Chapter One
Removing Programs and Unneeded Files
Microsoft Windows XP is a storehouse of programs, information, and data. After all, keeping up with digital information is the reason you have a computer in the first place. However, after a period of time you may end up with too many programs and certainly too many files lurking around your computer. All of these programs and files can slow things down because the more that Windows XP has to keep track of and manage programs and files, the slower the operating system is likely to work. So to speed up Windows XP, you should get in the habit of removing old programs you no longer use and removing old files the system no longer needs. This process is much like cleaning out your closet. The more clutter you can remove, the more quickly Windows XP can find what it needs. This chapter explores how to remove old programs and clean out unneeded files. It also discusses some utilities and automatic settings that can help Windows XP stay trim and fit.
Removing Old Programs
A program is a collection of computer codes designed to provide you with some feature or complete some task. Most everything you do in Windows XP involves running some kind of program. Programs include internal programs, such as Windows XP Media Player, as well as various programs you might install and use on the computer, such as Microsoft Office, various games and utilities, Internet programs, e-mail programs, and so on. Programs are necessary and important if you want Windows XP to meet your specific computing needs. However, too many programs have a tendency to clutter the system, and poorly written programs and older games can even conflict with each other and cause you problems. Windows XP allows you to use as many programs as your hard drive can hold, but too many programs running at the same time can consume your computer's memory and slow things down.
Removing Programs with Add or Remove Programs
If you want Windows XP to work as fast as possible, it's a good idea to remove old programs periodically that you no longer use. My basic philosophy is to keep any program installed on my computer that I find useful. We all have a tendency to "over install" programs, so from time to time it's a good idea to clean out Windows XP's closet of programs and remove old programs you no longer want or need. Windows XP makes removing programs rather easy with Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. The following steps show you how to remove an old program you no longer want. If you are familiar with using Add or Remove Programs, you can skip this section.
Note
Many programs generate files. For example, let's suppose you are using Adobe Photoshop Elements to edit photos. You can save those photos as Photoshop Elements files. However, if you remove Photoshop Elements from your computer, Windows XP will no longer be able to read your photo files. Because Windows XP needs a program to open a file, it will search the system for a suitable program to open a specific file type. If there is no compatible program, the file cannot be opened. The lesson is simply this: Do not remove programs that produce specific files you will later want to open. If you need to remove the program, first open those files and save them as a different file type that another program on your computer can open.
1. Click Start [right arrow] Control Panel.
2. Click Add or Remove Programs.
3. In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box (see Figure 1-1), see the list of programs installed on your computer. Scroll through the list and locate a program that you want to remove and select it. Notice that Windows XP tells you how much disk space the program consumes, how often you use the program, and when you last used it.
4. Click the Change/Remove button.
5. A dialog box appears asking if you are sure you want to delete the program. Click Yes.
6. The program is uninstalled from your computer and the Add or Remove
Tip
If you start to remove a program and you get a message telling you that the program cannot be removed because it is in use, press Ctrl-Alt-Del. This opens the Windows Task Manager. On the Applications tab, select the application you are trying to delete and click End Task. Close the Task Manager. You will now be able to delete the program. If this still doesn't work, you can reboot your computer in Safe Mode (hold down the F8 key at startup). Once in Safe Mode, you should be able to remove the program.
Removing Shared Files
It is not uncommon for various applications to share internal program files among themselves. For example, the Microsoft Office suite is a collection of applications that work together. To save disk space and reduce file redundancy, the programs may share various resource files. As such, when you choose to delete a program from your computer, you may see a dialog box, such as the one shown in Figure 1-2, telling you that a shared file exists in the program you are deleting. When this happens, what should you do?
The dialog box gives you a clue about the file's importance. For example, Figure 1-2 tells you that Windows XP has checked the file and determined that it is no longer in use. In this case, it is safe simply to click Yes and remove the file. However, if the dialog box tells you that other programs are using the file, you should click No and keep the file on your computer. There is nothing worse than removing a program only to find out later that the program's removal made other programs stop working correctly. So if you feel safe in removing the file, go ahead; when in doubt, leave the file on your system in case it is needed by another program.
Manually Removing Programs
Add or Remove Programs gives you an easy way to remove programs you no longer want. However, in some cases, not all programs installed in Windows XP show up in Add or Remove Programs. In fact, only programs that are written for Windows XP appear there. Other programs that may work fine in Windows XP are not necessarily written for that operating system. You frequently see this in games or utilities you download from the Internet that still use .ini files. In this case, you can remove the program directly using the uninstall feature built into the program.
If you click Start [right arrow] All Programs, you can see a listing of programs installed on your computer, including those that may not appear in Add or Remove Programs. If you point to a particular program, you'll often see a context menu appear that also has an uninstall option. Click the uninstall option; the program will walk you through a series of short steps that remove the program from your computer.
In some cases, you may not have an uninstall option. This typically occurs with poorly written programs or specific utilities that you may have download from the Internet. As a last-ditch effort, you can remove the program by simply deleting the program's folder in C:\Program Files. When you delete the program's folder, you remove the core code of the program, but you do not remove any Registry settings and other file configurations, which could spawn error messages and other hiccups from time to time. However, if you can't seem to remove a program in any other way, try the manual deletion method. Click Start [right arrow] Run. Then type c:\program files and click OK. This opens the Program Files folder where you can locate the folder of the desired application. Right-click the program's folder and click Delete. Keep in mind that this action should be a last-ditch effort.
Tip
If you install a program that seems to wreak havoc on your system, remember that Windows XP has an excellent restore feature that allows you to return your computer to its previous state before you installed the program. Click Start[right arrow]All Programs[right arrow]Accessories[right arrow] System Tools[right arrow]System Restore and follow the simple wizard that appears. The restore feature will not remove any files you have created or delete any e-mail, so your personal items are safe and sound.
