Windows PC Tips Tricks Troubleshooting

Tips Tricks Tools Troubleshooting

Freeing Disk Space

Here are some tips to save space.

Run SCANDISK regularly, or another better program that does the same thing because SCANDISK certainly isn't the best. Regardless, scan your hard disk often as part of preventive maintenance. This optimizes its operation and recovers lost space being held by lost data.
Defragment your drive at least once per month. You can use DEFRAG that comes with Windows, or a better option. Over time, files can get chopped up and spread all over the drive, causing your drive to have to look all over the place to operate. Defragmenting the drive, thus, increases performance, while recovering lost space.
Organize your files. This doesn't help performance or space, but it sure helps your mental state. Give directories names that make sense when installing them. Store your data files in a directory all their own. Remember, Windows 95 supports long file names. Take advantage of this so that things make sense.
Make sure you are using the FAT32 system if you have Windows 95 OSR2, Win98 or some other FAT32 capable OS. Doing so will save you tons of space due to slack.
If you want, you can repartition your drive to take better advantage of the space available. With a smaller partition, you can use smaller clusters. Therefore, less space is wasted. This is easiest to do when the drive is new. If you want to repartition the drive with data on it, you will need a secondary program like PartitionMagic to do it and keep your data intact.
Empty the Recycling Bin. When you delete a file under Windows 9x, it doesn't really go away. It goes to the Recycling Bin. If you forget about this, you could have several megabytes of space wrapped up in files you thought were gone.
Empty your Internet Cache. If you do a lot of surfing, your cache gets bloated. And just because you limit the cache to 5MB or so doesn't mean a thing. that's 5 MB of actual files, therefore, if you take slack into account, you could be using as much as 60 MB!
Trash your plug-ins. well, not all of them. But, go into your web browser and bring up a list of installed plug-ins. Get rid of the ones you don't need. Cleansweep's Internet Sweep is great for this.
You can also clear out your IE History folder and TEMP directory. Your History folder is what stores all URLs you have been to, so that IE can automatically fill-in the URL for you as you type. Locate the History folder under Windows, and delete if you want. Same thing with TEMP directory.
Purge Windows 95. This can be tricky, and can get you into trouble. But, the idea is to browse the Windows 95 and Windows directories and delete unused components. Most programs install components into these directories, and they stay there even after the program is removed.
Delete unused fonts. go to Control Panel, and click on fonts. Delete useless fonts, as they take up lots of space and slow down the system. Don't delete any with a red "A" next to them, as these are Windows system fonts.
Disk Compression. I generally stay clear of such things, but it is possible to compress your drive and get up to 2X the amount of space out of it. The reason I stay clear is that it reduces performance and increases the chances of problems.

Freeing System Resources

One of the easiest ways to do this is to use a PS/2 mouse instead of a serial mouse. A serial mouse is used through a serial port on the computer and uses a COM Port all to its own. In some cases, you may need to use the serial port for another device or you need the extra COM Port. Also, a COM Port always uses one of two IRQ's, and these IRQ's are in the lower range of those on the PC. The lower range IRQ's are the same ones that all of your add-in cards demand. Therefore, people often find that their serial mouse gets in the way.

A way around this is to use the PS/2 mouse. This type of mouse uses its own PS/2 port, a small 6-pin round connector. It also used IRQ 12, an IRQ that is not in heavy demand by any other component. Most newer PC's have PS/2 mouse support built in. Just look for the connector on the back of the case. If you don't see one, don't give up. Some companies use motherboards that support it but did not include the port on the back of the case. To find out, check the manual. Or you can enter the setup program and see if there is a BIOS option for the PS/2 mouse. If there is, your board supports it and all you have to do is get a port, screw it on, connect it to the PS/2 connector on the motherboard, and load in the PS/2 drivers built right in to Windows 95.

In the rare case that you actually need IRQ 12, you can always revert back to the serial mouse.

