Great computer configuration

After messing around with many options on my laptop i seem to have come up with a configuration that makes the machine run great.

I purchased the computer in December 2004. It is a Toshiba Satellite M30X. First of all, here are the basic specs.

Model: Satellite M30X
CPU: Pentium M 1.6Ghz
Memory: 512MB PC2700
Hard Drive: 40GB 4200RPM
Video: ATI radeon 9700 64MB dedicated
Drives: CD-RW DVD combo (No DVD-RW)
Screen: 15.4" widescreen (Not tru-brite)
OS: Windows XP Pro

The first thing i did was look at the configuration of the computer and write down all the applications i didnt think i would need. I used the computer for a few days to make sure i wouldnt need those application and then uninstalled them (if i need them back, they are on the toshiba drivers disk).

Once those were uninstalled i got rid of the Norton trial version and downloaded AVG antivirus by grisoft. They have a free version which has revcieved nothing but good reviews from magazines such as Maximum PC. It does everything that Norton does and doesnt ask me to upgrade every few days.

I also downloaded 3 other programs: Ad aware SE, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Zone Labs Zonealarm free edition.

Ad aware and Spybot are great free spyware detection and removal programs.

Zone Alarm is another program which has recieved great reviews. It serves as a more secure firewall than the basic windows firewall.

Once these programs were installed, i ran them to make sure i had no errors on the computer. I restarted the computer, ran the disk clean-up and defragmented the drive. After purchasing a computer and installing applications it is always a good idea to defragment the hard drive. This saves disk space and will lower seek-time for the drive.

Now that i had the programs i wanted on the computer i went to Start>Run> and typed "msconfig". This brings you to the system configuration utility. From this you can turn on or off programs that run at start up as well as services from programs and from windows itsself. When changing things in the system configuration utility, you should be careful. Damage can be done to the computer if you dont know what your doing.

Under the startup tab i removed all programs that i knew were unnecessary to run at startup. Most programs seem to think they have to start when the computer is turned on, but most are not needed. By turning these programs off, startup time speeds up dramatically.
Examples of programs not needed at startup:
AIM
MSN messenger
qttask (quicktime)
RealPlay

Once i was finished turning off startup programs, i moved to the services tab.
Different users need different services running at start up, so i will not list services to turn off. The best idea is to look through the services and turn off any that you do not use.
This will also speed up startup and shutdown.

I also did some registry tweaks to take the cap off of my network bandwidth, but that wont be useful for most people.

All of these changes have made my computer run much more efficiently and have protected it from adware and viruses. I have been adware and virus free for months now. I would recommend these changes to anyone who has noticed their computer running slower or becoming more unstable.

Hope this is useful to someone.

~Zinger~