Computersight -

Startup items:

Startup items are the programs and notifiers of Google talk, msn messenger and anti virus icons. These are located near the volume and time controls are seen to the rightmost corner on the console. When there are too many programs at the startup, each icon takes considerable time to load and thereby increases the time taken to load. To delete such unwanted programs, do the following.

1. Click on the Start menu and then Run and type msconfig.

2. A window called System Configuration Utility appears.

3. Go to the startuptab and deselect all the programs that you do not want to appear at the startup. Then select Apply and close the window.

4. Now a message called System Configuration appears.

5. The message says that you need to restart the computer for the changes to take effect. If you are presently working on the pc, then select the option Exit without restart.

Startup selection:

When all the device drivers and services are loaded, it is called Normal startup. When only the device drivers and services are loaded, it is called Diagnostic startup. The Selective startup option is chosen, you can choose whether to load the system files, windows files system services and startup items when the system boots each time. An apt configuration would be to load the system.ini, win.ini and system services during each restart.

Do the following:

1. Select Start menu, and choose the Run and type msconfig.

2. Then, choose the General tab in the System Configuration Utility.

3. Then choose selective startup.

4. Now tick against the check boxes ‘process system.ini files’, ‘process win.ini files’ and ‘load system services.’

Disk cleanup:

Perform frequent disk cleanups for all the disk drives.

1. Right click the drive and select the properties tab.

2. Then select the disk cleanup option after choosing the ‘properties’.

3. Select the check boxesof recycle bin, temporary files, temporary internet files and then select ok.

4. A message appears ‘Are you sure you want to perform the following actions?’ Select yes. The cleanup action begins.

Desktop cleanup wizard:

 Sometimes, we might have placed too many files and shortcuts on the desktop, but we might not be using many of these. The desktop cleanup wizard cleans up unwanted files and unused icons. The icons which have not been used frequently can be cleaned up using this wizard. To go to this wizard, do as below:

1. Go to Start and Control panel. 

2. Open Display in the Control panel and then click on the Desktop icon.

3. On the desktop tab, click Customize Desktop. Under Desktop cleanup, click Clean Desktop Now.

Disk Defragmentation:

When files are stored in a disk, they happen to get scattered in different portions of the disk. Sometimes, when files are deleted, certain portions of the file remain undeleted. The Disk Fragmentation option defragments such file portions and arranges files so that they are in a continuous format.

Advanced Disk cleanup:

Sometimes, we have a tendency to store too many programs on the PC. We might download trial versions of Antivirus programs and then when the validity expires, forget the previous installation and install another version. The old anti-virus program files will still be there in the PC occupying space. Such unwanted programs can be cleaned using the Advanced Disk cleanup options.

1. To do this, right click on the disk and then choose properties.

2. Then select disk cleanup and choose the more options tab.

3. Then choose the cleanup option for installed programs.

System Restore:

This is used to delete the most recent restore point.

1. To do this, right click on the disk and then choose properties.

2. Then select disk cleanup and choose the more options tab.

3. Then choose the cleanup option for system restore.