IRQ2/IRQ9

Many are afraid to use IRQ 2 on their system because it is used by the system to connect to the higher IRQ's, above 7. This leaves IRQ 3-7, which is in high demand by other parts. But, in fact, IRQ 2 can be used by a device. The computer automatically reverts that device up to IRQ 9, out of range on potential IRQ conflicts. So, install that device on IRQ 2, then configure the software to look for IRQ 9.

Free Up Slots

It can happen. You have too many parts and not enough slots. This can be a problem especially with the old ISA slots. With newer motherboards coming out, the number of ISA slots is decreasing in favor of the faster PCI slots. But, there are a few little things you can keep in mind that may free up a slot for you.

First, there is a such a thing as a shared ISA slot. This slot can accept a PCI or an ISA device. So, if you need an ISA slot free for an ISA device, but have a PCI card in it, move the PCI card up to a PCI slot. Or vice versa if you are out of PCI slots and have a spare ISA slot.

Another thing...in most cases one or two PCI slots are blocked off because their respective holes on the case are being used by the serial ports or printer ports. On AT systems, these ports are screwed onto the case and connected to the motherboard via a ribbon cable. But, if you look, the back of your case should have punch-out holes built in a little higher up on the case. If you punch these out and screw the ports in there, you free up the one or two PCI slots. Magic!!

Finally, if you've upgraded from an old outdated card and its still there, get rid of it. Its not being used and it just takes up a slot.

IDE Channels

Here is another cool tip I've found.

Most motherboards come with built in connectors and controllers for your IDE drives. Most come with two, for two drives. But, if you are only using one drive, then you can disable the other controller and free up the IRQ it uses. You can do this in the Integrated Peripherals part of the BIOS.

Similarly, if you are using SCSI drives and have no IDE, then you can disable all IDE controllers. If you want to, you can disable the IDE port on your sound card. You say "sound card?". Yes. Many sound cards come with IDE controllers for a CD-ROM drive to connect to. This controller can be set up on IRQ 11. Disabling this can free up that IRQ. This is usually done by changing a jumper on the sound card.

Freeing Up Memory

There are a number of ways you can increase the amount of conventional memory available to you. Conventional memory is that first 640 KB of memory which all programs hog for. Since it is in such demand, keeping it optimized and available is important.

Many of these actions involve making changes to the CONFIG.SYS file. Remember, you want to keep a backup of the last CONFIG.SYS that your system last worked correctly with. So, backup yours before making any of these changes. Most name their backup copy CONFIG.BAK.

Here are some things you could try:

Thin out your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS file. Many times these files call up programs that are simply not needed or not there. These lines can be removed. Better yet, just add REM to the beginning of the line you want to take out. This makes it a "remark" and the computer will not execute that line.
Use the HIMEM.SYS file. At the top of CONFIG.SYS, add two lines: "DEVICE=C:WINDOWSHIMEM.SYS" and "DOS=HIGH,UMB". This will call up HIMEM.SYS, a program that loads DOS into high memory, or that first 64K of memory, that all DOS programs fight over.
Use EMM386.SYS. This program enables DOS to load drivers and other automatically loaded programs into the upper memory while conserving conventional memory. To use it, add the following to CONFIG.SYS right after the HIMEM.SYS line: "DEVICE=C:WINDOWSEMM386.EXE". There are a couple parameters you should add to this line. To disable expanded memory, which hardly anybody needs, add "NOEMS" to disable the EMS buffer. To disable the Monochrome Video Area, add "I=B000-B7FF". This disables the monochrome area that is used by the really old DOS programs that were monochrome. Today, with everything in color, this is just a waste of 32K of conventional memory.
With HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.SYS working, it gives you the ability to move drivers and programs that would usually reside in conventional memory up to the upper memory. To do this, you simply add HIGH to the lines loading up the drivers. For example, in the CONFIG.SYS file, a driver will be loaded by "DEVICE=". To load this driver into upper memory, you call it up by "DEVICEHIGH=". In AUTOEXEC.BAT, you can place a program in upper memory by adding "LOADHIGH" to the line that runs the program. Most drivers can be moved to upper memory, including CD-ROM, mouse, etc.

