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5 Ways to Speed Up Your PC

PostDateIcon Tuesday, 12 January 2010 18:09 | PostAuthorIcon Author: Shawn Levin | PDF Print E-mail

5 ways to speed up your PC

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. This article discusses how to use the tools available in Windows 7, Vista, and XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you're online. 

1. Free up disk space

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk to improve the performance of your computer. The tool identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.

Use Disk Cleanup to:

  • Remove temporary Internet files.

  • Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).

  • Empty the Recycle Bin.

  • Remove Windows temporary files such as error reports.

  • Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.

  • Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

  • Remove unused restore points and shadow copies from System Restore.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

Use Disk Cleanup

Window 7

Windows Vista

Windows XP 

2. Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to run Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:

  • You add a large number of files.

  • Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.

  • You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

Use Disk Defragmenter

Window 7

Windows Vista

Windows XP

 

3. Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

Run the Error Checking utility:

  1. Close all open files.

  2. Click Start, and then click My Computer.

  3. In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.

  4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.

  5. Click the Check Now button.

  6. In the Check Disk dialog box (called Error-checking in Windows 7), select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start

 

  • If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

    Tip: Only select the "Automatically fix file system errors" check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

     
     

     

    4. Protect your computer against spyware

    Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows 7 and Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Alternatively, there are other free anti-spyware software programs available.

     

    5. Learn all about ReadyBoost

    If you're using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use non-volatile flash memory—like a USB flash drive or a memory card—to improve performance without having to add additional memory.

 

source - microsoft.com

 

Joomla Instllation on 1and1

PostDateIcon Monday, 05 October 2009 14:52 | PostAuthorIcon Author: Shawn Levin | PDF Print E-mail

The Best Way to Install Joomla

Installing Joomla on 1&1 can be challenging. The typical way of setting it up is to first decompress the files in Windows and then uploading these files to your domain’s root folder by FTP or SSH. This is not a good way to transfer the files unless you don’t mind the 2 hours of time that it will take. Even though there are only 11.2 MB of files, there are 3,393 files in 650 folders. It takes time to create the nested folders and upload files to them. I should note that the Linux hosting package is required to install Joomla on 1&1. The Windows package doesn’t have the required PHP or MySQL.

A better way is to upload the .zip or .gz Joomla file you downloaded (i.e. Joomla-1.5RC.zip, or Joomla-1.5RC.tar.gz) and then upload it to your server. It can be decompressed there which will be a quick process. You need to login to your SSH account (available only in Business or higher packages on 1&1) and then use one of the following procedures (depending on which file you downloaded) for uncompressing Joomla. I recommend you install WinSCP which will give you PuTTY for using your account at the command line. Of course, you can install PuTTY on its own, but WinSCP is a great tool for managing your files and folders in 1&1.

Steps for Uncompressing Joomla

The Joomla-1.5RC.zip should be in the folder that it will be installed on your server.

  1. Login to your account with SSH.
  2. Move to the folder where the .zip file is (this is where you’ll be installed Joomla). You can move around in Linux with the cd command, i.e. cd MyCMS, which moves you to the MyCMS folder

Uncompressing a Zip File in Linux

  1. Enter the following command to unzip the Joomla files,

    unzip Joomla-1.5RC.zip

    Linux is case sensitive so enter the command exactly as displayed. Once you run the above command, the hundreds of files and folders will be uncompressed.

Uncompressing a Gzip File in Linux

  1. Enter the following commands to uncompress the Joomla files,

    tar -zxvf Jooma-1.5RC.tar.gz

    Linux is case sensitive so enter the command exactly as displayed. Once you run the above command, the hundreds of files and folders will be uncompressed.

Run the Setup Program

  1. After the files are uncompressed, open the URL in your web browser where the files were copied to and start the Joomla installation.

You will save a great deal of time by uncompressing Joomla on your server instead of uploading them from your computer using an FTP client.

Making Joomla SEO Friendly

The URL created by the default install of Joomla are not SEO friendly and could prevent your site from being properly indexed by search engines. Turn on the SEO Settings in Global Configuration and then make the following modification to the htaccess.txt files in the root folder:

  1. Rename the file to .htaccess
  2. Open the file in a text editor (this is where WinSCP is useful).
  3. Scroll down the file until you find

    # RewriteBase /

  4. Remove the comment so it looks like

    RewriteBase /

Your website is now SEO friendly.

 
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