Any Computer/internet Geeks Out There...question For You
Decorating By SueB Updated 24 Jul 2007 , 12:52pm by SueB
Let me start by saying how much I love CC!!!!!! I enjoy it so much. I have very high speed internet and can zip around to all other sites but can anyone tell me in technical terms (yet something I can understand) why it takes so long for pages on CC to load? Sometimes I feel like I sit here forever and then after waiting it tells me the page isn't available. I love this site but sometimes it can get a little frustrating.
I think it's bc of all the pix and also the traffic here, lol. But, I just got finished "cleaning out" my computer and boy did it help! However, this site does take longer than others to load, depending on the day & time. Try this, I did it all and it really did help alot.
Basic computer maintenance everyone should do
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computers tend to bog down over time. Some simple maintenance every 2-4 weeks (depending on computer use and programs installed) will only take 10-30 minutes, can be performed at any knowledge level and will keep your computer running smoothly. With this guide, and two downloads, you will see a noticeable improvement. This is fairly basic and something all computer users should do.
Remove programs you no longer use or knew about:
Over time, you may have installed games or utilities that you forgot about or no longer use. Why waste the space? Go to your control panel, Add\\Remove programs and uninstall anything you no longer use. Occasionally you will find a toolbar or other item you were unaware was there!
Cleaning your hard drive of unneeded files:
One of the biggest problems is hard drive useage. Your hard drive has more moving parts then any other in your computer and is constantly adding, deleting and reorganizing files. Because of this, you want to clean your computers hard drive. A great tool for this is CCleaner: http://majorgeeks.com/CCleaner_Slim_...ish_d4191.html
Simply open CCleaner, and the cleaner section should be open.
Click run cleaner and wait. Thats it, your done.
It is a very safe tool and has never damaged any of the hundreds of computers I have run it on.
Remove invalid registry entries:
Next up is the registry. Frankly, the registry is overrated as a speed tweak, in general, but it does get large and can contain many invalid references. The registry is not an area for even the average computer user to be playing around in. The good news is CCleaner has a safe registry cleaner built in, so why not clean out old, invalid entries?
Click the issues button.
Click scan for issues.
Click fix selected issues.
Thats it, your done, a safe, fast registry clean.
Startup items:
Here is a HUGE culprit on the average PC. See all those icons in the lower right corner of your screen? Those are all being loaded on startup, and those are not all of them either! If your wondering why you have to wait a minute to use your computer after startup, it is because all of those items are loading after Windows has started. They also use up memory just sitting there. Removal takes a bit more knowledge, or research, then the previous two, but you can do it!
First off, if you know what these items in the tray are and do not need them running, you can either right click an icon and look for options or a "run with Windows" option. Otherwise, you can double click any icon to open the program and look for options from there. Some are easy and common. Quicktime, AOL and RealPlayer are good examples of items that do not need to be there.
CCleaner also has a startup manager. Click tools, then startup. You can delete any unneeded items from there. Be careful, there is no backup, so either look up the program on Google or ask on our forums if you want to know what an item is for. Because the startup loads drivers and some programs you may need, be careful removing items you are unsure of.
Defragment your hard drive
Now that you have removed all of this garbage, you have defragmented files all over your hard drive. Reading and writing data on a heavily fragmented hard drive is slowed down because the time for the heads to move between fragments on the disk surface can be substantial. The files on your hard drive now probably look like a box of tacks after I open them and toss them on the ground. Defragmenting your hard drive would be like the box of tacks still sealed. All neat and tidy and easy to get at.
Microsoft includes a disk defragmentor, but it is widely known that it is not very good. A few free alternatives are available:
Auslogics is an easy to use free program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Auslogics_...rag_d5266.html
Lexun DrvCareXP is a simple click and go solution:
http://majorgeeks.com/Lexun_DrvCareXP_d2715.html
IObit SmartDefrag is a newer, free program that works great:
http://majorgeeks.com/IObit_SmartDefrag_d5318.html
Diskeeper Lite is good for a heavily used computer:
http://majorgeeks.com/Diskeeper_Lite_d1207.html
Am I impressed! Cake and computer experts on one site.
Oh MY GOSH!!! imnamor95 - you are the SUPER GEEK of Cake Central!!! I award you top honors! 
That was such a well written response and easy to read for those of us who do not understand much more than left click and the shortcut for Cake Central!! 
Fantastic - I am passing this on to my DH who has loaded his pooter with LOTS of junk - I will not let him touch mine! 
omg, plz don't think that of me! I was doing research on how to free up space on my computer and how to get it to run faster and I came upon this info. I just copied and pasted. And I did all of this and it REALLY helped ALOT! Let me give u the website I got it from, I'm so sorry, I didn't think u would think I wrote that myself. Here it is:
www.majorgeeks.com Sorry for giving the wrong impression! 
after all that has been said w/cleaning up all your programs beware of taking certain ones off..if you delete something it might screw your whole computer up...i went to college for computer electronics and engineering...i had to repair others computers when they would delete something that they didnt have a clue of what they had just deleted...you could delete say for instance a .dll file and your programs can be screwed up from that one file...just wanted to say to watch what you delete
Funny that this is what this topic was about because I was having a devil of a time getting this topic to load. I downloaded one of the defrag programs and the cleaner (after I finally got the page to load and got to read the post) and things ARE moving much faster here at CC for me. Thanks for your advice!!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%