How to Easily Optimize a Notebook Computer and Make it Faster Discussion

This article serves as a quick and easy guide to get your laptop computer to boot up and run faster simply by changing some basic Windows settings or installing some helpful applications.

Read the full content of this Article: How to Easily Optimize a Notebook Computer and Make it Faster

 

Jack, you're my hero. I love it when people bring information together in a concise manner and make it easy to follow. I think a lot of people will benefit from this article if they follow the advice.

 

My FAQ just got pwn3d!

GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120

 

Hi Andrew,
What does pwn3d mean?
I'm not up on all the computer slang if that's what it is; is there a link where these words are defined?
I enjoyed your article btw[ ]

Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

I m very glad to take your advises Mr Jack.All you provide has the real value...Especially I ve learnt a new adress http://www.majorgeeks.com ,lots of benefits...I would like to donate a buck but I m in really doubt.I m in Turkey,and my American Express Credits card is used in Los Angeles.But I havent been there before,actually never been in USA.I ve tried to fix this problem during the two weeks and did.


Fujitsu Amilo M 1420-1.7 Dathon,1gb(333mhz),Ati 9600Pro 128
  15,4 " crystal view WXGA (23 million),7200 rpm,DVD+RW+R    
                                         M 1420 photo

 

ty Jack,

to add a bit to your info, these 2 sites have valuable tweaks to help speed up your puter (XP OS)
Well worth bookmarking


http://www.tweakxp.com/default.aspx
http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/cust-idx.html <-- has pop-ups

 

Dear bootleg2go:

Much thanks - it is awesome. I am a little intimidated by the massive amount of info but will go through it. Will drop a donation as well - I hope it is a secure line.

Thanks to all. It is a subject that I enjoy, for as I said earlier, my venture into the window's side is not the nightmare that Apple lovers always cite in their switch stories.

Thank you.
macmac

 

Thanks a great deal Jack. Your information is very valuable to me and the increase performance of my laptop. Everything on the laptop seem to go faster, especially the booting time and accessing various website also seem to increase. Thank you once again on an excellent detailed outline of "how to save one computer".

thietlong

 

Great post! Thank you very much.

Two other tweaks I learned about to speed up internet browsing include disabling QOS which has 20% of your connection bandwidth reserved for it. I couldn't find anything that actually uses QOS.

You can also disable checking other computers for scheduled tasks on other network computers which can also speed up your connection a fraction. I'm sure there are others too.

The QOS tweak is here:
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/855

You can do the second manually or use one of the tweak programs you mentioned - Since I have 2000, I ended up using X-Setup Pro:
http://www.x-setup.net/downloads/home.asp?lang=EN

 

wow awsome post! thanks

has any1 else given him a buck?

i think i'll donate
do it sometime this week

thx jack

-nathan

 

I got another tweak..

Install Linux !




--
LG LM50 / Dothan 745
jerrett.net

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ennoia

 

finally got around to donatin to the tip jar

only 1 buck

i hope every1 else chips in

thanks jack

-nathan

 

I am running Windows XP and everytime I uncheck items in the startup list, they checked re-checked and re-included when I restart the computer. How can I make the changes to remove these programs from the startup list?

thanks,
Justin

 

thanks

 

this isn't regarding my notebook but my desktop
I was wondering how do you permenately disable some program from starting at startup?

i have two that always start that I don't want
1) PDSched.exe
2)realsched.exe (well this one just stays on after i open real player)

-ive gone to msconfig and none of them are there
-i use System mechanic 5, and under the startup manager i have disabled the two
-in start>all programs>startup there is nothing in there related to these two
-i also use a program from sysmtem mechanic5 called Start up guard that prevents any programs that try to auto start.

any ideas?
thanks

-nathan

 

ok my msconfig won't start up.......and if i try to start my task manager.....it opens for like a second and goes away......i don't know what to do......HELP ME!!!

 

Really good info gw

 

I believe "Perfect Disk" to be the best defragmenter. You should really look into it.

 

Wow! Lots of information. Thanks.

Dell Inspiron 8600:
* 1.6 Ghz Pentium M * 1024 MB DDR SDRAM * 60 GB 7200 RPM HD * 15.4" WSXGA+ * Internal Bluetooth * Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 * 4x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) * ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo 128 MB * Win XP Pro SP2 *

* Apple 17" PowerBook G4 * 14" Toshiba Tecra 8000 * Apple 14" iBook G4 *

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ennoia

 

GREAT article.

I used to know and apply most of the similar tweaks and tricks in Win95 and Win 98 but, you know, time passes for everyone at the same time than "available" time stretches, so I think I can say that I have become "outdated"... [ ]

So consider yourself as my new upgrade!!!

Thank you!

 

I did the msconfig thing before I read this but I followed these tips on a brand new laptop (minus system retore wich I think is efficent/valuble for what it does). Anyway things seem faster so great thread!

P.S. I un-check everything in msconfig. If the comp needs some thing to allow it to boot it will turn it back on. From there I run Zone Alarm and one other small program. My biggest advice is that anti-virus programs like Norton and sytem works crush the speed of any computer...I think worse than system retore IMO. So if you don't open attachments and you are carefull that is a big speed boost. My decision with Norton was based on I had never had a crash or virus for my computer life. Then after installing System works/virus Norton seemed to save me from a crash or virus twice a day. Hmmmm sounds like a bit of over protection and maybe it takes a program that runs like a virus to beat a virus? I can live with out it.

 

Centrino laptop CPU speeds can be set to full speed by using Speedswitch. Otherwise your laptop will be running at half speed or lower and you may not realize it. One way to check CPU speed is to right click on My Computer, but that's not always reliable. Just thought that was worth mentioning on this thread if it wasn't mentioned already.

