OT question on comp performance

[adm]

(..koff........)

Safari (or your choice of non MS browser)

Mac.

[RobME]

If your general PC performance is good and the main issues are about streaming video, the go to http://www.dslreports.com/ - join (basic free account), and go to tools and run a few of their broadband tests. They help fine tune your connectivity.

[tom502]

Well, I hope I didn't mess anything up, but it seems to be working now.

I did find 2 Wild Tangent things running, and removed them, and then I went through the add/remove and took removed a few things I never use, but I think I probably should have kept one thing about photos as 2 photos I had saved on my desktop were no longer viewable, but the pics in the MyPictures were all still there. It's easy to mess it all up, not knowing what your doing. I also downloaded Opera and have been using that. That didn't make it better, but it works ok as a browser. I think it was the Wild Tangent, and maybe it helped removing some unused programs for added space, also turned off the hibernate option, which I read makes like a double file of your ram. I'm really computer ignorant, and don't wanna mess with it anymore, as I am afraid to mess something up, and it seems to work OK now. As long as I can access websites, do my music, upload digital camera pics(which I haven't done since removing stuff, so I hope I didn't mess that up), that's all I use the comp for. Oh, I also ran the defrag a couple of times. I did seem to also notice my dvd burner worked faster/better after I did all this.

I wish comps were just more stripped down and basic, I have no idea why they have so many programs and stuff I never even use.

[lxskllr]

One thing you should do with your browsers is block 3rd party cookies. The way I see it, is nobody from sites I don't visit have any business putting things on my computer. To do this in Opera, goto Tools-Preferences-Advanced, then click on Cookies on the left side. Check "Accept cookies only from the site I visit" then press Ok. Other browsers are similar, but they have slightly different phrasing.

That blocks a lot of tracking cookies, and while it probably doesn't make much of a difference, I like it on principle.

[sth]

Well hello there. There are many things you can do to speed up the performance and squeeze more life out of your computer if need be.

Since you're not computer savvy, I will start with really basic, easy to do things to help the performance.

Before we start, I must say that MOST of those "free" computer speed up things on the internet are nothing but malware, you want to remove them.

Also, you should do me a favor right click on the my computer icon, and go to properties. The first thing that comes up will say your processor speed, amount of ram and operating system. If you post that, I will be able to help you more.

1) Download CCleaner (http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/) and run that, it will remove things such as your IE cache, your history, all the cookies, temp files and other random garbage you have zero need for. You run no risk of damaging anything on that.

2) While in CCleaner you can do a registry fix, this will fix ALL of the "problems" with your registry, and is 100% free, unlike those other things. Again, you can back up your registry if you wish, but I have never run into an issue as it is usually removing things that just point nowhere.

3) CCleaner will also let you easily take a look at what autostarts when you start the computer. These are programs that you don't usually need to start. Turning these off will not usually cause any issues, but if it is something that you don't know what it is, I suggest you leave it be. However, you can safely experiment with this, as you can always re-enable something and restart.

4) Since you say your issue is with slow streaming, and you run IE, it can depend on the version of IE that you're running. IE8 for instance is silly with streaming, so update your flash. You may be using an old, outdated version of flash which can cause issues on youtube. This is also free (http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/)

5) Defragment your computer. The stock defragmenter that comes with windows isn't as good as it could be. I suggest MyDefrag or UltimateDefrag. UltimateDefrag isn't free (unless your pirate it ) so, here is the link to MyDefrag: http://www.mydefrag.com/Downloads/Do...rag-v4.2.7.exe

6) If you do not ever intend to use the "System Restore" option in Windows, turning it off can increase your systems performance because Windows will not constantly be creating restore points; therefore it will not be reading/writing to the harddrive all the damn time. You can do this by:

1. Click Start
2. Right click My computer
3. Click properties.
4. In the system Properties Tab, click System Restore.
5. Click the Turn off System Restore on all Drives box.
6. Click Ok.
7. It'll ask you to confirm it, so confirm it.

7) Download Ad-Aware. While Spybot is good, it is more for spyware. Ad-Aware will get rid of garbage that spybot will not. It is free, as well. (http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php)

8) Back up stuff you find to be important. I personally use another physical harddrive for large things. I also have set up my main drive into 2 partitions; one part contains the operating system only. This is so I can reformat my computer a lot.

