Inexpensive ways to Speed up Your Computer

These are the steps I take to speed up my computer. I have been doing this since my first computer, when I first noticed it was getting slow. These steps work every single time I have had an issue with a computer running slow. and I never really had to buy much. Except for canned air.

First thing is, any software that runs when you first start your computer, that is an optional software that you yourself installed, go into the options area of that software and tell it not to run at computer start up . It’s always better practice that when you install the software, tell it not to run at start up. That way you make sure the software never is an issue. If the software installer does not allow you to do so, then try the options area once you confirm that the software runs at start up. One easy way to check is look over by your clock. There might be a few icons around the clock. Go to each one of those items and right click them, go to options and turn those things off and tell them not to run at start up.
If that does not work and the option to dissable auto run is not available. Then you might have to resort to Msconfig and look in the second to far right tab. Should say “startup”. Look for anything that you installed. I myself right away look for “Jusched”, Jusched is Java Update Scheduler. Why is that running? why is that not an optional update? why does it cripple so many computers? Next is I disable anything adobe. but that is only because I don’t use adobe for anything but reading a pdf file. That can run when requested. the whole fast start stuff is bull crap and shouldn’t be an option. Adobe opens no slower if you opt out of fast start. If it does, it’s not much.. maybe three seconds. just for that I typically uninstall adobe from the computer I am using and resort to the faster safer alternative, called “foxit” lets you do more than adobe reader and is faster loading with tabs.
Next is I run a malware scanner, Like a-Squared, Bit defender
(ads moment)
Bit Defender Antivirus

Once the malware is removed. Yeah. I say that as if I am sure something is on there. Instead of the first reboot, I shut the computer off. I crack the case open and locate all heatsinks. Drag the whole computer outside and grab some canned air. I think blast the motherboard, the processor (CPU), the video card (GPU), north bridge , memory sticks, hard drives and cd/dvd drives and then I blast and wipe the interior of the computer case.
after I get the computer put back together, I boot the computer up and go about my merry way.
Some people tell you that you need to run a defragment with your computer. I don’t see it doing much good these days anymore. Maybe back when hard drives were smaller than a floppy disk This would be a big issue, but now, the hard drives are so large, and processors are so fast and the computers come with so much memory in them, a defragment of the hard drive would be like a drop of water in a planet covered in water. Very ineffective and undetectable by a human. but you can try it. It shouldn’t hurt you. Defrag is located somewhere in your menu, usually under system tools in the start menu of all windows computers. Been there for years. Crazy they took out program manager but not defrag.
none the less, that should help you out a bit in making your computer a bit faster, or closer to the speed your computer was when you first bought it.
If you do these steps on a regular basis like once every two or three months, you should pretty much keep your computer running good for a long time with this. I usually do this stuff the same weekends I get my oil changed on my car. keeps my synced up.

I actually do all of this every time a friend or a relative asks me to work on their computer. Just getting their computer back running faster is enough to make them happy.

How to Fix GTAIV pc Memory leak

If you have a computer and plan to play  Grand Theft Auto iv  on pc.

People are  reading forums on how to resolve issues with their game. They are gathering information from people who do not know what they are talking about. I will help you with just a couple steps. First you have to understand that the person who claimed GTAIV pc has a memory leak, has no clue what he/she is talking about and should clearly be labeled the planets biggest idiot.  All planets need an idiot.

The fix, is the same fix for all games using a new architecture/engine. Here is the fix.

Go to the website for the manufacturer of your motherboard. Download all drivers for your motherboard.

Go to the website for the manufacturer of your video card.

Now before installing the new drivers, you must uninstall all the drivers you currently have installed.  I usually disabled the plug and play option in Control PanelAdministrative Toolsservices. Of course I do this on Vista because it keeps trying to install some crummy drivers  when I reboot after an uninstall. You really shouldn’t need that, but if you do, you know how.

