Tips To Keeping Your PC healthy, Safe, &Fast

[LiveFastStephen]

I posted this a few days ago in the archives to add
to Monika's post: "Streamline Your Laptop (Windows)"
&thought i might move it over here,

These are methods iv researched & used over the years
to keep my, my friends, & my familys' PC’s running clean & healthy


*DISC CLEAN UP (monthy)
start > all programs> system tools > disc clean up
(i check all boxes then hit run)

*DISC DEFRAGMENT (monthy)
start > all programs> system tools > disc defragment
(make sure you defrag the “C: drive” hahah)

*WINDOWS UPDATE (weekly)
start > control panel > Security center > windows update
(make sure your firewall, and anti virus are on)
i just express install all updates.

download/install/&run
*REGISTRY FIXER, “CCLEANER” (weekly)
(ccleaner.com it’s a freeware!)
this checks your registry for errors,
eliminates old, &compressed files.
&basically “cleans” about 50 other aspects (all checkmarkable)

*RUN YOUR ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE! (weekly)
esp. scan for viruses, & spyware.

!If you currently don't have one active buy or download a trial
or even just get a freeware anti-virus ASAP!

Locally if you have Frontier as your Internet provider you can call and get 3 free serial codes for CA Anti-Virus good for two years! (not one id recommend buying but more effective than the freewares if you don't want to buy one) so call your internet provider and see if there teamed up with a anti-virus software you might be missing out of some free payware!

purchase recommendation: Norton 360 (timely installation but the best)
- i wouldn’t recommend freeware for something so important but if you can’t get one from your provider & don't have the cash to get one these work: AVAST, or AVG (downloadable via: download.com)


also
*DOWNLOAD/RUN WINDOWS DEFENDER
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...r/default.mspx
(a freeware from Microsoft for spyware removal & protection)

*ADJUST AMOUNT OF SPACE FOR TEMP FILES
start > control panel > internet options
then under browsing history hit settings
(i change “disk space to use” to around: 50mb)

- additionally in the internet options hit the security tab,
make sure your “internet” “local intranet” “trusted sites” & “restricted sites” are set to around “medium-high” – iv noticed a lot of peoples are on “custom” & the custom level is set to “lowest”…baaad way to surf..


*UPDATE TO THE MOST RECANT OF YOUR SOFTWARES & DRIVERS
for example jump on mozilla.com &update to the latest version,
then open firefox, at the top hit tools, then options &hit the privacy tab, then check mark “clear private data every time i close firefox” .- this way even if you get tracking cookies there not getting the credit info you sent DJTT last week for your SE VCI.

*UNINSTALL PROGRAMS YOU NO LONG USE
start > control panel > add or remove programs
*google search any programs your not sure about before uninstalling!
for example if you see “NVIDIA” never heard of it &just uninstall it, you’ll no long have sound; that was your sound card’s driver smart guy.

Honestly i run all the most up-to-date applications, &from companies like Ableton, Native Instruments, Image Line, Line 6, Adobe Creative Suites & etc..with out any problems; Believe it or not but on the same PC for eleven years in counting.. hah it even came from a pawn shop. – i fixed it up, treat it right &still use it today. so take it from me, a real street-guru. hahaha

take care, over n out
- Stephen aka Live Fast

[chex]

A really good free antivirus is AVG Free Edition. you can get it from:
http://free.avg.com

Also disabling unneeded startup programs using msconfig is highly recommended. If using vista, disable superfetch and indexing to improve overall performance for performance use.

[alien2k]

I totally agree on the methods you describe to maintain your pc in shape. Although I must say that your view is for general daily/office use not for DAW or for a laptop that will be used for playing live. The optimization needed to be done is completly different. Some good recommendations on that can be found in older posts as this:

http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2728

Cheers

[LiveFastStephen]

alien2k,
nice addition,

Man, I have to say after loosing a laptop due to a burned harddrive (one with not only original tracks i produced but with typed out lyrics i hadn't backed up...) In my eyes, pc health & safty are essential prerequisites to any other tweaks to a computer, especially for producers.

- Your post is a perfect next step for maximizing your settings more specifically for DAW so thanks for the post!

Alien2ks DAW Optimization Direct Link: http://www.audioforums.com/windows-xp-optimization.php

[kaleaf]

Good tips Live Fast.



I got 3 tips for you guys.

- Set your antivirus to get updates or make sure its updated

- Set automatic updates to "notify but don't automatically download and install" or "off" but I wouldn't turn them off. If you use the other options and your connected to the internet then you might have background tasks or the worst is the automatic restart that can happen if they put out a high priority update.

- Set your page file to a fixed size so it dosn't expand automatically that could slow down disk access. That is under system-advanced tab- click performance - then advanced tab- then change virtual memory. I useually use the recommended or 1.5 times the physical ram also look at whats currently allocated. Select custom and enter the same number for min and max.