9) like someone else mentioned, when all else fails, reformat. If your computer is old, you can use specially designed versions of Windows that have a very tiny fingerprint. (for instance, I use one on my laptop where the disk is only 86mb) These remove things that most people have zero use for; however you may find that you do not like what they remove. It is a toss up. These versions of Windows are great on older machines because they utilize significantly less ram/processor power by the OS. Which leaves more power for your tasks.

Here are some pictures detailing some of the things I said to do; it may make it easier for you to do.



This one details the settings you should use for mydefrag, and also shows you where to watch for CCleaner installing the yahoo toolbar, which you dont want so uncheck that box.



this shows the registry fix option in CCleaner, and how it will look after a scan. My poorly written #1 and #2 show the order it should be done, and I scanned my own registry to show you the kind of crap it will find. In my own case, all of this crap can be removed, it's totally useless.



This one shows the startup editor. As you can see, thats what I have set to start up. You can also see that I have disabled the auto start up of a program called "everything" which is the program I use to do searches on my computer. I don't need that running 24/7, so it is disabled for startup.





anyway, I hope this helps. If you have any more questions just post em.

edit: if you tell me the file extension of the photos that don't work anymore (right click->properties, it'll say under type of file) I can tell you how to fix it.

[tom502]

sth-
Thanks for all that info. I'm at work right now, with a headache too. I guess if I did remove something I shouldn't have, as I guess others have done this too, they can be added back.

I did have adaware for a while, but then it just stopped working and wouldn't update, so I took it off and just kept spybot.

I am cool with downloading things to help the comp, though I only want freebies. I think the things you recommended are, except the one you mentioned wasn't.

I'll post later with my home comp properties.
Thanks again.

[tom502]

Well hello there. There are many things you can do to speed up the performance and squeeze more life out of your computer if need be.

Since you're not computer savvy, I will start with really basic, easy to do things to help the performance.

Before we start, I must say that MOST of those "free" computer speed up things on the internet are nothing but malware, you want to remove them.

Don't have any installed.

Also, you should do me a favor right click on the my computer icon, and go to properties. The first thing that comes up will say your processor speed, amount of ram and operating system. If you post that, I will be able to help you more.

OK, this is what I have:
Hewlett-Packard Pavilion
Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz
1.79GHz, 768 of RAM

1) Download CCleaner (http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/) and run that, it will remove things such as your IE cache, your history, all the cookies, temp files and other random garbage you have zero need for. You run no risk of damaging anything on that.

Will do.

2) While in CCleaner you can do a registry fix, this will fix ALL of the "problems" with your registry, and is 100% free, unlike those other things. Again, you can back up your registry if you wish, but I have never run into an issue as it is usually removing things that just point nowhere.

Will do. Or I'll try it after I type this.

3) CCleaner will also let you easily take a look at what autostarts when you start the computer. These are programs that you don't usually need to start. Turning these off will not usually cause any issues, but if it is something that you don't know what it is, I suggest you leave it be. However, you can safely experiment with this, as you can always re-enable something and restart.

OK

4) Since you say your issue is with slow streaming, and you run IE, it can depend on the version of IE that you're running. IE8 for instance is silly with streaming, so update your flash. You may be using an old, outdated version of flash which can cause issues on youtube. This is also free (http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/)

I've been using Opera now, but it wasn't different than IE with my issue. I also did run Flashplayer just now, and rebooted but it's the same as before.

5) Defragment your computer. The stock defragmenter that comes with windows isn't as good as it could be. I suggest MyDefrag or UltimateDefrag. UltimateDefrag isn't free (unless your pirate it ) so, here is the link to MyDefrag: http://www.mydefrag.com/Downloads/Do...rag-v4.2.7.exe

I have done the stock defrag. I'll DL Mydefrag. Is is good to have all these things downloaded in themselves?

6) If you do not ever intend to use the "System Restore" option in Windows, turning it off can increase your systems performance because Windows will not constantly be creating restore points; therefore it will not be reading/writing to the harddrive all the damn time. You can do this by:

1. Click Start
2. Right click My computer
3. Click properties.
4. In the system Properties Tab, click System Restore.
5. Click the Turn off System Restore on all Drives box.
6. Click Ok.
7. It'll ask you to confirm it, so confirm it.