Ok after the uninstall reboot your computer, and now install your drivers one by one, rebooting after each driver installed. On the final driver install, instead of rebooting, shut down your pc. When the pc is off, unplug the power to it. Clean up all the dust in all of your heatsinks (cpu,gpu,northbridge,south etc) clean your memory sticks. Remove all dust out of your pc. Make sure your air flow is heavy through your case.

The way I do that is, at the back of the pc where you see the 80 mm fans. There is like a grill around those. Since I don’t have a 2 year old kid in my house, I snip those grills out. This drops my temperature by about 2-5 degrees C . Here’s more on the subject.

And the last thing for you. DON’T OVERCLOCK YOUR MACHINE, unless you know what you are doing.

I am a regular user at the gtaforums  located at gtaforums.com.  100% of the memory leak complaints there, have been resolved with driver issues,heat issues, or the moron tried to overclock and did not want to face the fact that his computer was the issue, not the game.

In the end, this help post will get you playing Grand Theft Auto IV, that simple. The game works fine. Maintain your rig or go back to the console gaming. The cause is not overclocking it’s self, but poor overclocking could be a factor. If your machine is overclocked, set your o/c items back to default and give the game a go. If you can get the game running with your parts clocked to normal, gradually work your way back up in o/c until you reach a stable setting.

How? As if you are overclocking your video card, move each slider (depending on the tool you are using) up by 5mhz, test the game, move up 5 more, test the game and so on till you get a crash. After crash, move sliders back three. When it stables out, move forward one, if it crashes move it back one. and so on. Helpful posts

Same with bios / cmos settings with memory and cpu. Except not with sliders of course. Yes it is tedious but it resolves your issue.

Here is a lesson in how to adjust your  settings for smooth video play

And here is the whole help page from Rockstar.

Note: You must have Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows XP Service Pack 3 installed PRIOR to installing and running
Grand Theft Auto IV PC.
Right-click ‘My Computer –> Properties’ to see if you have the latest Service Packs installed, and if not check Windows Update and download before trying to install the game.

To help you understand that. It means that if you installed the latest service pack for your operating system  AFTER you installed GTAIV. It would be wise if you uninstall the game and delete all folders now. and reinstall the game.

Somewhere there was talk of resetting your registry but I haven’t had to study that. I will look into it if needed.  Yes it sounds like a hassle, but it does tell you on the box what the required service pack would be.  Fyi  windows xp 64 , you have to have service pack 2, or it will tell you it’s an incompatible operating system. 64 is not listed in the req area :-(

It does work though.

My research of Finallyfast

There has been an advertisement on Television lately that I have seen coming up repeatedly. The advertisement talk of a program called “finallyfast” from a website called “finallyfast.com” .
So as usual I do my research before I download anything. then after I download the program i will scan it with as many different virus scanners as I can find.

On first analysis, I find that finally fast is actually hosted on a site “ascentive.com”. That site and it’s files have been noted as being malware with recurring charges to your credit card, that are really hard to get out of.
Site adviser website has noted that the content from ascentive.com is not safe . Siteadviser.

Ok so I went to the website anyway and started reading. They say it’s free from the get go. so I downloaded the file.

REALLY If you want to do a check up of your pc. I advise pcpitstop.com the only thing you need from there is an active x file and I find that activex file very safe.

but anyway I got the file and imediatly headed to Virscan.org and did a quick scan for any kind of computer cooties. This program is supposed to speed up your computer. Let’s just see. Well it turns out that all online scanners for single files, have a 10mb limit. This file from finallyfast.com or let’s say ascentive.com was 10.2 mb. Looks like they are a tad to large . So I compressed the file in a rar and proceeded to scan :-) .
one virus scanner found “Net-Worm.Win32.Bobic.k” could be a false positive but I found that other people found the same thing after the install. here are the results for finallyfast+worm and here are the results of finallyfast+trojan

Here is a forum that talks about the software and solutions.

The phone calls to suport
1st call
2nd call
3rd call
4th call is to ascentive, the mother company.
( They mention spyware striker)
pc speedscan pro I do not recommend installing this!!!!
activespeed Credit card issues.
Scan and sweep useless on xp, bad for vista.

