PC stuff ... and assorted maintenance tasks
with help from Bylo and Shakespeare and ...

My PC often acts strangely, slowly, doesn't pay attention, sleeps when it shouldn't and ...

>So, fix it!
There was a time when I knew lots about computers. Now I know practically nothing.
That's also true about cars. Once upon a time I could lift up the hood and recognize everything there. Now ...

>That's also true about PCs, right?
Yes, so as I larn things I thought I should stick 'em here ... at least for Windows XP (Home Edition):

Disk Drive stuff
  1. Click My Computer
  2. Right-click on the PC drive and select Properties.
  3. Select General and get Figure 1.
  4. Click on
  5. Get rid of junk files (like Temp Files, Temp Internet Files, the Recycle Bin, etc.)


Figure 1

  1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 above, select Tools and get Figure 2.
  2. Click on
  3. Go for a coffee while your hard drive gets checked for errors
  4. Then do a
  5. Go for a coffee while the files on your hard drive get reorganized / consolidated
    ... and hopefully your PC will run faster


Figure 2

System Restore stuff
  1. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties and get Figure 3.
  2. Select System restore
  3. Click
  4. Reduce the (HUGE) space allocated for a System Restore to something more reasonable ... like 500 - 1000 MB, maybe?


Figure 3

If you run a virus scan, it's a good idea to (temporarily) turn off System Restore until the scan is complete.
Symantec / Norton anti-virus says:
"... if the computer is infected with a virus, then it is possible that the virus could be backed up by System Restore. By default, Windows prevents System Restore from being modified by outside programs. As a result, there is the possibility that you could restore a virus-infected file ..."

Internet Security stuff

Here's something interesting about internet security ... if you delete cookies, and feel comfortable after having done that.

Macromedia has a cookie bypass that you may not be aware of

>I take it you were NOT aware of it, right?
I'm rarely aware of anything these days. Anyway, the fixes are here

References

Virtual Memory Optimization Guide

a better Disk Defragmenter

Firefox : a better browser

Cacheman 5.5.0 : memory management

Everything you wanted to know about XP tweaking