Just did this.

7) Download Ad-Aware. While Spybot is good, it is more for spyware. Ad-Aware will get rid of garbage that spybot will not. It is free, as well. (http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php)

OK, but I'll do this later, and I guess should I uninstall spybot then?

8) Back up stuff you find to be important. I personally use another physical harddrive for large things. I also have set up my main drive into 2 partitions; one part contains the operating system only. This is so I can reformat my computer a lot.

Don't have anything to back up.

9) like someone else mentioned, when all else fails, reformat. If your computer is old, you can use specially designed versions of Windows that have a very tiny fingerprint. (for instance, I use one on my laptop where the disk is only 86mb) These remove things that most people have zero use for; however you may find that you do not like what they remove. It is a toss up. These versions of Windows are great on older machines because they utilize significantly less ram/processor power by the OS. Which leaves more power for your tasks.

I'd rather not reformat unless I absolutely have to. This slow streaming videos seems to be the main problem I am having.

Here are some pictures detailing some of the things I said to do; it may make it easier for you to do.

edit: if you tell me the file extension of the photos that don't work anymore (right click->properties, it'll say under type of file) I can tell you how to fix it.

Seems I uninstalled this Photo editor, but photos still open, just with another program.

[lxskllr]

Take this for what it's worth, but these are my thoughts...

Built in defrag's good enough. Defragmenting software's kind of snake oilish. It really doesn't make that big a difference. As long as you run the built in defrag every few months or so, the fragmentation levels will be reasonable.

Adaware... I think their day's over. It hasn't been that great in years tbh. SbyBot's not the best either, but it's passive blocking features make it worth having. A good scanner is Malwarebytes. It doesn't do active protection in the free version, but if suspect a problem, it's one of the best at scanning and removal. If you want to pay for it, you can have active protection.

Ccleaner? It's alright, but I'm not a fan of registry cleaners. If you use it, make sure you backup your registry in case of problems.

General...

That machine's getting kind of old. It'll still be good for most typical home activities, but you may have the occasional slow down. I don't remember if you mentioned it, but blow the dust out if you haven't. Overheating can cause choppy performance.

[tom502]

Thanks. I like spybot, maybe it's not the best, but I like how it looks and the interface.

I do need to blow it.

Since my home comp is really just my adult toy, I of course want it to work well for what i do, but when it dies, I'll just get a new comp.

I just rebooted after doing all that. Haven't tried any streaming media yet, but like I said, that was really the only area I had an issue, it was like the streaming media(video) source lagged behind the player, and so the source had to catch up with the player, so it'd be buffering all the time.

[RobME]

Tom, I'll give it one last shot with you. Didn't trust my advice? OK, no problemo. You don't know me from Adam, and you did have a lot! of other seemingly good advice given to you. I'll take nothing away from all of the excellent advice provided to you, and I know it can be confusing (even overwhelming) at times. And perhaps what I'm suggesting here won't help you - but it should be EASY, and I'm guessing it will, if not provide a complete fix, then at least give you a clue.

You first wrote of problems (mostly all about) streaming video. Not local system performance, or general internet browsing, but these are what you've been 'fixing'.

Once again... go here; http://www.dslreports.com/. Join (free basic membership), and goto the Tools section. Read about and run the 'Tweak Test'... this will test your TCP stack. (quote copied)...

"Tweaking may fix:
Slow download speeds
Download slower than upload speed
Skipping in TCP streaming video/audio
Connection issues to some sites"

You can always Google... windows tcp/ip tuning or...
Just go here; http://fasterdata.es.net/TCP-tuning/Windows.html, for DrTCP, or preferably here; http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php, for the TCP Optimizer.

The TCP/IP stack is your internet connectivity. It's not always fine tuned for best performance in many Windows installations, but it can be tested and maximized with free third party applets which make the appropriate registry adjustments. Take it from there. I hope this helps you. It won't harm you. No guarantees, but this is the direction I'd go in if I were you. Good luck and please report back.

[tom502]

Tom, I'll give it one last shot with you. Didn't trust my advice? OK, no problemo. You don't know me from Adam, and you did have a lot! of other seemingly good advice given to you. I'll take nothing away from all of the excellent advice provided to you, and I know it can be confusing (even overwhelming) at times. And perhaps what I'm suggesting here won't help you - but it should be EASY, and I'm guessing it will, if not provide a complete fix, then at least give you a clue.

