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Unleashing
Your PC to the Maximum
Here are some more tips to unleash the tiger
hidden in your computer!
Even the most experienced computer users find
it extremely difficult to control all resource and system settings
of their computer. How do they do it? The answer is simpler
than one might think and anyone can bring out the tiger that
is hidden in your PC!
Avoiding computer slow downs, degradation of
performance, long boot-up times, delays or stuttering and crashes
is a question of controlling your hardware and your system settings,
and (c) tweaking other areas such as installed software, internet
connection and browser settings, etc.. Therefore, the areas
you have to look at are:
The Central Processing Unit (CPU):
The CPU of a computer processes the code that makes up computer
programs like Windows and Word or Excel. The lines of code that
make up any program run into the tens of thousands and are grouped
into different tasks or processes to enhance the efficiency
of a computer since a CPU can only process one task at a time.
The more tasks a CPU has to perform, the more delay you will
experience - if you manage to control or reduce the number of
applications working at any one time, you will immediately notice
a boost in performance. Yet sometimes, you will be unable to
switch off all applications because you are using all - in these
cases there are automatic performance optimizers that will help
you do the trick.
RAM and Page File Memory:
The CPU needs RAM to store instructions and data needed to complete
tasks - it does this to make sure that the tasks that make up
any application are performed as quickly and as efficiently
as possible. Obviously, the more memory available, the less
time you spend waiting for the computer to perform certain tasks.
A computer system increases its performance
when you add more memory. Controlling the number of applications
running at any single time is a means of freeing up memory and
not taxing RAM. However, when a CPU does not have enough room
in RAM for all the information it needs, it sets up virtual
memory or page file memory on the hard drive to simulate additional
RAM. CPUs also load certain tasks into page file memory because
they need to prioritize among tasks requiring more RAM than
others. All this is known as swapping and slows the computer
down drastically. Most computers do not handle page file memory
efficiently and often leave information there that is not needed
anymore. You must balance the amount of RAM available with the
amount of page file memory the computer creates. This may be
difficult and aside from getting your hands dirty to tweak the
system physically yourself, there are automatic optimizers that
will do this for you.
The Hard Drive:
A fast hard drive and its connection to the CPU is also extremely
important. The faster these two elements are, the less delays
you will experience because of page file memory allocation.
Given your present hardware configuration, however, you need
something that warns you when the hard drive is overloaded and
needs attention. Some performance optimizers, like SpeedUpMyPC,
help you do this quickly and easily.
Start-up Management:
Over the lifetime of your PC, you will find yourself installing
a portfolio of programs. As this collection increases, so will
the number of shortcuts in your automatic start-up list increase
without your knowledge and approval. As you add more programs
that must be started when you switch on your computer, you will
see a general degradation of performance and a slow down in
boot-up times. Controlling what you install and making sure
that you have cleared all unwanted residuals from uninstalls
is a good way of reducing start-up times. However, sometimes
there are so many processes to control and keep track of that
good start-up management becomes difficult if not impossible.
Some performance optimizers list all the auto-started applications
allowing you to stop those that you don't need anymore.
Background Processes:
Spyware and other malicious programs work in the background
and are invisible even to the Windows Task Manager. Aside from
privacy and security issues, they cause your PC to start executing
tasks indiscriminately thus reducing the priority of legitimate
programs and causing serious slow downs. A few performance optimizers
help you make sure that you block any of these threats to ensure
that your PC is more stable and powerful.
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