In some cases, once you have removed a program, Add or Remove Programs still shows the program as being installed. This occurs when the uninstall process doesn't actually remove the program listing from Windows XP, even though the actual program has been removed. You can remove these bogus entries in two different ways. First, visit www.microsoft.com and download the TweakUI utility for Windows XP. This utility helps you remove leftover entries. You can also edit the Registry directly and remove the offending entries. The following steps show you how.
Caution
Incorrectly editing the Registry can cause serious damage to Windows XP. It is always best to perform actions in Windows XP without editing the Registry unless absolutely necessary. If you choose to edit the Registry (which I touch on in various places throughout this book), make sure you work carefully and follow the steps presented exactly.
1. Click Start [right arrow] Run. Type regedit in the dialog box and click OK.
2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_ MACHINE\ Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall.
3. After you click the Uninstall key, right-click the Uninstall folder and select Export.
4. In the dialog box that appears, click Desktop in the Save In box, type delete in the File Name box, and click Save.
5. Each key under Uninstall represents a program that appears in Add or Remove Programs. To determine which key represents which program, click the key and view the following values, which tell you the display name in Add or Remove Programs.
6. After you locate the desired key that represents the offending program listing, right-click the key and click Delete.
7. After you delete the key, open Add or Remove Programs and verify that the program has been deleted from the list.
8. If the program list is not correct in Add or Remove Programs, you can double-click the delete.reg file on your desktop to restore the original list of programs in the Registry. If the program list is correct in Add or Remove Programs, right-click the delete.reg file on your desktop and select Delete.
Removing Spyware and Adware
For all the wonderful things the Internet provides, it also offers a lot of junk that can creep into your system without your knowledge. One of those common annoyances is "spyware" or "adware." Both are programs that run in Windows XP without your knowledge. For instance, you may notice that Internet Explorer keeps popping up ads or the default home page in your browser randomly changes. All of these actions are caused by spyware and adware programs. Essentially, these types of programs contain malicious code that steals personal information about you from your computer and communicates that information to Internet servers or dumps random ads on your computer from the Internet. The end result is that companies end up getting information about you that you do not want to share and a bunch of junk shows up on your computer.
Spyware and adware programs are difficult to track down and uninstall yourself but I wholeheartedly recommend two free utilities that can decisively do the job for you. The first is Spybot, which is available for download from www.safer-networking.org. Spybot is a small, safe utility recommended by PC Magazine that periodically scans your system for personal invasion programs and deletes them from your system. Spybot provides you with a simple interface (see Figure 1-3).
Another great utility is Ad-Aware. This utility, available for free at www.lavasoftusa .com, essentially performs the same functions as Spybot and features a similar simple-to-use interface. You can scan your system for problems and then choose to fix those problems once the scan completes its job.
Either of these programs will get the job done. I strongly recommend you use one of them.
Making Programs Start Faster
As humans, we have brains that can easily do several things at one time. As such, we want our computers to keep up with us. One of the frustrating things about computing is waiting for our computer to start an application that we want to use. We hate to wait. We want those applications to start quickly so we can get busy with the task at hand.
Windows XP generally does a good job of starting programs quickly. However, you can help it out, especially if you notice that program startup becomes sluggish. Keep in mind that many programs are complicated, especially advanced processing programs such as Microsoft Excel or Publisher or graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Windows XP has to load a lot of information into memory and start the program's processes before you can use the program. So a little patience is warranted, but there are still some tricks that will help your programs start faster.
Configuring Prefetch Settings
Windows XP includes a unique feature called "prefetching," which means it guesses which programs you are likely to use. As you use your computer, Windows XP remembers the programs you use so that when you next boot Windows XP or access programs on it, portions of the program files are copied to the Prefetch folder on your hard drive. The next time you open the program, part of it is already available in the Prefetch folder, making it appear to open more quickly than before. In reality, the prefetching works by caching a small portion of the program paging setup and runtime information to the disk so that the program opens quickly.
In truth, if you use only two or three programs, prefetching works great and makes programs open more quickly. However, if you use a bunch of programs only once or rarely, the Prefetch folder will fill up with junk. Because Windows XP doesn't know your intentions, it keeps a portion of each program you use in the Prefetch folder at all times. Repeating this process over and over with many programs eventually causes the system to run more slowly than if you never used prefetching at all.
Fortunately, you can easily make changes to Windows XP's prefetching process. The following sections show you what to do.
Note
There is some controversy about working with the prefetch folder. Many people say it helps performance, while others say it does not. The effect you get on your system will probably vary. The least that cleaning the prefetch folder will do for you is help clear out some junk on your hard disk. However, after you clean the prefetch folder, you may notice that some applications open more slowly the first time they run.
CLEANING THE PREFETCH FOLDER
Think of the Prefetch folder as you do the Temp folder on your computer. Naturally, the more programs you use, the bigger the Prefetch folder grows. Over time, prefetching will actually slow things down. To regain some speed, delete the contents of the Prefetch folder about once a month. Remember that prefetching is designed to make programs load more quickly, so don't delete the contents more than once a month; this may actually cause programs to load more slowly because you will be preventing prefetching from doing its job. To delete the contents of the Prefetch folder, follow these steps:
1. Click Start [right arrow] Run. In the dialog box that appears, type c:\windows\prefetch.
2. In the Prefetch folder (see Figure 1-4), click Edit [right arrow] Select All. Right-click the selected files and click Delete, or just press the Delete key on your keyboard.
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Excerpted from PC Magazine Windows XP Speed Solutionsby Curt Simmons Excerpted by permission.
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