Taking this into account, a typical CONFIG.SYS may look something like this:

DEVICE=C:WINDOWSHIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:WINDOWSEMM386.EXE NOEMS
I=B000-B7FF

DEVICEHIGH={Your System Drivers Go Here}
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=100
BUFFERS=40
BREAK=ON
LASTDRIVE=Z

I'll just make a note here that this page pretty much refers to Windows 3.x users. Windows 3.x still depends on the conventional memory. Windows 95 has the ability to take full advantage of all of the system memory, so these tips don't have much impact.

Windows Startup Tweaks

The first thing to do will be to optimize your BIOS as follows:

Disable Floppy drive Seek. When your computer turns on, the BIOS automatically accesses the floppy drive, regardless of whether there is a disk in it or not. Disabling this feature can speed up the booting by a couple seconds. This can be done in your BIOS setup.
Enable "Quickboot". Many newer machines come with a BIOS feature called Quickboot or Quick POST. Enabling this option makes the system bypass some of the normal tests it would do on boot up normally. It makes the process faster, but increases the chances of a hardware problem going undetected because the system doesn't catch it at the start.
Remove the Boot Delay. Some PC's have an option to delay the booting for a couple seconds. Mainly, this is done to give the hard drive a chance to get going before the BIOS needs it. You can try removing it to speed things up, but you may find you need it after all.
Edit the Standard BIOS Setup. By default, many BIOS setups have all four IDE channels set to AUTO, in order to auto-detect the settings for the drive on that channel. If you know a particular channel is not being used, you can disable it so that the computer does not waste time looking for it.
Turbo Frequency. Some BIOS versions have an option for turbo frequency. Enabling it speeds up the bus speed slightly, offering a speed increase. It is, in effect, overclocking, but it is so minute that it will be no harm done as far as your hardware is concerned.

Optimizations

Tune up the registry. Over some time of installing and un-installing software, your registry becomes bloated. It may contain entries that are no longer needed. The killer is that this bloated registry is loaded each and every time the system is started, whether it is all needed or not. There are many software titles out there that are able to scan the registry, detect orphaned entries, and remove them. The result is a streamlined registry. If you have a general feel of how the registry works, you can try deleting old keys manually. You can also try third-party optimizers.
Defragment Your Drive. This is an easy, fast way to speed up your hard drive by making sure it does not have to search all over itself for file fragments.
Filter the StartUp folder. Filter? Well, what I mean is to go through the StartUp folder and make sure that there is nothing there that is unnecessary. It may be that Windows is loading up software that you no longer need, and that is a waste of time. To fix this, go to the Start Menu, Settings, TaskBar. Click the Start Menu tab, click Remove, browse down to the StartUp folder, expand it, and then remove any program from that folder which is no longer needed. More often, though, your computer is starting programs that are not showing up in the Startup Folder. You can also type "msconfig" at the Start Menu/Run prompt and control all of your startup programs and/or services. This easier method, though, is not available in Windows 2000. You will need to use a third party utility or, alternately, you can manually remove startup programs via your registry. To do so, type "regedit" at your Run prompt and navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run
in your registry. You can then remove any entries that should no longer be there. Be careful when doing this via the registry, and it is always a good idea to backup the registry first.
SysEdit. Go to your start menu, run and type "sysedit" and press enter. Here you can edit all your basic OS config files and remove anything you know you do not need anymore. If using Windows 2000 or XP, you can probably REM most of the lines out and be perfectly fine.
"Bootvis.exe". for Windows XP users only, this program can shave time off of your boot process. I have not personally tried it, but have heard about it and thought it worthy of mention if you wish to try it out. It is available here.

These are a few tweaks you can do to speed up the boot process on your PC. Hope you find them useful.

Operating System Performance

Of course there are ways to improve performance by playing with the hardware settings, but there are also ways of tweaking the operating system. The OS is very tightly knitted with the hardware's performance. Tweaking it really helps.

Every subject has a whole world of details that I could go into, but it just eats bandwidth. I'm going to outline the basics and tell you how to do it. This is based on Windows 95. Some may complain, but this OS is simply the most common.

