How to Make Your Computer Run Faster

Have you noticed that your computer runs slower than before? Or just slowly in general? Try these strategies to make your Windows or Mac computer run faster.

Method 1 of 2: Windows

1. 
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   Check your hard disk space. As a rule, you want to keep at least 15% of the hard disk space free to keep the computer running smoothly. Simply go to My Computer, right-click on Hard Drive, and go to Properties. There you'll see a pie chart of your free versus used space. If it’s mostly full, you'll want to start by removing unnecessary programs and files; if it’s not, you probably want to tackle the actual way your computer operates.
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   Remove any programs you do not use. Go to Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs (or Uninstall a Program, depending on your operating system) to find a master list of programs installed on your computer. Some things will strike you as useless immediately, in which case you can remove them right away. Others won’t look familiar to you and may require you some research.
   • It may help to see how often you use the program. If you right-click one of the column titles above your program list (ex. Name, Publisher, Size, Installed On, etc.), you should be able to add additional characteristics by which to judge your programs. For example, find Last Used On on the list of options and check it; a column displaying the last time you used each program will now appear and can also be used to sort your programs. Some programs will not have been used in years and may be candidates for deletion.
     
   • When in doubt, don't remove anything you don’t recognize; it may be critical to the function of your computer – and if you delete twelve different things only to discover that your computer no longer works properly, it will be very difficult to determine where exactly you went wrong.
   • Don't forget to empty your recycling bin.
     
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   Prevent unnecessary programs from starting when the computer boots. The more programs try to run while your computer initializes, the slower everything will be. Revise your startup programs by altering your system configuration via MSConfig.
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   Install an anti-virus program, spyware scanner, and an anti-malware. The fewer bugs, viruses, and bits of adware your computer has to manage, the more time it will have to devote to other processes. While you're at it, make a point of keeping Windows up-to-date; not only will this keep Windows itself in better shape, but some viruses ride in on Windows updates that are downloaded way after the fact (and therefore not monitored as closely).
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   5
   Run a Disk Cleanup. This can clean up hundreds of megabytes of temporary files – sometimes even gigabytes (if you have Windows XP, Vista, or 7). It will also open a window in which you can chose what to delete. Go to My Computer, right-click the Hard Drive and select Properties, and then click Disc Cleanup (within the General tab). Check all the boxes except for the game files and setup files.
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   Run a Disk Defragment. This will reconfigure the way the hard drive stores information for maximum efficiency. Go to My Computer, right-click the Hard Driveand select Properties, then go to the Tools tab and click Defragment Now.
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   Check for any disk errors. These will also slow your computer down. Go to My Computer, right-click the Hard Drive and select Properties, then go to the Toolstab and click Check Now under the Error-Checking area. When the dialogue box opens, check both boxes.
   • If you get a window saying that Windows can't check the disk while it's in use, click on Schedule Disk Check and then OK. It will run on your next reboot.
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   8
   Turn off indexing. Go to My Computer, right-click the Hard Drive and selectProperties, then unclick the box indicating that the drive should be indexed. Don't do this if you actually use any of the Windows Search functionality. The background indexing is what makes those searches fast and Windows is already very good about not getting in your way to do indexing while you're trying to do something else.
9. 9
   Clear your Prefetch folder. Windows saves a file of the program you are using to make it start up faster. After years of use, this folder gets stuffed with irrelevant programs.
   • Open Notepad and type:
     del C:\Windows\Prefetch\*.* /Q
     Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks (Copy and paste this text to ensure you don’t make any mistakes.)
     
   • Save as faster.bat (the .bat extension will run it as a batch file).
     
   • Run it! Simply double-click the file to initialize. In a few moments, the command prompt will disappear and your programs should run more smoothly.
     
10. 10
    Change Prefetch Parameters. This a dangerous task to complete unless you follow these steps exactly. If you're not sure about anything, don’t continue.
    • Go to Start > Run and type regedit to initialize the registry editor.
      
    • Go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>Session Manager>Memory Management>Prefetch Parameters to access the parameters.
      
    • Double-click EnablePrefetcher. Once the new window pops up, there should be a small, editable text box with the number 3 in it. (Windows allows 4 options: 0, 1, 2 and 3.) 3, the default, fetches everything.
      
    • Change this to 2. Your PC will boot a lot faster and your PC performance shouldn't be affected.
      
    • Click OK and then close regedit.
      
11. 
    11
    Add RAM to your computer. To see if you need more RAM, initialize theWindows Task Manager by pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE. Under thePerformance tab, find the area devoted to Physical Memory. If the Free amount hovers around zero but the computer is still slow, you may need to take your computer in to add RAM or even add more RAM yourself.
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    12
    Restart your computer. The computer usually needs to reboot to implement changes.
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    13
    Remove gadgets you don't use. All gadgets that are running slow down your computer.
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    Log off the users who do not want the computer. Switch user your account then if you see that many users are logged in, log them off

15. Warnings

    • Never delete system32 files on Windows! These are critical to running the OS correctly and will break your computer.
    • Do not delete "shared" files! Sometimes, a program you don’t want shares files with programs you do want, making those files unsuitable for deletion. Deleting the incorrect shared file can have wide-ranging consequences.

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How to Completely Hide a File or Folder

Sometimes you may want to hide a file or folder from others. There are many software solutions out there for this purpose, but there is no need to give away money just for hiding your data from your little brother or sister. With this method windows explorer search will not detect the file. .