17" Powerbook 1.5 Ghz, Vaio T250 1.2 Ghz

 

Awesome post. My new ZX5295 had a boot time of 1:28, after these tweaks it is down to 60 seconds! This is a big difference. Now to defrag!

 

Anybody know why my hard drive won't spin down? I recall something about windows poking around the hard drive and making itself think there is activity.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by buddy1065

 

For all your startup optimizers - here is a great program!

www.anvir.com/index.htm

 

I don't like this technical stuff - I'm no good at it. My new-to-me Dell Latitude CP takes nearly 5 minutes to boot, so I need to do something! When I try "msconfig" at Run, nothing happens except the message "Cannot find the file 'msconfig' (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available." As I said, I'm not good at technical stuff. What do I do? Appreciation and thanks. Peter

 

wow thanks

_____________________
Plagueth

 

Forgive me if this is a naive question, but...

What kind of performance difference would a user see if he conducted the following procedures to clean-up a new laptop:
1) Reconfiguring the system the way that Jack O'Neill recommends at the start of this thread, versus...
2) Just going to the Control Panel and removing and unwanted applications via Windows Install/Remove function, versus...
3) Reformatting one's Hard Drive and reinstalling only one's desired apps?

 

Can only recommend to disable all those unneeded services in XP. Not only do you get a faster PC with more available memory, you also improve security a lot.

I like to have most of the visual effects on though, but with windows classic theme! The best is to disable the themes service completely!

Even with 500 MHz my Win XP is very snappy and nice to work with, and after a clean reboot it takes about 80 MB ram and 21 processes.

-
Thinkpad 600X alive and kicking!
500 MHz - 576 MB ram - DVD - Internal wireless

 

Great article. Sure was of great assistance.

P.S. Making any trips through the StarGate soon?

Hands down. I have GOT to be the first person to make such a witty reference. Who wants to touch me?

Enjoy the show!

:: Pentium 4 3Ghz :: 15.1" SXGA :: 512 DDR RAM :: 80gig HD :: Mobility Radeon M11 :: t3h pWnz0r ::

 

there is no msconfig in w2k
how do you turn off startup programs in w2k?

 

try google and search there...cuz i have never owned a windows 2000...onli windows 95, 98, ME, and XP

6/14-Ordered Inspiron 9300 wit:1.86 GHZ Pentium M | 512 MB DDR RAM | 80 GB hard drive | 256 NVidia GeForce Go 6800
6/29: Expected Shipping

 

I've read where the msconfig from winxp or 98 will work.

 

Man this is good stuff, I can't wait to get home and try it on my laptop, desktop and on my girl's system.

thanks

 

This post is perfect for some of the tweaks that can be done in the software rather than buying new hardware, I appreciate it. Thanks!!

 

Thanks for all the great info, Jack.

After optimization, boot-up in 53.86 seconds.
After uninstalling Norton Anti-Virus: 36.89 seconds.........

 

This is enlighting and helps out alot. If this is in the wrong area
please inform.

Have the 9300(refurbished) and have a few questions. I can get the front window of hotmail but after userid and password and a wait "this page cannot be found" and cannot get to the email.

So I have a talk with Dell and they say that Outlook of $soft prof edition 2003 will slow the computer down. I delete the Outlook and it seems to be a little faster but still can't read the mail on wifi(54Mbps). On a search(start) for files a popup shows a 'trying to start $soft p edition 2003'. and another popup 'will have to start from a disk' followed by the infamous $soft asking 'to send' or not to send'. Clicking on the 'not to send' dumps everything.



How to stop $soft pro ed 2003 from trying to start and what is lacking to start?

Trying to eliminate other things to make the computer faster without overclocking? and read email????

xp prof, 1.86 mhz, 256 dim, 40 harddisk

 

Optimize the Boot Sequence is not useful

u can time the Boot time.

 

Jack,

I think I've just died and gone to computerhelpdesk-heaven! Thanks for your great info and easy to follow procedures.

 

That was deep....my notebook is now...OPTIMIZED.

 

Help! I messed with my Startup, and now my windows bar doesn't load up! Even when I put it back into normal startup mode instead of selective, it doesn't load anymore! Has anyone else encounted this problem?

 

Disable programs which is don't need by using “msconfig” is not a good idea i reckon, especially for beginner..You can safely disable or enable by using Spybot - Search & Destroy-Tools-System Startup. Also give you information about filename on startup, so you can easily know what are you really doing!!

 

If you don't already use a system/disk cleaner I recommend you download
and run CCleaner

 

Has anyone used McAfee security center to protect themselves against spyware, adware, etc.? What do you think about it compared to other protection programs like Spybot? I've used it for over a year and think it's pretty good but I don't know how it compares to other programs.

Oh yeah, I know it isn't the most memory-efficient program but I don't mind.

 

Does anyone know... is Bootvis redundent if you use TuneXP to stack the boot drives for faster startup? Great write up though I'm getting to it over a year after posting ;-) I kicked in a buck anyway so thanks!

 

even if I turn off the wireless on my centrino laptop, I still see many wireless processes in the task manager that are still running.

does anyone know if there's a 'one-click' way to turn them on & off whenever i feel like it?

..or is that just wishful thinking?

 

what the hell, when ever i get to a page to sign in such as dell account, aol account ect. any page that you sign into i canti get to it i get:

The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.
also it wont open the force software i donw know why suggestions? this happend after i edited the "services & msconfig".
when i try to run "tunxp"
it says its not a valid win32 application