The biggest drawback on performance that has to do with the OS is virtual memory. This is where the OS writes to the hard drive when it has run out of space in the RAM. When running many programs or large programs, the system makes use of this virtual memory, and performance lags. It causes frequent read/write actions and head movements. These head movements, or seek time, is the slowest feature of the hard drive.

When storing this temporary info to the hard drive, it puts it in a swap file. This file gets larger as Win95 needs more room, and smaller as it needs less. Adjusting the characteristics of the swap file can benefit performance.

You can mess with the swap file settings in the Control Panel. Click on System, then the Performance tab. Under Advanced Settings, click Virtual Memory. Here you can set the minimum and maximum size of the swap file as well as it's location. If you set the min and max sizes to be the same, it tells Windows that it can't resize the file. If they are different, it can resize the file within the limits. The default value is to let Windows do it all, with a 0 min and no max. When done, hit OK. It will give you a warning to scare you, but who cares.

Do not set the swap file size to be too low. If you do, you may get out of memory problems later. And definitely do not disable the use of a swap file.

The automatic resizing feature of the swap file under Windows 95 is good for conserving disk space, but not good for performance. Using virtual memory at all reduces performance, but its even worse when the drive is continually resizing the file. So, if you have plenty of disk space to spare, give the swap file a set size. In the virtual memory settings window, set the min and max files to be the same. This will eliminate resizing.

The size to set it to is sort of a judgment call. It sort of depends on the kind of work you use your system for. I have set mine for 50MB. This is a generally accepted value. If you run into problems, you may want to increase it.

Another method of improving performance that I have heard of, but never done, is to optimize the position of the swap file on the hard disk. Placing it near the front of the drive ensures that the read/write heads don't have to travel as far. This can be done by using a second hard drive for the swap file. This gets the read/write action off of the same drive as the OS and the major programs, and can increase performance. You can also make use of partitions to do this. You can set off a separate partition for the swap file. This treats it as its own drive and eliminates some problems. You can also create two partitions and put the swap file at the beginning of the second, thus putting the file at the center of the hard disk and minimizing the distance traveled by the heads.

This partition method can be used on any files which one wants to increase performance on.

The Windows 95 use of disk cache can damper performance. Disk cache is what Win95 does with data from the hard drive. It places the most recently used data from the hard drive into whatever memory is not being used by programs. This serves as a sort of virtual disk. The intent is to increase performance by minimizing hard disk activity, but it doesn't always work that way. As activity increases, the system wants to use this disk cache. This wants more room on memory. Then, as the programs need more memory for operation, they have to go to virtual memory because disk cache has taken so much memory up. This leads to a weird situation where the disk performance increases, but performance decreases anyway due to the use of virtual memory.

The way around this is to limit the amount of space the OS is allowed to use for disk cache. You can choose whatever amount you want taking into consideration how much memory you have. If you have 32MB of RAM, a 4MB limit should be fine.

Unlike adjusting the swap file size, playing with the disk cache size is not easy. It involves editing the SYSTEM.INI file in a text editor. Once you are in the file, find the line that contains "vcache". Right below this line, insert "MinFileCache=x" and "MaxFileCache=x" as separate lines. Replace "x" with the value of min and max in KB. Keep in mind that 1KB is actually 1024 bytes. So, in the above 32MB of memory example, you could insert "MinFileCache=4096" and "MaxFileCache=4096" to limit the disk cache size to 4MB. Like all changes to Windows, you will have to reboot for the changes to take effect.

Automatic virus scanning software can really decrease performance. Such programs are always scanning every file as you open it for viruses. This continual scanning is a drain on the system. I recommend a good virus scanner, but not one that is always on and scanning.

A few more things. When you upgrade hardware and install the drivers, always remove the drivers of the old hardware if you remove it. A system, over time, can become crammed with drivers, many outdated, and this just serves to decrease performance. You can see what hardware and drivers are installed on your system by clicking on System in the Control Panel. Then click the Device Manager tab. You are given a list of installed hardware. If you see devices that are no longer on the system, you should delete them. Be positive they are no longer in use before doing this.

