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| This is a more hands on tutorial. If this does not solve your problems then Brain Box Computers recommends you view the best tune-up software by clicking here. For the first step we are going to take a look at what programs auto start when you turn on your computer. This will work with windows XP, 2000, ME and 98. Many of these programs do not need to be running but on the flip side to that there are some that are essential so DO NOT remove them all. |
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| Step One: From the desktop click the windows start button. Select run. You will see a dialog box pop-up. Type “msconfig” without the “”. Select the start up tab on the far right. You will now see a list of all your auto starting programs when windows starts up. Expand the command column just like you would in excel by clicking the column line and moving it to the right so you can view the full path of the files. This will enable you to actually see many of the programs names that are running at start up. Go through the list and uncheck programs that you recognize that you do not want to run at start up. ALWAYS keep any virus software such as Norton, Trend Micro and the like. Feel free to uncheck the boxes for items such as Real player, Quick time, WINDVD and other programs that you do not want auto starting. Many of these programs that auto start are in the system tray located on the bottom right of you screen. Never remove anything if you are unsure what it is. Better safe then sorry. Once you have unchecked the boxes for the programs you want to stop from auto starting click the OK button. A display box asking you to restart will appear. Go ahead and reboot the computer. Once the computer has rebooted a box will pop you saying that the changes were made. This is what you wanted. Select the don not show on start up box and hit OK. |
| Now we are going to use a few free programs off the internet. If you like these programs please feel free to donate to the makers. They work long and hard on these programs and need help updating them and keeping them free. So just like I am helping you please help them. |
Step two: Before we check for any spyware or viruses Download Ccleaner. This will remove junk files from your computer that have gathered over time. Do not worry it is very safe to use |
| Select the download tab located near the top just off to the left of center page. Save the download to the desktop. Double click the file and open it. You will be prompted to install the program. You are given options as to what you want to install. I personally select everything but the yahoo tool bar. I have no use for another tool bar in internet explorer or Fire Fox. You will now see the Ccleaner icon on the desktop. Double click to open up the programs. By default almost everything is selected for the program to scan through. I always let it scan what the default is however if you do not want certain items scanned feel free to deselect them. Next hit the analyze button. The program will run and some times can take a few minutes if you have never cleaned these items out. Once the program is done you will see a list of everything it has found. Keep in mind that you are not actually deleting any of your programs or files just the items from things like Google that show your recently searched items and all those junk pictures your computer saves every time you visit a site. Go ahead and hit the run cleaner button. The junk files are now removed from your hard drive and you have just cleaned up some space on your hard drive. Now that those junk files are removed here comes the second part of using Ccleaner. Select the issues button located on the left column. It is the one with the blue Cube. Now select Registry Integrity. All the items under it are now selected as well. Go ahead and hit the scan for issues button. Once the scan is completed select the Fix selected issues… button. You will be prompted to make a backup of the registry files. Select YES. Save the file to a place you will remember like the desktop or under my documents. If for some reason something goes wrong you will be able to re-back it up. Once saved you will be given an option to select one issue at a time or all of them at once. I always just hit the “Fix all selected issues” Button. You will be prompted again saying are you sure you want to fix all the issues select yes. The vast majority of these issues happen when you uninstall programs. Not all the traces are removed and this just cleans them up. Next were moving on over to the tools button on the left side. Select the Tools button. You will see the window on the right now shows a list of programs that are installed on the computer. Go ahead and remove any programs that you no longer want installed. This often includes toolbars and old programs that you no longer wish to use. Do not remove something if you do not know what it is. Only remove programs that you recognize and no longer wish to use. You may be prompted to reboot after un-installing certain programs. Just select restart later and we can reboot once we are all done. Keep in mind that this is a great program to use if you ever need to reinstall some software because it is no longer working. You can use Ccleaner to uninstall the program and then just load it back up. This software is free and does a good job but if your looking to reallytune-up your computer I suggest looking at better tune-up software. You can read reviews about tune-up software by clicking here |
| Now that you have removed all the programs off your system you no longer like go ahead and select the Startup tab under the Uninstall tab. You should recognize those programs from earlier when we used Msconfig and looked at your start up folder. The reason I do not use this program to do it is because it completely erases the entry while when you use Msconfig you are only telling it not to run. With Msconfig you can always go back and select the program to run again if you change your mind. We are now done with Ccleaner. Feel free to reboot your computer at this point and time. (Remember this website if you are going to reboot. |
| Keep in mind that even after all this your computer may still be slow but at least it is a start. If you would like to speed your system up even more I would recommend you contact a computer repair specialist and have them take a look at your computer. You can also download some free trials of software that are advertised on this site. They work very well |
Computer Repair Tips |
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Learn how to remove a virus from your PC |
Remove spyware from your computer Safely |