Comments on: Windows is so slow? 10.5 ways how to speed up Windows XP or Vista

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:33:34 +0000

Bryan, I think there is a misunderstanding somewhere. I didn’t want to say that #1 helps to improve performance by its own. This list is just a step-by-step guide. It is what I do if someone asks me for help because his or her PC has slowed down, recently. The point is, you should do #1 before you start defragmenting the hard drive. I guess, I didn’t make that clear enough in the article.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:18:17 +0000

#2 should be #1. Installed programs that are not running are just data spinning around on your disk, and unless your disk is nearly full or very fragmented, this doesn’t have an effect on system speed (ask: would you tell people to remove their user data, unless the drive were full?).

For the same reason, #3 is really not about system speed but about being a neat freak. Which surely has its benefits, but is a departure from the stated purpose of the article.

#10 is really just a more drastic way of accomplishing #2, #3, #4, #5 and #9.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:47:54 +0000

Pete, the point is that you should first uninstall all unnecessary programs before you follow the other instructions. For example, you should get rid of all the junk before defragmenting your machine. Another reason is that many programs come with auto-starting components and it is also possible that they made changes to Windows that slowed down your computer. But you are right; I should have mentioned this in the post.

By: Pete Wilson

Pete Wilson — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:09:56 +0000

I don’t see the point of #1 unless you’ve used up your space – installed software should have a minimal (theoretical) impact on system performance, if any.

By: Paul Anacker

Paul Anacker — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:37:38 +0000

Hi Michael!

Note: Roman didn’t say how he added a 2nd 500 GB HD. Perhaps it was an external drive. If it was a USB drive, that could be the problem because of the slow transfer rate of USB; better (but more expensive) to go with an eSATA HD.

Paul

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:50:47 +0000

Roman, I don’t think that this is a CPU issue. It could be a driver problem or maybe a hardware defect. Do you still have problems if you unplug the second hard disk? You could try to operate the second hard disk on the second IDE port.

By: Roman

Roman — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:42:53 +0000

Actually my problems started with a second 500 gb
HDD.
Right away, slow read and write. No fragmentation needed.

I’d checked CPU temperature (one more way) – it was too high.
I’d cleaned cooler from a lot of dust – temp. dropped by 12 celsius!!!

Unfortunately it didn’t help a lot.

No spear services and processes (28 in Task manager with Norton Antivirus, ZA firewall)

By: The Open Sourcerer » How to speed up M$ Windows [only kidding]

The Open Sourcerer » How to speed up M$ Windows [only kidding] — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:42:16 +0000

[...] to speed up M$ Windows [only kidding] I just came across this post and couldn’t resist a comment or [...]

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Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:49:41 +0000

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By: bhattathiripad

bhattathiripad — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:16:00 +0000

i am sure that the best is to shift to MAC OS 10.5 rather than meditatation (which any way will be required while using windows!!)

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:17:56 +0000

David, I have no doubts that Mac OS always perform better. I mean, there are not so many malfunctioning device drivers, simply because there are not so many devices available. The same applies to software. You can’t mess up your computer as easily as under Windows because there are only a few high-priced apps available. So let’s just hope that Mac OS will never become a mainstream OS. I am sure that Mr. Jobs will keep the prices high enough, so the ordinary, tasteless Microsoft customer can’t afford a Mac anyway.

Reaper, actually, it is the only one where I can give you 100% guarantee that it will really work.

Trasshbox, yes that is another way, if you know what you’re doing.

By: trasshbox

trasshbox — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:55:35 +0000

11. Disable unnecessary services

By: reaper

reaper — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:50:35 +0000

Meditation! LOL, that’s the best one so far!

By: david f.

david f. — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:00:01 +0000

you’ll have to forgive my surprise after reading the headline.

i thought that the “10.5 ways” to speed up xp or vista was going to be a recommendation that people switch to MacOS 10.5 when it ships this month!

my bad.