Try these steps to fix many of those oddball/intermittent problems and
make Windows system work better.
It is amazing how many glitches this takes care of, so this should
be done before any other extensive troubleshooting (except for missing data).
The minimal basics any end user can and should run on a regular basis
Regular Basis = Between Monthly and Annually depending on how much you use your system.
Shut down all programs you are running, or reboot to be fresh, and then follow the next two steps in order.
1) Windows Search for 'cleanup' to find Disk Cleanup (or old school; Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup): It will go think a minute or so
(dependent on how full your drive is). Make sure you select all EXCLUDING 'Compress old files' and 'Office Setup Files', then click on OK
2) Windows Search for 'defrag' to find Defragment and Optimize Drives or Disk Defragmenter (or old school; Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter): Select C: and click on Defragment.
This will take awhile, especially the first time, so it is best to leave this for the end of day or lunchtime. Other drives can be defragmented occasionally. Note: if you have SSD (Solid-state Drives) you usually don't need to do this step.
This gives you most of what those cleanup programs do without the expense or learning curve.
Moving forward to keep things running well:
Avoid having Folders on your desktop. While they don't look like they take up space, their presence does slow down your computer as every refresh of several key parts of Windows causes the entire folder to be reread which takes a bit of time. It is better to have those folders available in your Start Menu.
Note: The fewer programs/apps you install, the better. There are many 'cute' and tempting apps that will slow your system down even if you uninstall them later (unless you actually like re-installing Windows from scratch every year).
Removing and avoiding installing CrapWare will also help keep your system running well. For a good run down on what to do, see this LifeHacker article. I don't use the same tools, which shows the range available.
It would be worth occasionally getting a technically savvy person who isn't scared away from the details steps below to run through those details on your system. LifeHacker has a good discussion on this topic.
This was originally started based on a Win95 system but the concepts are readily
transferable to other versions of Windows, which I test and tune these steps as I work with the different versions of Windows as I can get to them.
So far this has been tested from Windows 95 up through Windows 10, & Windows Server 2012 R2 with great success.
- While Mac users don't need it as much, they can also benefit from similar treatment as written up on Lifehacker. An author I follow blogged his recommendation of Clean My Mac 2 along with a few comments on the free tools he uses. Another option might be the Joe On Tech guide:Speeding Up Your Mac
- Linux users can also benefit from this
write-up.
Note that this page has become more of a collectition points, historic pointers, and first drafts of new information. As such, the details that follow are entirely YMMV. I maintain a tighter and better updated version as a part of our company's resources.
Other things to watch for
There are a few other things that can cause a system to slow down and be grumpy. Note that some parts may not have had attention for some time but should at least give you some ideas of what can be looked into.
- The primary hard-drive/storage running low on space. Generally most systems work best when they have more than 20% of their primary drive space free/empty and get progressively more persnickety as they run low on space.
- Check your RAM (memory vs storage) that it is what you bought. RAM or their slots can fail, wiggle loose, or even be stolen. Most systems tend to increase their need for memory as the operating system and applications expand due to patches. Adding new applications that include memory resident parts (speed loaders, auto updaters, etc..) also increases how much RAM is being used. The best way to see if you need more, is how much your hard-drive light blinks as you work. If it only blinks when you load an application or file, or when you save a file, you have sufficient RAM. If it is heavily blinking or on more than off all the time, even when no applications are open, then you certainly need more RAM. When you buy a new system, more RAM is generally better than less. Bargain systems are usually a bit low on RAM for the typical life span of a system.
- You can monitor some of your system resources on your Windows desktop with a tool called DeskTopInfo. For Linux, conky appears to be the way to go.
The Fine Detail Steps for Techs to really clean a system
If any of you can figure out how to automate any of this, please share with the rest of us (especially Andy Konecny who is trying to sort this out but never has the free time to do so). So far CCleaner comes the closest and worth running even when running through all the steps below.
Scan for Viruses with an up to date anti Virus scanner. Make sure the A/V is updating itself, and only run one A/V as they do trip over each other.
