Has your computer started slowing down? Is it taking a long time to start up? Crashing more often? Or perhaps it’s suffering from an overload of spam and pop-up advertising?

If your computer isn’t running properly any more, it’s time for a tune-up. Just as we need to tune up our cars regularly for best performance, computers need to be maintained so they won’t slow down and misbehave.

Our guide will show you how to keep your computer running smoothly, always.

Once you’ve completed these essential tune-ups, you may want to know more about tweaking your computer. For the more adventurous or advanced user, we’ve included a list of top Windows XP tips and tricks sites packed with ways to personalise and improve Windows XP to your heart’s content.

Why computers slow down

Over time, and without any maintenance, computers become cluttered with old programs that are no longer used. Programs such as spyware and adware eventually clog up your computer by starting up each time you turn it on. Some surreptitiously monitor your online behaviour, cause ads to pop up when browsing the Internet and interfere with the normal operation of Windows, causing crashes.

Hard disks will develop errors and become fragmented. Errors cause your data to be read unreliably while fragmentation causes data to become increasingly scattered across your hard drive, resulting in data being accessed more and more slowly.

To fix these problems, you need to backup your data, identify what software isn’t needed, scan your hard drive for errors and then defragment it so it returns to full speed.

1. Backup your data

Before installing any updates or performing maintenance on your computer, you should backup your email files, address book, documents, Internet Explorer favourites, financial data and any data from other software you regularly use.

The most popular mediums for backing up to today are blank CDs, Zip disks and blank DVDs. Most computers come with a CD burner and a “cut-down” version of Roxio EZ CD Creator, Ahead Nero Burning Rom, NTI CD Maker or something similar.

In the event you don’t already have these programs, but do have a CD burner, Windows XP has the ability to burn files to CD built-in. To copy files and folders to your CD burner using Windows XP’s built-in software:

1. Close all open programs.
2. Put a blank CD in your burner.
3. Using Windows Explorer, find the files and folders you want to backup.
4. Right-click on entire folder (for example, My Documents), a single file or a series of files you’ve selected, and hold the mouse over the “Send To” entry. From the menu that pops out, select your CD burner.
5. Keep doing this until you have sent several files and folders to the CD burner.
6. On the left-hand side of Windows Explorer, you should see a list of drives and folders in your computer. If you see a list of tasks instead, click on the “Folders” icon in the toolbar at the top of the Windows Explorer screen to switch between a list of folders and a list of system tasks.
7. Find your CD burner (often a D:, E: or other drive – never the C:, your main hard drive). Click on it with the right mouse button. Select “Write these files to CD” with the left mouse button.
8. Go through the Wizard, selecting a name for your CD, and continue until Windows starts burning your new CD.
9. When finished, use a felt-tip marker to write “Backup”, a brief description of the backed-up files and the date. Store this backup CD in a safe place.
10. Consider using the dedicated CD burning software packages listed above (Roxio, Nero, NTI etc) to make future backups a simpler and faster procedure.

2. Run anti-spyware software

Spyware and associated programs such as adware are parasitic software programs that monitor your Internet activity, supposedly anonymously collecting information on the sites you visit and the ads you see to create demographic profiles of Internet users. They often come hidden as part of other software you download from the Internet. Sometimes commercial software and hardware can come with spyware as well.

There are thousands of different spyware/adware programs, and besides monitoring your behaviour, these programs can cause your computer to become unstable, slow down or even crash.

Although there are a number of spyware-busting programs available for download, including AdAware, we’d recommend Spybot from http://spybot.eon.net.au. It’s one of the best around, and also completely free to download and use, although the authors ask for a voluntary donation if you find the software useful.

To download Spybot:

1. When you visit the Spybot site, click on Download at the top left of the page.
2. At the top of this page is information on donating to the Spybot cause. Scroll to the end and click Download Here next to the CNET Download.com link. This will take you to CNET’s page to start downloading Spybot.
3. Click on “Download Now”. This will take you to another page which will start downloading the software.
4. When the File Download box appears, click Save. Save the file to your regular download folder. If you don’t know what this folder is, select either the My Documents folder or Desktop so you can easily find the file later.
5. Once the file has finished downloading, click on Open to start installing Spybot immediately. If you don’t see this box or close it by accident after it’s downloaded, go to your download folder (or, if you selected My Documents or Desktop, go to those areas) and double-click on the spybotsd12.exe file.
6. Follow the instructions at http://tomcoyote.org/SPYBOT/index1.php for more instructions on installing, updating and regularly using Spybot.

