How To Wash Windows

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How To Wash Windows
A presentation to Palmia Computer Club by Jerry
Moore 11 October 2006
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Background When you first get a new PC, you will
generally find that everything runs quite fast
compared to the older PC that you replaced.
Unfortunately, most people find that over time
the speed of the PC slows down and eventually
reaches the point where something needs to be
done. There are several factors that are
responsible for this slow down and a number of
things you can do to improve performance. This
paper will address each of these factors and
identify the necessary steps required to address
each issue. It is recommended that you perform
these steps in the order presented to gain the
maximum benefit in performance improvement.
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Download and install Windows updates Click on
Start All Programs Update Windows
Click Express and install all updates
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Scan Your Computer For Spyware Before the
widespread use of the World Wide Web, most
threats for viruses, worms and other malicious
activity came from email attachments or discs
being passed around. When Microsoft designed
their Windows operating systems over ten years
ago, they had no idea how badly unethical people
would exploit the security vulnerabilities in
this operating system. This is the primary
reason that Mac users have far less problems.
They are running on a more modern operating
system that is aware of these threats and
designed to minimize them. The hackers of today
have a significant financial incentive to
compromise your PC and use it as a relay station
for sending out spam email, capturing data they
can resell and using your PC to launch attacks
against enemies and competitors. Its no longer
just kids playing around to see what they can do
there is a tremendous amount of money to be made.
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• There are generally four different ways your
  computer can get infected with Spyware
• Opening email attachments from people you dont
  know
• Clicking links in email from people you dont
  know
• Downloading and installing programs from unknown
  or questionable sources
• Visiting malicious web sites where you may not
  even have to click on anything to become infected
• Unlike anti-virus software where you can only
  have one version running at a time, its both
  possible and advisable to run multiple
  Anti-Spyware programs as no one program can
  detect and repair all Spyware

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Anti-Spyware programs come in two types. Those
that try to scan and detect whats already on
your computer and those that run in real time
trying to intersect and defeat threats before
they are installed. The most commonly used
programs in the first category (both free)
are LavaSofts Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition
Version 1.06 http//www.lavasoftusa.com/software/a
daware Safer-Networkings Spybot - Search
Destroy Version 1.4 http//www.safer-networking.or
g/en/download/index.html The front runners for
real time scanning are Microsofts Defender
(also free) http//www.microsoft.com/athome/securi
ty/spyware/software/default.mspx Webroots
Spysweeper Version 5.0 (29.95). http//www.webroo
t.com/consumer/products/spysweeper
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If you are a Cox Communications customer, you can
download and install free Anti-Spyware software
at http//www.cox.com/HighSpeedInternet/security.a
sp.
I dont recommend using All-In-One Internet
security suites like Symantec Norton or McAfee
because these programs have become so bloated
with added features that they really slow down
your system.
NOW THE BAD NEWS If you are unable to remove all
of the viruses and spyware found on your
computer, the only prudent course of action may
be to stop at this point and re-install Windows.
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Remove Programs No Longer Needed Click on Start
Control Panel Add/Remove Programs and scan
the list for programs you no longer need or use.
Be aware that certain computer manufacturers (HP
being the most notorious) take the opportunity to
load up new computers with many programs. In
many cases, the computer manufacturer obtains
revenue from the software company and uses this
revenue to offer their PCs to the consumer at a
lower price. Take note of the various sorting
options in the top right hand corner of the
screen. Sorting by size, frequency of use or
date last used may help you in identifying
programs to no longer need. Once you have
identified a program you no longer need,
highlight the program name with your mouse cursor
and click on the REMOVE button and follow the on
screen instructions. REMEMBER This process can
not be reversed, so if in doubt, leave the
program intact.
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Remove Windows Components No Longer Needed When
you clicked on Start Control Panel Add/Remove
Programs, you will notice an icon on the left
side of the window named Add/Remove Windows
Components. When you click on this icon, you
will open a window that lists additional programs
that can be removed. For example, if you never
use Internet Games, click on the Accessories and
Utilities folder, click on Details, click on
Games, click Details again uncheck the Internet
Games box and click on O.K. If you never use
Windows Messenger and you keep seeing it pop up
in your System Tray each time you start Windows,
scroll down to the bottom of the Windows
Components list and uncheck this program.
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Review task manager Now that you have removed all
programs that you no longer need, its time to
look at all programs that load automatically each
time you start Windows and determine if any can
be removed. Click Start Run, type msconfig and
you will see a window that looks like this
Go to a site like http//www.answersthatwork.com/T
asklist_pages/tasklist.htm or just enter the full
file name into Google to determine what the
program does and if you need it. Then uncheck
the box on programs you dont need.
