Windows Troubleshooting, Optimizing, Free Applications and MorePosted by Gates French on May 11th, 2021 Some of the best ways to optimize Windows would be to just flat out switch off some the useless or unneeded services that run by default on every Windows base install. One such service may be the Indexing service contained in every install of Windows. it is probably just about the most useless services found running in the backdrop of Windows which is saying quite a lot if you ask me. What is does is it indexes files because they are saved to your hard disk drive so when you search your drives the search can be completed faster. I discover that very few people actually utilize this feature also to top it off I've tried multiple searches with and without this enabled and the difference is none roughly small you will never view it should you choose use that function. This service will however slow your machine down as every single file will be indexed as you save it to the hard drive. Stopping this service is a very highly encouraged optimization. On how to stop this service you need to click on the start menu button within the lower left section of your screen. Once you do this then click computer. You need to enter Windows Explorer and be able to see your hard drive(s), any floppy and/or CD/DVD ROM drive(s) among others. Right click your hard disk drive ( you may have multiple and this should be done to each ) and click on the properties option in the bottom of the pop up. With this pop up you will notice a check box that has "Index this drive for faster searching". Uncheck this box and click apply. This can take a while, but is worth it. While you are on this page you can run disk cleanup to help with stuffed hard drives. This to can take a long time, but will help in long haul. Also while you have this pop-up box open you really should click the tab that says Tools near the top of it. With this new tab you have options to check on your disks for errors, which can be helpful at times, and to defragment your hard disk drive(s). Defragmenting your hard drive(s) is really a common, very basic optimization that many people either just forget about or never knew about. All Windows filesystems save files on the disk in clusters that are in sequential order. This is fine so long as you never delete a file, but that's not realistic. Easy solution to explain this is to take four files, lets provide them with names of A, B, and C for simplicity sake. File A takes up 3 spaces on the disk, B is close to it at 2 spaces and C occupies 5 spaces. If you delete file B and save a new file such as D that would take up 3 spaces, Windows will delete B and complete its spot with the first 2 parts of D and place the 3rd part after file C. This forces the computer to read the first 2 elements of D and then move over C to read another part decreasing read times and hurting efficiency of any program using file D. That is called fragmentation and can become a huge problem during the period of years or even months. This is exactly why defragmenting your hard disk drive(s) is so important to system performance. This process will move all pieces of a file and place them next one another so they can be read much more efficiently. Troubleshooting Windows is often as easy as using the built-in help and support feature in Windows or through the use of Google to find the error message you have so that you can find what others did to correct the issue you are facing. Windows also has a recovery console when you have the original install disk, you merely put it in and start the computer. Unless your BIOS has been altered it should either boot from the disk or ask you if want to. Each issue has its way of being solved so a broad troubleshooting guide can not easily fit into this article. T here are many programs out there that offer a number of services. Many are free and a few of those do what they say they will. Some of the best for some samples of each type are as follows: SpyWare removal: SpyBot search and destroy- includes passive protection built into browsers Ad-Aware-can be utilized in tandem with Spybot to catch more spy/malware Virus protectors and scanners: Avira-usually rated as a close second on free virus protectors and the main one I use most often. AVG-is usually in 3rd place, but has made a strive forward and is closing the gap. Avast-has been the very best free virus protector for some time and is rated better than most and equal to the best paid virus protectors on the market. Office applications: Openoffice- can save files in Microsoft Office format if that's your thing so less worries on that side, but Sun Microsystems, which produces this free open source software, has been bought out by Oracle. This might endanger this project, I advise getting this software while it is still widely available. Messengers: Of course the most common of msn, yahoo, etc. etc. Pidgin-Can be used to connect to all the most used messenger system around from one program. Lastly to be discussed this is actually the operating systems besides Windows. Most Windows converts have visited Apple's Operating System which is based from the same unix kernal that bsd and linux are. I've seen many say Mac has more in common with the BSD OSs than with the linux ones as of late. If you haven't tried these operating-system I can offer you some guidance here. Be sure you read some literature on each before you attempt to use these as this can save you a great deal of headaches, also look at each ones forums and read what problems new users of every one are having as an idea of what you may be facing. Apple has been closing the gap on having the ability to run the same programs wanted to Windows users and much of their software database is actually superior to Windows. I can't speak much on BSD when i have not had a lot of time to spend with it, but I could make a few suggestions about the linux side.Like it? Share it! More by this author |