You first wrote of problems (mostly all about) streaming video. Not local system performance, or general internet browsing, but these are what you've been 'fixing'.

Once again... go here; http://www.dslreports.com/. Join (free basic membership), and goto the Tools section. Read about and run the 'Tweak Test'... this will test your TCP stack. (quote copied)...

"Tweaking may fix:
Slow download speeds
Download slower than upload speed
Skipping in TCP streaming video/audio
Connection issues to some sites"

You can always Google... windows tcp/ip tuning or...
Just go here; http://fasterdata.es.net/TCP-tuning/Windows.html, for DrTCP, or preferably here; http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php, for the TCP Optimizer.

The TCP/IP stack is your internet connectivity. It's not always fine tuned for best performance in many Windows installations, but it can be tested and maximized with free third party applets which make the appropriate registry adjustments. Take it from there. I hope this helps you. It won't harm you. No guarantees, but this is the direction I'd go in if I were you. Good luck and please report back.

Thanks Rob, no I wasn't ignoring you, just overwhelmed as you said, as so many things were said to me. And I believe you are right, or highly possible, as I was thinking earlier of how after I did all the stuff I did, and no change, I think it''s not the computer, but maybe the connection. I'll do what you said today, and thanks for the info, I have been reading and doing and/or considering it all, and thanks all for your replies.

[shikitohno]

Honestly, if you've updated flash, windows and whatever browser you choose to use (although I'll throw my vote behind firefox, too!), and this is the only area where you're noticing slow speed, it's probably youtube. They have a massive amount of people browsing the site at once, all requesting files from the server. Youtube has good servers and good connections, but there's only so many people who can be viewing videos at once.

One other thing, try updating JavaScript. Youtube uses flash videos, but you also can't watch if you haven't enabled Java in your browser, so it's possible an outdated version of Java could cause slow loading. For what it's worth, I still believe it's simply youtube being one of the most popular websites going.

[tom502]

How do you know if your Java needs an update? Will it hurt if I download it again, even if I have it already? Will it give me 2, or overwrite what I have?

[tom502]

I just now updated Java, I saw I had a Java icon in my control panel, and it said I have an update needed.

Overall, I think the comp is running smoother. I did try some streaming media earlier and it worked fine, though I do agree it could traffic at the site that affects it's download(I guess).

But I've done quite a bit in the last few days.
I think I shouldn't have uninstalled that photo editor though, as I did use it sometime resizing pictures, but then I may have another program already that will do that, but then I didn't use it often.

I did notice in my add/remove programs list a Wild Tanget Control Console(I think that's what it said, going by memory), I wonder of I should uninstall that, it's not much space, and I don't think it's running or anything.

[lxskllr]

I did notice in my add/remove programs list a Wild Tanget Control Console(I think that's what it said, going by memory), I wonder of I should uninstall that, it's not much space, and I don't think it's running or anything.

Look it up online. I have a feeling they deal with use tracking somehow. Not malware, but not something you really want either. Check it out, I could be wrong.

edit:

Criticism

Users have complained that the company's products have an adverse effect on their PC's performance or are intrusive to the user's experience.[4] PC Magazine wrote in 2004 that although the program was "not very" evil, some privacy complaints were justified as the program's user manual states that it may collect name, address, phone number, e-mail, and other contact information without the user's consent and could distribute the collected information with the user's consent. Concerns were also raised about the software's self-updating feature. [5] Some popular antispyware programs detect the program during their scans, such as Spybot which classifies it as a potentially unwanted program.[6][7] WildTangent asserts that the software bundle is safe, but many antispyware programs classify it as adware/spyware, mainly because it reports activity and machine specifications to WildTangent servers, in order to more finely tune games and services to casual gamers.

Some users complain that the WildTangent software is difficult to uninstall, [8] although the company packages an uninstaller with the program. To remove a WildTangent installation that was initiated by an end user, the user might be able to use the Add/Remove functionality in Windows or select third-party tools such as "RootkitRevealer". However, in cases where the OEM (such as HP) has installed the software on Windows 7, the software has been made intentionally difficult to uninstall by obfuscating files and preventing a complete uninstall from the Remove Programs applet.[citation needed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WildTangent