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Adjust recycle bin When you delete a file in
Windows, by default its still available on your
computer, but just moved to the recycle bin. It
stays in the recycle bin until the maximum amount
of storage allocated to the recycle bin is
reached, and then Windows will permanently delete
the oldest files in your recycle bin and replace
them with the newest deleted files. You can
manually clear out the recycle bin by
right-clicking on the recycle bin icon and
selecting Empty Recycle Bin from the pop up
window. On all new Windows installations,
Microsoft sets the size of your recycle bin to
10 of the total capacity of each hard drive.
With most modern computers, this is overkill and
a waste of space. Right-click on the recycle bin
icon, select properties from the pop up window
and drag the slider left to 1-2.
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Adjust swap file Windows contains a feature
called a swap file that provides a virtual
(although slower) extension of the physical
random access memory (RAM) that you have
installed in your computer. The more
applications you have running at the same time,
the more RAM your computer requires and when it
runs out of physical RAM is uses this swap file
to move data back and forth from a temporary
storage area on your hard drive. A good rule of
thumb is to set the minimum and maximum values of
the swap file at twice the size of your physical
RAM. To do this, right click on the My Computer
icon, choose Properties, click on the Advanced
tab and then click and then click Settings in the
Performance box. Now click on Advanced and click
Change in the Virtual Memory box. Now click
Custom Size, enter values in the Initial and
Maximum Size fields and then click on Set. You
will have to reboot your computer before these
changed settings will take effect.
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Review device manager The Device Manager is one
of Windows' most useful diagnostic tools. It lets
you see all of the devices attached to your
computer, and which resources they are each
using. The quickest way to access the Device
Manager window is to click on Start Run and
type in devmgmt.msc. Once the window opens,
click on Action Scan For Hardware Changes. Now
click the plus signs next to each component and
see if you have any devices marked with a yellow
asterisk or a red x. Click on any of these and
press the delete key. Continue until all yellow
and red symbols are removed and then close Device
Manger and reboot your computer which will cause
any defective devices to be automatically
re-installed. Now repeat the process and see if
any devices are still marked with a yellow
asterisk or a red x. If so, double click on the
device, click on the troubleshoot button and
follow the on screen instructions.
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Review system restore settings One of the most
useful life saving features built into the latest
versions of Windows is the System Restore
function. This feature takes a periodic
snapshot of key Windows settings like your
registry and desktop and gives you the capability
to reset these settings to the state they were in
at a previous moment in time. Right click on the
My Computer icon, choose Properties and select
the System Restore tab. Make sure the turn off
box is not checked, click on Settings and then
drag the disk space slider all the way to the
right and click on OK.
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Disable messenger service Microsoft enables a
messenger service that allows spammers to send
pop up windows to your computer any time you are
connected to the Internet. If you have installed
Windows XP Service Pack 2, this feature has
already been disabled. If not, perform these
steps. Right click on the My Computer icon and
select Manage. In the Computer Management
window, click on the plus sign to the left of
Services And Applications. In the tree that
opens up, click on Services. Scroll down the
Services menu, locate Messenger, left click and
select Properties. In Startup Type, choose
disabled. In Service Status, click on Stop.
Click on O.K. and then close the Computer
Management window.
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Review video settings If you right click over
any empty space on your Windows desktop, choose
Properties and then click the Settings tab, you
will see adjustments for screen resolution and
color quality. The higher the numbers are set
for resolution and quality, the more computer
resources are required to display images and the
slower your computer will run. Colors wont be
as vivid and screen text will be larger when you
lower these numbers, but sometimes thats a good
thing.
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Organize desktop icons Many people have so many
icons on their desktop that they spend half their
time searching the desktop for the icon they want
to click. Remember that these icons are just
small shortcut files and can be deleted without
impacting the underlying program. Icons can be
made larger or smaller, aligned to a grid,
auto-arranged by different sort sequences or
moved to the quick launch task bar.
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Review monitor refresh rate If you have a CRT
monitor and see flicker, there are adjustments
you can invoke to make things easier on the eyes.
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Turn on file extensions By default, Windows
hides the last part of the file name for known
file types File newpicture is not as meaningful
as newpicture.jpg, newpicture.doc or
newpicture.exe Click on My Computer Tools
Folder Options View to disable this feature
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Check Windows indexing service Indexing Service
creates indexes of the contents and properties of
all files on local and network drives in order to
increase file searching speed. It's quite similar
to "Find Fast" that ships with Microsoft Office.