How To Speed Up Your Computer

Ok if you do not want to read all this, let me sum it up for you. Cool your computer. Cooling your computer is greatest strongest method of overclocking you will ever do. Now for the non A.D.D. Readers in here.

Ideal range is 80-95 °F. This will be the optimal temperature region. For a short while there, it was common for a processor to boot at 150 °F. That to me that is a scary temperature. But that does seem to be a peice of the past now.

<taken from everest>

Temperatures
Motherboard   29 °C (84 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1   12 °C (54 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2   15 °C (59 °F)
MCP   47 °C (117 °F)
Aux   11 °C (52 °F)
GPU Diode   38 °C (100 °F)
HDT722516DLAT80    31 °C  (88 °F)
MAXTOR 6L080L4    23 °C  (73 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU    3013 RPM
Chassis    4116 RPM

The first thing you do to drop your temperature, clear passage from front. Get some zip ties and find a way to tie everything back without creasing anything. The flat cables (if you have them) Known as ribbon cables, do not fold or squish or crease them, the wires inside are pretty fragile.

Find all heatsinks remove the fans and clean out the dust from the heatsinks. Do the same with the fans.

Use canned air when you can, some times a toothpick  with a mashed end. what I mean by that is have one end kind of smooshed and frayed to be like a paint brush. you will need the pointy end and the brushy end to get into the tight spots. yes it is important to get in all grooves even the tiny spots.  that junk builds up fast if it has some already there to stick to.

air flow needs to be from one end to the other. not some out the back some in the back som in the front some out the side. You would have crazy crap and get nothing accomplished. you have to think about it like water.  water/air flow best when there is as little disruption as can be. So one fluid direction is best.

Also you do not want to disrupt the air flowing through the cpu’s heatsink. This one is most important, second most important is the Video Card. If you know how to replace heatpaste, I suggest you knock that out now also.

The sorriest myth is the video card memory heatsinks. If they are stuck on by two sided tape, peal them off and chunk them aside, they are useless. You want as  smooth of a metal to metal contact. Foam in between is just retarded and a really sorry joke they pulled on you. Faom tape glue is not a good heat inductive material… sorry.   but teh tech world has proven that copper is best. The heat paste people use is to creat a vacuum seal between the metals. Amazing how it all works.. just trust me foam tape is not going to cool anything.

This so far is teh best way hardware wise to make your computer feel like brand new if not slightly better.

REvived my Video card

[tags]512mb, 7600, benchmark, bfg, computer, gamer, gaming, gs, gt, make computer faster, nvidia, overclock, pcpitsop, performance, pny, results, speed up computer, test[/tags]

If you read my earlier post about my cat killing my video card.

You would pretty much assume that the card could not be saved. The card was so bad off it was like the “degause” button was stuck and well you pretty much assume the card was french fried. After 4 hours of wiping with a cotton swab and water then going back with window cleaner the very next day and doing this for about four hours only to give up and say “screw it” and start spraying the video card soaking it in glass cleaner even in the dvi socket and vga socket and s video socket, then going back with a paper towel and dabbing up the glass cleaner after it soaked for a minute then sprayed again and dabbed again. Final spray was a soaker of the entire card to rinse off remaining coffee residue. I dabbed after a two minute soak and drain , then went back and wiped with a paper towel and a hand full of cotton swabs until the card looked brand new. I mean under a microscope you would not find any dust, not one drop. I let the card sit for one more night, and a whole day of work.

Of course I tilted the card so that what ever fluid/liquid that was still in the card in any of the sockets would drain downward back the way it entered.

I dug out my BFG nvidia drivers, I put on fresh heatsink paste (the only heatsink paste I found was the cheap tube I had in my parts box) reinstalled my heatsink 01-30-08_1751.jpg

Snapped card back in, connected fans and power to card and booted up and installed the bfg nvidia drivers.

Went to pc pitstop and did my usual bencmark

here is a past work

here is after the clean up and reinstall

To see quick results, go to “compare” at the bottom.

here is the temporary card .