[MPeg3]

Not sure where this belongs. I just paid $40 to Best Buy to optimize a new laptop. It is supposed to get all the junk out and speed everything up considerably. I'm wondering if I was taken. They told me that I couldn't clean it up myself to make it as fast as they would as they had a lot of special tweaks that would make it much faster than I ever could. I'm wondering if this is true and if not where can I get the information to speed up our other computers and make them as fast as possible?

Thanks
Peg

[JohnWill]

They lie.

[Kenny94]

Yeah! they do lie John...

Making a computer quicker is not a simple task; it depends upon many things. However, there are some adjustments you can do yourself to enhance performance. Also, for "speed up boot and shutdown" that you want.

Deleting rubbish from your PC.

Double Click My Computer (WinXP: Navigate to Start >My Computer)

You will see an icon representing your hard drive (most likely C: Drive) Right Click on the hard drive icon and click Properties at the bottom of the fly out window.

On the very first tab (General) you will see a button labelled "Disk Cleanup"...click that button.

Make sure the following are checked:

• Downloaded Program Files
  Temporary Internet Files and
  Recycle Bin
  Compress Old Files

Click OK and Disk Cleanup will delete those files for you.

Next, go to Start>Run>type in %temp% hit Enter and delete the content of all the temp folders shown (only the content, not the folder). A couple of files may be in memory and will not therefore delete, this is normal.

Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune.
This program is for XP and Windows 2000 only

• Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
  Under Main choose: Select All
  Click the Empty Selected button.

If you use Firefox browser

• Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
  Click the Empty Selected button.
  NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

If you use Opera browser

• Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
  Click the Empty Selected button.
  NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.
For Technical Support, double-click the e-mail address located at the bottom of each menu.

A fragmented drive causes a slow system.
Easy steps to defragment your drive:

1. open My Computer.
2. Rightclick on the drive you want to defragment and select "Properties".
3. Click on the Tools tab.
4. Select Defragment Now....


Disable Indexing

1. Double click My Computer
   
2. Right click on your system hard drive (probably C )
   
3. Choose Properties
   
4. Uncheck “Allow Indexing Service etc” this may take a while
   
5. Apply > OK

Disabling unnecessary Startup applications

Windows XP I see you are using, is to disable some of the unnecessary programs that automatically load on start-up. Disabling these programs will help your computer boot faster it is easily done using a little program from Mike Lin; Startup. Download it from here: StartupCPL

After installation, you will find it in the Control Panel. You will have to identify every application listed to see if it is really necessary or just a resource hog. This website will help you: Startup Applications

Disabling “eye candy”, “bells and whistles”

Windows XP contains a huge list of special effects and visual enhancements such as animated menus, fade effects, cursor shadows, menu shadows etc. Disabling some of these settings can make Windows XP running faster and use fewer system resources

1. Open Control Panel from the Start menu and choose "System." Choose the "Advanced" tab.
2. Select the "Settings" button under the Performance section.
3. Check the "Adjust for best performance" box and click "Apply" to apply the settings.
4. Alternatively, you can choose the "Custom" open, you can then selectively enable or disable each specific effect. The cursor shadowing effect can have a noticeable impact on performance.

Display Properties
Well, it is sad to say goodbye to special effects, but we want to speed up the computer.

1. Open Control Panel from the Start menu and choose Display.
2. Choose the "Desktop tab and set the Background to "None."
3. Select the "Appearance" tab.
4. Under "Windows and buttons," choose "Windows Classic Style" from the drop-down menu.
5. Click the "Effects" button.
6. Deselect all options and click OK.
7. Click OK to close the Display Properties and apply the changes.

Start Menu and Folders

Context click (usually known as Right click) on the Windows XP Start button and choose "Properties" from the contextual menu.

1. Choose "Classic Start Menu"
2. Click the "Customise" button
3. Select the "Show Small Icons in Start Menu" option
4. Deselect any other items that you don't use often.

Folder Options

1. Open My Computer
2. Open the C: Drive or any other drive
3. Choose "Folder Options" from the Tools menu
4. Select "Use Windows classic folders"
5. Select the "View" tab.
6. Deselect the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" option.
7. Click "Apply"
8. Click the "Apply to All Folders" button
9. Click OK.

Now, you can enjoy your PC and Windows XP faster. Then tell them you want your 40.00 back.....

[~rate tee ohs]

And of course More Memory