Indexing Service runs continuously and can slow
down your PC's general performance because it has
to index files continuously. If you don't need
slightly faster file searches, the feature can be
safely turned off. Note Indexing Service is
turned on by default for all NTFS
partitions. Turning this service off to increase
overall performance Open My Computer -
right-click on a Drive icon - Select Properties
- Remove the checkmark from "Allow Indexing
Service to index this disk for fast file
searching" - Click Apply. Make sure to select
"Apply changes to \, subfolders and files." 
before clicking OK in the new window. Alternativel
y, you can navigate to Control Panel
- Administrative Tools - Services - Disable
Indexing Services.
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Activate Windows quick launch toolbar Right
click on any blank space in the bar on the bottom
of the screen
Select Toolbars Quick Launch Select and drag
desktop icons to the Quick Launch toolbar area
and release the mouse button You can now delete
the desktop icon and launch the application from
the Quick Launch toolbar
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Adjust browser history and cache size Start your
web browser, click on Tools Internet Options
and you will see this window
Click on Delete Files to clear out all temporary
Internet files and then click on Settings and set
the disc space to 100MB larger if you are on
dial up. Also review the History setting and set
to the lowest acceptable level.
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Disable unnecessary Services Services are
programs that start with Windows and continuously
run in the background, helping the OS with
different functionality. Not all services that
load by default are needed, you can disable some
to free some resources and speed up your system
in general. You should go through the list and
read the descriptions to decide which services
you need depending on what you use your computer
for...  You can always turn the service back on
if and when you find need for it. Here is the
procedure to turn off a service 1.  Navigate to
Start - Programs - Administrative Tools -
Services.Alternatively, you can do START - Run
-  and type services.msc 2. Left-click on a
service and read its' description carefully.
Turning off services disables some particular
functionality of the OS, so make sure you want to
turn the particular service off. 3. To disable,
Right-click - Properties - Change the "Startup
Type" to "Manual" and Stop the service. Next time
you reboot that particular service
won't start. Some Sample Services that can safely
be turned off in most Home PCs Automatic
UpdatesComputer BrowserError Reporting
ServiceHelp and SupportIndexing
ServiceMessenger (pop-up spam vulnerability)NetM
eeting Remote Desktop SharingPerformance Logs
and AlertsProtected storage (stores passwords
and enables auto-complete)Remote Registry
(remote access to your registry)Routing and
Remote Access (enables dial-in routing to your
computer)Secondary LogonTask Scheduler... Notes
To disable services, just stop them, and set
them to "Manual". Check the Event Log for errors
after rebooting.
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Delete temporary files In the normal course of
using your computer, many files are written to
your hard drive that are temporary in nature and
not needed for normal operations. Some programs
create temporary files and then leave them
behind. This can happen because the program
crashed or because the developer of the program
simply forgot to add the code needed to delete
the temporary files after the program is done
with them. The temporary files left behind by the
programs accumulate over time and can take up a
lot of disk space. The quickest way to remove
these files is to right click on the hard drive
icon, choose properties and Disk Cleanup.
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• Scandisk
• Scandisk is a Microsoft utility that was
  purchased originally from Norton which is now
  Symantec. Scandisk is designed to check the
  integrity of a computer hard disk drive to verify
  that there are no significant issues which could
  cause issues with your computer data.
• To run Scandisk follow these steps.
• Double-click My Computer
• Highlight a local hard disk drive by clicking on
  it once.
• Right click the highlighted local drive
• Click properties
• Click the tools tab and click check now to check
  the drive for errors
• Check both boxes in the pop up window
• The computer will need to restart in order to run
  scandisk in a safe mode

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• Defrag
• The purpose of Disk defragmenting is to optimize
  the time it takes to read and write files to/from
  the disk by minimizing head travel time and
  maximizing the transfer rate. The used techniques
  include
• Moving all the index or directory information to
  one spot. Moving this spot into the center of the
  data, e.g. one third of the way in, so that head
  travel to data is halved compared to having
  directory information at the front
• Clustering files around the directory area
• Moving infrequently used files further from the
  directory area
• Obeying a user provided table of file
  descriptions to emphasize or ignore
• Making files contiguous so that they can be read
  without unnecessary seeking (defragmentation)

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THANK YOU FOR COMING Go to www.palmia.org/washwin
dows.ppt to download a copy of this presentation