Scan for SpyWare with an up to-date SpyWare detectors such as SpyBot (two is better than just one in this battle)
Make sure all programs are shut down, especially antivirus as that will slow the following process down.
Delete all *.tmp andall ~*.* files off of C: using
whichever file management tool you like. e.g. for Win9x Start, Find, Files
or Folders. After it has found all that it is going to find, select
the a file in the list, then Ctrl-A to select all, and then press the Del key.
Alternately, in a DOS/CMD box, CD to the root of the drive (CD \) and type "del *.tmp /s" then "del ~*.*/s"
Delete everything in the Temp and TMP directories.
Originally that was c:\win*\temp but can now be in a couple of places. C:\Documents and Settings(or Users)\userID\Local Settings(hidden?)\temp is the default for Win2K & XP.
Doing a search for 'temp' would not be a bad idea on older Windows, but starting with Win2K gets ugly for this unless you can set it to not search compressed files..
Best bet to move forward, go to Control Panel, System, Advanced, Environment variable, set TEMP and TMP to a location of your choosing such as C:\temp.
Ideal is to have all your temporary and files going to another local drive partition to reduce how fast your C: drive gets fragmented.
Clear Internet Explorer's cache: Windows Start, Settings, Control Panel, Internet (Options), {or from in IE: Tools, Internet Options},
General Tab, "Temporary Internet file" or "Browsing history", Delete..., Delete Files, or Empty folder. While you are in there, click on the Settings button just next to the previous button you pressed and set the 'disk space to use:' to 42.
(Note that different versions of IE have slightly different locations than this almost every version, just to make things 'interesting' for us)
Note that the most of the previous three steps can be mostly done in Win98/2000 and up, under Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup. This will get a lot but often not all of the temp files, but at least it is a start.
If NetScape Navigator/Communicator/Mozilla/older FireFox is/are present, start it up, Edit, Preferences,
Advanced, Cache, Clear Disk Cache. On newer FireFox, start it up, Tools, Options, Advanced, Network, Clear Now. While you in that area, make sure cache space is set to 50MB or less (I like 42MB, many people work well at 20MB)
Reduce the size of your Browse cache to less than 50MB (50000KB) as the defaults are usually a lot more causing your system to slow down as it fills. The location is in the same area for clearing the cache.
Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, ScanDisk, perform a thorough
scan on C: (if not available try typing SCANDISK at a DOS/command prompt)
Delete any old scandisk result files from the root of C:\
If running Lotus Notes, compress the main local database, right click on the
database (e.g. Andy Konecny on Local), Database properties, second tab
with the I symbol, compact. It there are other local databases, they should be compressed occasionally as well.
Empty the recycle bin
Run the CCleaner tool that does perform some of the above and more,
though if you like your history or cookies, don't just run it on defaults and carefully pick what you want cleaned up.
- Glary Utilities has come to my attention that I need to play with as an alternative others swear by as better than CCleaner.
Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Defrag C: and run it even if
it says its not fragmented because it is measuring fragmentation of files
not fragmentation of disk space. (if not available try typing DEFRAG at a DOS/command prompt)
Note that even a new install of Windows can really benefit from a defrag as the installation process does cause lots of fragmentation to occur.
Third party defrag tools work even better such as Symantec's old Norton Utilities has worked well for me (not sure of the current versions), Diskeeper among others.
See the Wikipedia's Entry on Defragmentation
If your drive just doesn't work anymore and you can't justify the cost of a data recovery service, you may have to use the hardware defragmenter to work out your frustrations on it (note that this is generally fatal to the data on the drive).
Remember to re-enable antivirus after initial testing but before leaving that system.
Automate CleanDisk. First set your basic cleaning options with the following from the command prompt:
C:\> cleanmgr /sageset:1
Select the basic regular options of emptying the RecyleBin, Temps files, etc... and then click OK. You can then automate running
C:\> cleanmgr /sagerun:1
in any fashion you chose on that particular system.
For more agressive cleanups, pick different number to set to (up to 255), and select the more agressive choices, then you can run those as you need to.
