Change the cursors on your computer. Hundreds of cursor packs are available online for free. Cursor XP Plus adds shadow and transparency effects also.
Icon Packager - Change the icons on your computer. Icon Packager puts you in control to change every icon with the click of a button. Tired of the plain icons built into Windows? There are hundreds of Icon Packs available online for free, which will add a truly personal feel to your computer.
WindowBlinds 5 - This is the icing on the proverbial cake. WindowBlinds changes the look and feel of Windows. By changing the appearance of the task bar, start menu, and any other window or program you open. It adds transparency, shadows, alpha blending, and animations. Hundreds of themes are available online for free.
Internet and Email
1&1 hosting - If you want to start your own website, blog, photo gallery, or have a personalized email address then 1&1 is for you. 1&1 can not be beat for reliability, features, support, and price.
Google Gmail - The best internet based email (webmail) available. Each mailbox has a 2.7GB limit. The interface is superb, and the spam filter is top notch. Gmail has enough storage that you shouldn't have to delete any email. It has a great search function and a feature called thread view, which makes finding emails easy. A webmail account offers several advantages including not being required to change your email address if you change service providers. Gmail requires an invitation from a current member. If you are interested shoot me an email and I'll send you an invite.
Microsoft Outlook - Outlook is the current email client of choice for corporate America. I get well over 100 emails a day. Outlook has a few features I really need such as a plug in for automatic backups, office sounds which offers me some audible feedback, and the ability to change headers. I've used Mozilla Thunderbird and liked it a lot. With the amount of mail I go through I really need the features of Outlook. If you aren't a heavy user, or don't need the features I do then Thunderbird is a great alternative.
- An amazing, free, web browser. If you aren't using it you should be! Highly customizable through addins called extensions. There are thousands of extensions which can allow FireFox to do just about anything you can imagine. More importantly, Firefox is not subject to ActiveX, which is a large part of Internet Explorer, AOL, and MSN. No ActiveX means much less chance of getting spyware! Firefox also conforms to web standards more closely than Internet Explorer, which means you will see what the authors intended, not Microsoft.
Mozilla Thunderbird - A great free email client from the same folks that brought us FireFox. Easy to use and highly customizable through extensions.
Photo and Picture Software
Adobe Photoshop CS2- Photoshop is the Cadillac of graphic design programs. Just as Premier is tops in video, Photoshop is tops in graphic design. If you are a professional photographer or aspiring to be one this is the program you need to learn, use, and love.
Adobe Photoshop Elements - Photoshop Elements is a consumer version of Photoshop. If you are serious about digital photos you will find Photoshop Elements a great program to have at your disposal. Elements provides all the functionality you will need at 1/6th the price.
Picasa - a free program from Google. A great way to get organized, edit, and share your digital photos.
Spyware and Malware Software
Webroot SpySweeper - Daves Computer Tips Seal of Approval Winner! See the test results HERE. Spysweeper provides the best protection of the seven anti-spyware programs tested! Great detection and removal rates with a small real-time protection memory footprint. This is the one you want!
CounterSpy - Runner-up in my Anti-Spyware test. Not only does CounterSpy scan and remove spyware, it also uses real time protection. Real time protection prevents spyware infection. Free 15 day trial. Winner of Computer Shopper Magazine's Best Buy Award!
Spyware Doctor - Spyware Doctor came in third place in my Anti-Spyware Test. Spyware Doctor is a good program and the download is much smaller than CounterSpy. Free 30 day trial.
After spending countless hours surfing the web in search of various funny or interesting things to share with you here are a few of my finds to lighten your day! I go through a lot to please my readers!
Best Buy Prank! - What happens when you sent 100 people dressed like employees into a Best Buy Store?
Psychiatric Answering Machine - Those poor souls!
Microsoft's New Training Program - I only wish this were true! (Very funny)
It's Magic - This sure shortens the time it takes my wife to get ready in the morning! (Thanks Larry and James)
If you wish to share these with your friends please forward this newsletter to them!
7). A Little Help Here Please
I hope you found this newsletter interesting and informative. If you did, send me an and let me know. If you didn't anyway and tell me what I can do better! I need the feedback!
This issue included a few screen shots (pictures) which may have made the page load slower than normal. Email me and let me know if the pictures were helpful. If I get enough responses I'll try to include more in future issues.
If you have questions or a tip to share with the other readers send it to me.
The last newsletter (09-15-2006) was sent to 56 subscribers. This issue is being delivered to over 300 people! Amazing!
Spread the word! I strive to make the newsletter readable and understandable for everyone. From the technical to the laughable there is something for everyone!
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