The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5) - Increaseing Speed of Computer

Increaseing Speed of Computer - optimizing process

Hi:

I have an IBM Notebook - lees than two months ole - 256 mb RAM, 1.5G Centrino.

When I first got this, it ran like a charm and would boot up in a flash.

Now it takes close to 8 minutes before the boot process is complte?

How can I best optimize the speed?

I have downloaded some software like Oracle 8i, Apache, MS Office, Zonealarm, VMware, Eclipse etc.

I refraq frequently.

Is there a way I can go about to speed things - I often kill the Oracle process on start up to hasten the process.

I have checked the processes listed on Task manager on Google - there does not seem to be any thing nasty running.

I was thinking of using Adaware or CWShredder: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip

But was not sure if the above was any good or if they contained any spyware.

Techno-phobe
Saturday, December 27, 2003

1. Run a free online virus scan: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

2. Download and run Ad-aware 6.0 to remove spyware/adware.

3. Uninstall any un-needed apps.

4. Defragment your hard drive.

5. Reboot

This should get you back to with 98% of your original computer speed at a cost of $0.

jim
Saturday, December 27, 2003

Defragment your hard-disk, using either MS Defrag, or DiskKeeper.

DiskKeeper can be found at:

http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10224681.html

Then, defrag your registry using Innovative System Optimizer. I found that this can make a lot of difference.

Innovative System Optimizer can be found at:

http://download.com.com/3000-2086-10252167.html?tag=lst-0-1

Finally, run Ad-Aware to remove spyware programs.

Ad-Aware can be found at:

http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10214379.html?tag=lst-0-1

Robert
Saturday, December 27, 2003

You might also want to switch the startup attribute of you some of your services from Automatic to Manual (especially Oracle).

anon
Saturday, December 27, 2003

How can one switch processes to start manually from automatic?

Thanks.

Rhinestone Cowboy
Saturday, December 27, 2003

Start Menu - Run

type "services.msc" then press ENTER

Robert
Saturday, December 27, 2003

You may also wish to consider using Virtual PC for your development environment, and leaving your laptop more or less pristine. Then you boot into the laptop very quickly.

The Virtual PCs can be kept in a suspended state. In my experience, it takes about 10 seconds to stop or start a virtual PC w/ 512MB of RAM.

One downside is that your laptop would need more RAM. 512MB would probably not be enough, since the host OS will likely be taking at least 50MB for itself.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Saturday, December 27, 2003

Oh, and for some reason, I thought you had 512MB. Definitely, with the stuff you have installed, you should have more than 256MB, even if you didn't run Virtual PC. I'd recommend seeing how much it would cost to bump the PC up to 1GB.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Saturday, December 27, 2003

Oh, and as a final alternative, don't shut the machine down. Use Hibernation to speed the shutdown and reboot time of the box.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Saturday, December 27, 2003

I'd strongly recommend upgrading to 1GB of RAM.

Jim Battin
Saturday, December 27, 2003

Indeed, why not use "sleep" instead of shutdown.

It's very convenient when you need the computer for only a minute, e.g., to check the mail.

Alex
Saturday, December 27, 2003

Good suggestions so far.

Start-->Run-->"msconfig"

This will give you a list of what's being started up along with Windows in the Run key of the registry... you can disable each item.

Upgrading to 1GB of RAM would be a nice step as well... but even without the ram upgrade, something is definitely funky with your setup... 8 minutes to boot is nooottt normal (as you've deduced). :D

John Rose
Saturday, December 27, 2003

I have got myself a Siemens M55 mobile phone and can now check my e-mail very quickly, even on the street:

I make it download the e-mail, and then browse the e-mail offline.

I can do this even when driving (when I stop at a red light) or when walking on the street!

This is very practical.

MX
Saturday, December 27, 2003

Hey MX,

How in the world did you configure your M55? I just got one and the company staff can't configure the GRPS :(

Alex
Saturday, December 27, 2003

For a comprehensive list of all processes that are being run when you boot up, get autoruns from www.sysinternals.com. At last count there were 23 places where startup programs can be specified (not including services).

You can also pick up a copy of PageDefrag there, which defrags the registry, page file and event logs.

Both programs are free.

ICBW
Sunday, December 28, 2003

Alex, I don't use GPRS.

I use my phone just like dial-up - connect, do your stuff, disconnect.

I'm not sure if this is called CSD, or WAP, or whatever, but the WAP browser and the e-mail client work!

The reason why I don't use GPRS is that in my country, it's very expensive compared to CSD.

If you want to discuss about the Siemens M55 mobile phone configuration, please use the link at the bottom of this message - no point of writing this in the forum.

MX
Sunday, December 28, 2003