Also, get a good installer program. Over time, after cycling through many different programs on your system and since deleting them, the system can become clogged with traces of the old software. Manually deleting some programs is fine, but other dig themselves into the OS and if you delete them, there are still traces. All Windows programs create entries in the Windows registry and these entries are often still there after the program is long gone. This can lead to a long registry file and it bogs performance. Many good programs exist that uninstall old software and are quite good at removing every trace. Many programs come equipped with their own uninstalling program. Still other programs are designed to clean out Windows registry.

Most of the tweaks on this page are relatively harmless and have the possibility of speeding up your system while decreasing hard drive activity.

Performance Tweaking

There are a number of BIOS settings in your system which affect the overall performance of the machine. When these are tweaked correctly, performance can increase quite a bit. Lets look at these.

Set Optimal Bus speed Settings. This is first because its most important. The bus speed of the system directly affects how fast it is because it affects the communication lines between the parts. The processor speed relies on the bus speed. Processor speed is the result of the bus speed times the multiplier. A multiplier is the number of times faster the processor is than the bus. You want to use the fastest bus speed supported by your motherboard. In order to do this, you may need to lower the multiplier to relate to the CPU speed. This is controlled by jumper settings on the motherboard, or in SoftMenu if your board is jumperless.
Enable the internal cache. Processors have their own internal cache which operates at the processor's speed. The newer chips have larger caches. Always have this cache enabled. This is controlled in the BIOS. It helps performance quite a bit. If you can't enable it without problems, it is a sign of a definite hardware problem.
Enable External Cache. This cache sits on the motherboard and lies between the RAM and the processor. Some comes on a small card that fits into a short little slot, but most newer motherboards have the cache built on. Some have 256K, others 512K or higher. Make sure this is enabled.
Enable Fast A20 Gating. This is a confusing subject I don't feel like talking about, but enable it for a small performance boost.
Enable Global Chipset Features. Enable this BIOS setting for faster performance. Not all chipsets even have it, so its no big deal.
Make sure all the RAM that can be cached is being cached. Most chipsets have the capability to cache up to 64MB of RAM. Some chipsets, like the 430HX, can cache more. In any case, enable this option to cache whatever it can. If this is a problem, there may be a memory or motherboard problem.
Tweak the Memory Timing. Most BIOS provide an option to set the timing, or speed, of the memory in the system. Setting this as fast as possible can aid performance. Most BIOS do it automatically. Its best to avoid setting it too fast. Most typical RAM has a speed or 60 ns. Whatever yours is, set it to that.
Finally, if you have flash BIOS, get the latest BIOS version.

PC on Quiet Mode

Today's speed systems make a racket. With all the high-speed hardware, good cooling is a necessity. Well, that cooling means a lot of noise. You've got the power supply grinding away and the CPU and case fans sounding like aircraft. A lot of times, even the more mundane systems make more noise than you would want. So, after getting an email from a user asking about ways to silence his system, I decided to address it.

Tweaking a system's noise is a fine-tuned process. You can spend a lot of money on it and can do a lot of work just to shave a few decibels off the overall sound. It is impossible to make a completely silent PC. No matter what we do, there are mechanical parts in a PC, such as a hard drive, CPU fan, and power supply. Even on the older systems without a CPU fan, there is still noise. The goal, though, is to bring the PC's sound down to or below the standard level of noise of your household. If it is below the regular noise levels, it will not be audible. In specialized environments, though, such as a recording studio, more specialized methods may need to be used. Of course, where real quiet is needed, one may want to just consider a laptop. Laptops are quieter and are, mostly, just as powerful as their desktop counterparts.

Let's look at some common methods of tackling this:

Power Supply:

The best method to go about this is to get a power supply that is perfectly balanced to power your system. The more wattage your supply will deliver, the more cooling would be necessary, and thus more noise. So, there is no point in putting a heavy-duty supply in a PC with minimal harwdare within. Secondly, you can invest some extra money and get a high-quality supply that produces little noise. You need to check out the user claims on the supplies you look at. Some companies market supplies for lower noise levels, but really they are like a train going by.