Reboot the system and then see if the glitches are still a problem.
For Video instructions on parts of the above with other complimenting instructions, you could purchase Fast PC 'Secrets'. While his sales pitch is over the top, he appears to be aiming at the same type of basics I've outlined here.
Steps you can take to reduce how fast your system gets fragmented.
Add more RAM: Nowadays(2016) with Windows Vista+, consider 8GB a minimum with more being much better, noting that 32bit versions max out at 3GB and 64bit is limited by the hardware. 2GB is the minimum for Windows Vista+, Windows XPsp3 now wants at least 512MB as a minimum with 1GB being a practical minimum, and Win2K needs at least 128MB (Win9x can scrape by with 64MB)
Set up a permanent fixed swap file. Note that was more of an issue in the past, but now that Windows(Vista+) is handling it more intelligently and most defragment tools can now defragment this file, these steps are more for moving it to a separate hard-drive or SSD for performance(a real drive, not just a separate partition), or just space management if you underestimated how big Windows would bloat to when you partitioned your drive(s).
- Assuming >32MB physical RAM, >300MB free space on C:, and Windows 9x. Follow the above steps, but before doing the Defrag disable virtual memory; Control Panel, System, Performance, Virtual Memory. Reboot to Safe Mode (F5 at boot time) and run a Defrag. go back to Control Panel, System, Performance, Virtual Memory, "specify my own virtual settings", set both the min and max to 256MB (or 4 times RAM, which ever is less). You can check SpeedGuides recommendations for specific customizations.
- Assuming >128MB physical RAM, >1GB free space on C:, and Win2K +.
As above, just make sure the total of Virtual Memory and Physical Memory are at least 600MB and many power users can readily use up to a 1000MB (know thy applications).
Certainly never just disable the pagefile, some programs demand its existence and will break if it isn't there. See This LifeHacker article for more about it.
Install and use an advanced defragmentation tool such as Norton Utilities which adds some intelligence to where what files are placed on the hard-drive so that rarely used or update files are all together at the edges and all the frequently changed files near the free space.
Notes: If ScanDisk and/or Defrag keep restarting, here are some things to look at to prevent them.
Make sure you have no programs running, especially such things as AntiVirus, and Instant Messaging that hide in the system tray will cause restarts. Of course have made sure that there are no Viruses or SpyWare running.
In Win9x, boot in SafeMode by hitting F5 as the system starts.
Additional: Tools such as LitePC can also make a big difference in increasing performance of a system in addition to the above steps.
Some ISPs even occasionally have Spring Cleaning instructions that are worth reading, keeping a copy, and passing on the the typical end user.
Networking clients can also have significant impact on access, speed, security, & other oddities, so making sure you are running only what you need is important.
For advanced users:
If a system is acting odd or slow, it could be due to extra stuff running on your system, so knowing what is running is a good thing to figure out
Ctl-Shft-Esc brings up the Windows Task Manager. Check under applications to make sure they all make sense and then look under Processes to learn lots.
Basically check each item against the references below to make sure they should be there and then you can remove the ones that are of no or negative value to you. They will typically be started either from your Startup folder or via Regedit (for experienced techs only: My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run )
http://camica.netfirms.com/services.htm
http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.php
some common ones are listed at
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/
if a service you are running is not listed, Google for it and if that doesn't find you some details then it is very likely a fairly new virus, worm, or spyware and you system requires even more advanced work on it.
config registry to auto clean to be dug into, and perhaps bits can be used to tune a system manually.
Much of the above can be related to machines used a 'Servers' and may even have a server operating system installed such as Windows Server, Open Enterprise Server, or SUSE Enterprise Linux Server. Dealing with those is my primary job and I use these processes there regularly.
For organizations with lots of files to managage, there are more advanced tools that I really should articulate better, but for now here are tools I use regularly.
- Linux: two basic commands, 1st built in to all, 2nd is an easy download that you copy to /urs/bin and make executable there.
# du -hx --max-depth=1
# ncdu
- Windows: I use Total Commander and its Alt-Shft-Enter option