For more information on eliminating spyware, visit SpywareInfo www.spywareinfo.com, TomCoyote www.tomcoyote.org and Spychecker www.spychecker.com.

3. Remove unwanted software

Many computers come pre-loaded with a range of software programs you may rarely or never use. These programs take up valuable space on your hard drive and should be deleted. There’s also probably lots of software you or your children have downloaded that’s no longer needed.

To remove software from your computer:

1. Close all open programs.
2. Click on the Start button, then click on the Control Panel entry.
3. When the Control Panel appears, click on Add or Remove Programs.
4. The Add or Remove Programs box will appear. Go through the list of programs and “remove” those you know you no longer need. If you’re unsure, don’t delete the software.
5. Use Google (www.google.com.au) or another search engine and type in the name of a software program you’re unsure about to find out what it does.

4. Remove unnecessary start-up applications

If your computer is taking ages to start up and you’ve got lots of icons next to the Windows clock in the system tray, you most likely have lots of little programs all trying to start up every time you turn on your computer. But which ones are useful, and which are a waste of time?

The extensive list at the Pacs-Portal Website www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm is a lifesaver. This page has a tutorial on running the MSCONFIG software that lists all the programs that turn on during start-up. MSCONFIG is part of Windows XP. You can use it to turn off certain programs so they no longer load automatically, or at all.

The list of programs that can automatically start up is now in the thousands and unless you have a fast Internet connection, wading through this list online can take some time. You can download a program called Start-Ups at www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/start_ups.exe that lists all of these programs in a simple browser-style interface with easy search capabilities. This way you can quickly find the program you’re looking for and decide whether you want to keep it or remove it.

Follow the Pacs-Portal tutorial. Going through the list of programs on your computer can take half an hour or more, but with a little patience and perseverance, you’ll be rewarded with a much faster computer.

5. Regularly check your hard drive for errors

Once you’ve completed the previous four steps, it’s time to scan your hard drive for errors. If any are found, Windows XP can automatically fix them for you.

To run Scandisk:

1. Close all open programs.
2. Click Start, then click on My Computer.
3. When the My Computer box appears, click on the Local Disk C: drive with the right mouse button. Click on Properties with the left mouse button.
4. The Properties box will appear. Click on the Tools button.
5. The first option listed is called Error Checking. Click Check Now.
6. The Check Local Disk C: box will appear. Place a tick in the “Automatically fix file system errors” and the “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” boxes.
7. Click the Start button in this box.
8. Windows will now tell you that it can’t run a Scandisk until you re-start your computer. Click Yes, then turn off and restart your computer.
9. Before it loads back into Windows, you’ll see the Scandisk software checking your hard drive for errors and repairing them if any are found.
10. When Scandisk is complete, Windows will load normally.
11. Repeat this process for any other hard drives on your computer.

6. Defragment your hard drive

After you’ve run Scandisk, it’s time to run the Defragmentation software to speed up your hard drive.

Follow the actions in the previous section on running a Scandisk until you get to step “d”. This time we want to click on the Defragment Now button.

1. The Disk Defragmenter box will appear.
2. Click on the hard drive you want to defragment first (usually C:).
3. Click on the Defragment button at the bottom half of the screen to start the defragmentation process.
4. If you have more than one hard drive, defragment all your hard drives.
5. Close the Disk Defragmenter when finished. This process can take anywhere from a few minutes to two or more hours, depending on how fragmented your hard drive is. Regular defragmenting will ensure this process happens much more quickly in the future.

7. Great Windows XP Websites

Before visiting any of these sites and trying these tips and tricks, it’s vital that you complete steps 1 to 6 of this guide. This way, if anything goes wrong, you’ve safely backed up all your data and your system is ready for further tweaking.

Kelly’s Guide to troubleshooting Windows XP

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp.htm

Windows XP Update Guide

http://www.updatexp.com

Microsoft’s Windows XP Expert Zone

www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/default.asp

Axcel’s guide to tweaking all versions of Windows

http://users.aol.com/axcel216

A great list of Windows tune-up sites

http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/computer/windowstips.htm

Bob Cerelli’s Windows Page

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm

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