Cooling:

The fans in a Pc make quite a bit of the noise. The marketing claims above also apply to CPU fans as well. The claims don't always mean the truth. For less noise, get a fan that has variable speeds. These types of fans will slow down when the temperature is lower and speed up only when the Pc needs it. Also, a case fan that sucks out of the case from the front is usually louder than one that blows. So, for example, mounting a rear-mounted case fan that blew air out the back would probably help out in noise reduction. On the CPU, one could also consider purchasing a highly efficient and huge heat sink. This coupled with a well-run CPU could alleviate the need for a CPU fan. Another possibility would be to place the CPU right under the power supply with a large heat sink. This way, the air flow from the power supply's own fans, coupled with the heat sink, could adequately cool the CPU. Of course this method requires the motherboard to position the CPU in such a location.

Hard Drive:

Bottom line, the newer the drive, the quieter it usually is. As time goes on, hard drive manufacturers are beginning to get more noise-conscious. As you would expect, the higher rotation speed drives make a bit more noise. This is really a noise vs. performance issue you must decide on. There are also drives out there that boast newer technologies. Fujitsu is beginning to use a fluid dynamic bearing in some of their drives. This replaces the old mechanical ball bearing with a liquid equivalent. Another technology is the "Silent Drive" or "Soft Seek". On newer drives that have this, you can choose in your BIOs between a more silent operation or a full-speed drive.

For those older drives, there are kits you can buy that wrap the drive up in silencing material to help quiet it down. One such product is called SilentDrive. Pictured below, you can see that it is basically a case with silencing material within. It is much like putting extra insulation in a wall to "sound-proof" the room. Basically, though, you're putting the hard drive in a box. For this reason, drives with rotation speeds higher than 5400 RPM should not be used with SilentDrive. Faster drives produce more heat and will cook inside this thing. It does, however, make a difference in sound output.

Pay attention to the PC case when silencing your PC. A well-designed case dampens the noise. Cheaper cases do not do anything about the sound. Large metal cases can sometimes be louder because drive movements can vibrate the case enclosure and create sound. You can install small rubber strips under the drives to provide a small padding between the drive and case and absorb vibration. you could also consider a plastic PC case as long as it is structurally sound.

More Extreme Acts of Silencing

There are more, shall I say, desperate methods to silence down a PC, but these are not things that the normal human would do. So, let me tell you all about it, huh?

Using sound absorbing material

Some have come up with the crazy idea of layering the case with sound absorbing material of some sort. Of course, the sound still gets out the air holes in the case, so I don't know how affective this would be. It also introduces an issue of heat dissipation. But, for the sake of discussion, I thought I'd include it.

Under-Clocking

Some have used this as a way of quieting down the PC. The theory is that if the CPU is not running at full speed, it is not producing as much heat. And, with a variable speed CPU fan, the fan will not have to be on much at all because the CPU isn't making much heat. If you also reduce the core voltage of the CPU, you could probably get away with just one large heat sink and due away with the fan altogether.

Power supply removal

The power supply has a built in fan and, yes, the PC does need it to operate. But, who says the power supply needs to be in the PC case? Some have actually removed the power supply from the case and connected it to the rest of the PC by an electric cord. Just by getting it out of the case allows it to better cool. Sometimes it can cool itself by convection, without a fan. If a fan is still running, then you can just move the power supply to a place that can't be heard and have it remotely run the PC from a distance.

It Can Be Done

Silencing down a PC is a cool little tweaking job to take on. For most, it doesn't really matter. For some, the noise is just annoying. Some need quiter PCs because they work in an environment where sound is an interference. Whatever the reason, I hope the above tips may lead you in the right direction.

Silencing the PC takes a little thought and planning. The idea is to lessen the use of mechanical devices, as these are what make the noise. Quieting down the hard drive is a big plus. Silencing those fans or getting rid of them is another. A little cleverness can do the trick.