a good utility to use?
Moderator: Wiz Feinberg
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jim milewski
- Posts: 951
- Joined: 18 Nov 1998 1:01 am
- Location: stowe, vermont
a good utility to use?
what would be a good utility or any mod/tool to use to keep the pc running top speed, anything free is even better, has anyone played with services rather then msconfig to disable unwanted programs that auto run...thanks
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Dave Potter
- Posts: 1565
- Joined: 15 Apr 2003 12:01 am
- Location: Texas
<< what would be a good utility or any mod/tool to use to keep the pc running top speed, anything free is even better, has anyone played with services rather then msconfig to disable unwanted programs that auto run
Aside from CPU and video adapter overclocking utilities, which I don't recommend, and would be way outside our discussion here, I know of no utilities that do that. There may be some out there in the obscure realm of the gaming world, but if they were all that effective, IMO they'd be built into all new computers. There are, however, some things that can be done to optimize performance.
Not knowing your OS, and other specifics, the best I can do is to offer a few pearls of wisdom, erstwhile referred to as my opinions (based on experience) -
The CPU, hard disks, optical drives, and RAM are all going to run at their rated physical speeds (MHZ, rpm, etc) - there's really no effective way those parameters can be altered. It's true that RAM can be optimized sometimes in the BIOS, and in my personal case, I've done that. Additionally, there are often settings in Windows to enable such features as DMA access for storage devices. Settings like those can improve system throughput measureably, but they're hardware specific, and, if set incorrectly, will degrade, as opposed to improve performance.
One quick thing you can do, if you haven't already, is, if you use Windows, somewhere in Control Panel, (my XP is CP/System/Advanced) there's a Performance tab where you can set the OS performance parameters.
On Services vs MSConfig, in WinXP, at least, there's a Services tab *in* MSConfig, where those can be checked or unchecked. To set the parameters for a Service, one needs to go elsewhere in the OS to do that, however.
There's no point in the OS running Windows services you don't want or need, and those can be set not to run at bootup. The conundrum here is in deciding what can be eliminated without breaking something important, since the description of the service provided by Microsoft is often somewhat cryptic, and involves sometimes complex dependencies with other Services.
Indexing is a Service notorious for its cpu-taxing background activities. It also consumes space on the HD.
I've stopped the following Services on my WinXP Home system without any noticeable effect on what I need it to do:
ATI Hotkey Poller (relates to my video card)
Indexing Service
GEARSecurity (it's a legacy driver of some sort, not sure what)
Messenger
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection (I use Norton Personal Firewall)
Uninterruptible Power Supply (I'm not using the datalink for my UPS)
Automatic Updates
Wireless Zero Configuration
All the above are disabled by unchecking them in the Services tab in MSConfig.
Finally, if your eyes haven't already glazed over, there are TSRs. Terminate and Stay Resident programs run at bootup, and, even if they don't consume CPU cycles, stay in memory (RAM), tying up that memory. TSR management can be frustrating sometimes. You don't want to be running anything your don't need.
TSRs can be invoked from several sources when you boot, but the most common one is from the registry, specifically, HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Run.
Software installations commonly write entries there, and uninstallations don't always take them out. I examine that area sometimes and make sure nothing's there I don't want to be.
As I said, there are other places TSRs can be executed, but that's the most common one.
Let me be unequivocal: Don't do anything inside your registry unless you understand what you're doing. Backing the registry up (or just the key you want to change) is highly recommended if you choose to make any changes there. Looking around in there won't hurt, but be careful. There's no "Save"; anything you change will take effect when you close the registry editor. You can easily make it so you computer won't boot if you're careless, and reinstalling Windows and all your software is the only recourse if that happens, unless you have a total system backup. I learned the hard way
A non-invasive way to see what's running from the desktop is Ctr-Alt-Del. Lots of good info there.
Way too many folks have given up reading this before now, and I've typed way too much stuff.
Edited for clarity.
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Dave Potter on 14 November 2004 at 07:35 AM.]</p></FONT>
Aside from CPU and video adapter overclocking utilities, which I don't recommend, and would be way outside our discussion here, I know of no utilities that do that. There may be some out there in the obscure realm of the gaming world, but if they were all that effective, IMO they'd be built into all new computers. There are, however, some things that can be done to optimize performance.
Not knowing your OS, and other specifics, the best I can do is to offer a few pearls of wisdom, erstwhile referred to as my opinions (based on experience) -
The CPU, hard disks, optical drives, and RAM are all going to run at their rated physical speeds (MHZ, rpm, etc) - there's really no effective way those parameters can be altered. It's true that RAM can be optimized sometimes in the BIOS, and in my personal case, I've done that. Additionally, there are often settings in Windows to enable such features as DMA access for storage devices. Settings like those can improve system throughput measureably, but they're hardware specific, and, if set incorrectly, will degrade, as opposed to improve performance.
One quick thing you can do, if you haven't already, is, if you use Windows, somewhere in Control Panel, (my XP is CP/System/Advanced) there's a Performance tab where you can set the OS performance parameters.
On Services vs MSConfig, in WinXP, at least, there's a Services tab *in* MSConfig, where those can be checked or unchecked. To set the parameters for a Service, one needs to go elsewhere in the OS to do that, however.
There's no point in the OS running Windows services you don't want or need, and those can be set not to run at bootup. The conundrum here is in deciding what can be eliminated without breaking something important, since the description of the service provided by Microsoft is often somewhat cryptic, and involves sometimes complex dependencies with other Services.
Indexing is a Service notorious for its cpu-taxing background activities. It also consumes space on the HD.
I've stopped the following Services on my WinXP Home system without any noticeable effect on what I need it to do:
ATI Hotkey Poller (relates to my video card)
Indexing Service
GEARSecurity (it's a legacy driver of some sort, not sure what)
Messenger
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection (I use Norton Personal Firewall)
Uninterruptible Power Supply (I'm not using the datalink for my UPS)
Automatic Updates
Wireless Zero Configuration
All the above are disabled by unchecking them in the Services tab in MSConfig.
Finally, if your eyes haven't already glazed over, there are TSRs. Terminate and Stay Resident programs run at bootup, and, even if they don't consume CPU cycles, stay in memory (RAM), tying up that memory. TSR management can be frustrating sometimes. You don't want to be running anything your don't need.
TSRs can be invoked from several sources when you boot, but the most common one is from the registry, specifically, HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Run.
Software installations commonly write entries there, and uninstallations don't always take them out. I examine that area sometimes and make sure nothing's there I don't want to be.
As I said, there are other places TSRs can be executed, but that's the most common one.
Let me be unequivocal: Don't do anything inside your registry unless you understand what you're doing. Backing the registry up (or just the key you want to change) is highly recommended if you choose to make any changes there. Looking around in there won't hurt, but be careful. There's no "Save"; anything you change will take effect when you close the registry editor. You can easily make it so you computer won't boot if you're careless, and reinstalling Windows and all your software is the only recourse if that happens, unless you have a total system backup. I learned the hard way
A non-invasive way to see what's running from the desktop is Ctr-Alt-Del. Lots of good info there.
Way too many folks have given up reading this before now, and I've typed way too much stuff.
Edited for clarity.
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Dave Potter on 14 November 2004 at 07:35 AM.]</p></FONT>
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Gary Shepherd
- Posts: 2490
- Joined: 3 May 2004 12:01 am
- Location: Fox, Oklahoma, USA
Drive Image and a fresh install of Windows.
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Gary Shepherd
Sierra Session 12
www.16tracks.com
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Gary Shepherd
Sierra Session 12
www.16tracks.com