[Fwd: Cleaning Windows and Optimizing Performance]

Subject: [Fwd: Cleaning Windows and Optimizing Performance]
From: Jerry Tibor (anjft@uaa.alaska.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 12 2001 - 13:14:31 AKST

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This has some very good tips about getting the "junk" out of Windows
so it will perform better.

Jerry

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: BRIAN LIVINGSTON: "Window Manager" from InfoWorld.com, Monday,
February 12, 2001
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 08:19:02 -0600
From: WindowManager@bdcimail.com
Reply-To: WindowManagerHelp@Bellevue.com
To: anjft@uaa.alaska.edu

========================================================
BRIAN LIVINGSTON: "Window Manager" InfoWorld.com
========================================================

Monday, February 12, 2001

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CPU-HOGGING TASKS AND BROKEN LINKS GOT YOU DOWN? HERE'S
A COUPLE TIPS TO FIX 'EM QUICK

Posted at February 9, 2001 01:01 PM Pacific

READERS HAVE provided tips this week on how to control
hidden programs in Windows and to check for broken
links in your Favorites menu. Send in your tips and
you may show up in future columns.

Start and stop tasks in Windows. Two of my most popular
columns were
"http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayNew.pl?/livingst/990621bl.htm"
from June 21, 1999, and
"http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayNew.pl?/livingst/990628bl.htm"
from June 28, 1999.

In these columns, I described ways to clean up "Windows
arthritis," which causes the response of your Windows
system to slow over a period of months due to
performance-robbing junk your system accumulates.
Uninstalling programs you don't need, for example, may
improve the perkiness of other applications.

In addition to the techniques I recommended in those
articles a few years back, reader Tom McGrane found a
free utility that helps decipher, and possibly kill,
some of the cryptic processes that may be consuming
CPU cycles in your PC.

The utility is called StartStop. When you run it, it
displays the programs that start and run automatically
when you turn your machine on. In many cases, these
little routines aren't visible in your StartUp group
because they are launched from obscure lines in your
Registry.

But StartStop improves on Windows' built-in Task
Manager because it shows you the full name and disk
location of each program. This can be of crucial help
in identifying what a running process is and what it
does. StartStop allows you to choose not to load some
of these programs.

It's important to note that stopping a background
program can interfere with other tasks. You should
block a startup program only if you're an advanced
user and have specific knowledge of the problem you're
trying to correct.

Trying out StartStop, however, is painless because it's
free. Download it at http://www.tfi-technology.com/startstop.htm.

Fix links in Win 2000 and Windows Me. I wrote last week
about a way that you can configure any folder in
Windows 2000 or Windows Me to display graphics files
as thumbnail images in Windows Explorer (see "related articles").

Reader Dave Hoelzen points out that this technique also
allows you to quickly determine which links in your
Favorites folder are broken. You can then check
whether or not the site is down, contact the
Webmaster, and so forth.

To check the links, select the Favorites folder in
Windows Explorer. Its contents will be displayed in
Explorer's right-hand pane. (If your Explorer window
doesn't contain left and right panes, pull down the
View menu, click on Explorer Bar, and then turn on
Folders).

Next, in Windows 2000, expand your C: drive by clicking
on the plus sign to the left of its icon. Then expand
the Documents And Settings folder. Finally, expand the
folder that bears your log-on name and select the
Favorites folder.

In Windows Me, expand your C: drive, expand your
Windows folder, and then select the Favorites folder.

After the Favorites folder is selected in Windows
Explorer, pull down the View menu and click
Thumbnails. If your Internet connection is active,
Windows will create large icons showing a preview of
each page in your Favorites menu. Links that are
broken will show up as blank or with an error message.

Even with a high-speed connection, it can take Windows
more than a minute to generate these thumbnails. I
don't recommend it if you have a slow modem connection.

Readers McGrane and Hoelzen will receive free copies of
Windows Me Secrets for being the first to send me tips
I printed.

Get Livingston free by e-mail

Go to http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters and click
Window Manager to receive this column every Monday,
free by e-mail.

Brian Livingston's latest book is Windows Me Secrets
(IDG Books). Send tips to
brian_livingston@infoworld.com. He regrets that he
cannot answer individual questions.

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MORE WINDOW MANAGER
For a complete archive of his InfoWorld columns visit
http://www.infoworld.com/opinions/morewindowmanager_f.html

INFOWORLD OPINIONS
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IT at: http://www.infoworld.com/opinions/index.html

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"How can a deadline be postponed that never existed?"

--Deutsche Telecom spokesman Hans Ehnert denying reports
that the company's merger with VoiceStream Wireless is to be
delayed.

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/02/09/010209hnexist.xml?p=br&s=5?0212mnlv

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Next message: Jerry Tibor: "[Fwd: NUI - Questions for Drew Majors Webcast - Please forward toyour members]"
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