Method 1 of 2: To Hide                                                                  

1. 
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   Just go to the folder or file from your windows explorer,which you want to hide. When you are in that folder just select the address from the Address Bar .
2. 
   2
   Right click on the Address Bar and select Copy .
3. 
   3
   Click on the Start Button .
4. 
   4
   Click on the Run .
5. 5
   Type cmd in the text box adjacent to the Open : and click on OK. Cmd meansCommand Prompt , which can be also accessed by going to Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt.
   
   
   
6. 
   6
   Type attrib +s +h "XX".Hit the Enter . XX is your file or folder address, which can be done just by right-click and select Paste on that place.

Method 2 of 2: To Show

1. 1
   Go to the Command Prompt .
   
   
   
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   2
   Type attrib -s -h "XX". Hit the Enter. XX is your file or folder address.
3. 3
   If you forgot the name of the file or folder, then don't worry. Just follow these steps to know the file or folder name.
   • Go to the Command Prompt .
     
   • Type the local drive name like c or d in which you have hidden file or folder followed by : and hit the Enter.
     
   • Type dir/a and hit Enter.
     
   • Now you can see your file or folder name from the list.
     

Tips

• Keep files or folders which you wish to hide in a local drive which has more files, so that no one can suspect that there is a hidden file or folder.
• This operation has the same affect as selecting the hidden option in file/folder properties but is universally applicable to all previous versions of windows

Warning

• By using this method your file or folder can't be password protected. Anyone can follow this method to see your file.
• Anyone can see your data if Display of contents of system folder and Show the hidden files are active in Folder Options->View. So turn it off.

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How to Format FAT32

FAT32 is a common file system format used on computers of all types. FAT32 has several benefits over other common file systems; it can be read and written to from nearly any operating system and it has no built-in security, which makes it easier to work with. While FAT32 is widely supported, it is not often implemented as the default format on most machines. Windows machines generally default to the NTFS system, Linux systems generally use the Ext4 system, and Apple machines use the HFS Plus system. When sharing external drives between different computers, it can be advantageous to format the drive using the FAT32 file system. Learning how to format FAT32 drives is a fairly straightforward process. However if you buy an external hardrive its format will originally be NTFS but it is easy to change.

Steps

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   Back up all the data you want to keep on the drive. Formatting a drive to a new file system will completely clear all the data stored on it. Move important files from the drive to another drive, such as your computer's hard drive.
2. 
   2
   Open a command prompt. Reformatting a drive must be done through the Windows command prompt. To open one, hold the "Start" key and the "r" key or click the "Start" button, and then click on "Run." In the dialog box that appears, type "cmd." This will open the command prompt.
3. 
   3
   Enter the command line for reformatting the drive. With the command prompt open, type "format /FS:FAT32 X:" replacing the letter "X" with the letter of your external hard drive (you can find this letter by looking at the drive's icon in "My Computer").
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   4
   Confirm the command line. Windows will warn you that reformatting the drive will erase all its data. Type "Y" to confirm that you want to proceed. Wait for the formatting operation to finish before removing the external drive; the time required will vary based on the size of the drive.

 Format an External Drive to FAT32 in Mac OS X

1. 1
   Open the Disk Utility application. Start by opening a Finder window, and then click on "Applications" in the left panel. Scroll down until you see the "Disk Utility" icon and double-click it to open the application.
2. 2
   Select the external hard drive you want to reformat. In the left panel, select your external drive by clicking on it. Click the "Erase" button in the right panel to open a dialog box with options for reformatting.
3. 3
   Reformat the drive to FAT32. In the drop-down box that appears, select "FAT32." Click the "Erase" button to begin reformatting the drive. Wait until the process is finished before removing the drive or attempting to read or write to it.

Tips

• If you have trouble formatting a large volume to FAT32 using the default utility, you can download and install a free program called SwissKnife that allows you to format larger volumes more easily.
• Note that most operating system will format USB sticks using FAT32 by default. Because USB sticks are commonly used to quickly share data between computers, the widely supported FAT32 system is best.

          Video

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How to Change Colours in Command Prompt

Are you bored of the lame white text on black background in cmd? If yes then read on to know how to change the text colour and the background colour.

Steps

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   Click the Start button.
2. 
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   Click "Run..."
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   Type 'cmd' (without the quotes).
   • When a command prompt opens, type in 'help color' (without the quotes)
   • Help with a list of the colours available will show up. (To see the list right now scroll down to tips)
   • The list will show numbers from 0 to 9 and letters from A to F.
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   Type 'color 6' to have yellow text, 'color 4' to have red text, 'color A' to have light green text etc. ( Ignore all quotes )
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   To change the colour of the text as well as the background, type 'color ce' ( without the quotes ) to have light yellow text on a light red background or any other combination. The first letter/number is the colour of the background and the second is the colour of the text.

Using the GUI

Open Command Prompt. Right-click on the top. Click on Properties. Go to the Colors tab. Select text or background and edit the color values. Play around with the combinations!

List of Possible Colors

• 0 = Black
• 1 = Blue
• 2 = Green
• 3 = Aqua
• 4 = Red
• 5 = Purple
• 6 = Yellow
• 7 = White
• 8 = Gray
• 9 = Light Blue
• A = Light Green
• B = Light Aqua
• C = Light Red
• D = Light Purple
• E = Light Yellow
• F = Bright White

Tips

• Be careful of the spellings of 'color' and do not type 'colour'. Otherwise it will not work.

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How to Find All Commands of CMD in Your Computer

Usually Windows give all the commands of cmd of your version. So there is no waste of time on internet to find commands. When there is a command to display all commands. so, you do not have to remember them.

Steps

1. 
   1
   Go to start and click on RUN. Go to RUN and type CMD.
2. 
   2
   Command prompt will open.
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   Type in HELP and press enter.
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   All the commands will be displayed which are operable in your current version.

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