Keeping Notebook Running Well

Well, for one, don't run IE. That will solve about 90% of your spyware/adware problems.

Personally, I have Avira AntiVir installed, but any good AV is recommended. However, you will have a conflict here between running the computer at its best and running it safely. I justify the install because it has actually caught viruses being downloaded by Opera and Firefox.

Defrag the drive approx. once a week.

Definitely use compressed air to blow out the vents.

Keep either the back or the front of the laptop slightly elevated when using it, to reduce wear and tear due to heat.

Regards,

zakaluka2.

As long as you do not install/uninstall alot of unneeded or rarely used apps, screensavers, etc don't use Internet Explorer, don't open email attachments, don't visit questionable web sites, your PC should be fine. Installing apps clog up the registery, can slow down startups and affect resources. Most programs have horrible uninstalls and still leave stuff in the registry and hard drive. Defragging weekly is overkill, once a month is fine. You should check for antivirus updates weekly.

About NOT using IE.. I have the same thoughts but whit IE 8 beta 3 it´s feel so mutch faster and secure then 7.. bur i love FF more..

Here's a list of things I personally do!
1. Daily-Scedule Auto Back Up to my External - Acronis
2. Daily-Auto Defrag IFAAST Diskeeper all my Partition Windows/Multimedia/Storage
3. Daily-Auto RMCLOCK-undervolting my CPU runs fine at .950 even at 100% load :]
4. Daily-Auto Scan (SceduleNOD32 Anti Virus - No boot up auto scan crap..
Note: It's always good to have them on but it's slow down your PC A LOT!
^^^ Note all the above are scedule during my sleeping time ! so it's all done when i wake up!
Other stuff-
1. turn off uneeded services. http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/winxp...rvices-3.shtml <- it gives you a good idea what the services does
2. start run msconfig.. 2 things
A. Boot.ini /NoGUIBOOT no boot logo -increases boot speed-
B. Startup and uncheck anything that's unless... if needed you can go to registry and delete the service for good. So far I have 4 startup services running.
1. SynTpEnh my touch pad i like the quick buttoms on it
2. Quickset - I should get rid of this but i find it pretty useful :]
3. cameraassistant the quick shutter capture won't work w/o it =(
4. RMClock
NOTE: I had bluetooth manager start up thing on but now i figure i don't even need it to run my BT mouse !
windowsstartup.com <- good place to look up start up items
3.Disk check all my drive once in a while and run both free: regscrubXP and
registry mechanic to double check .
that's it really... here's a ss of my desktop :] Note i swap NHC w/ RMCLOCK once in a while !

NOTE: sorry I have dual screen on too XD...
and it boots up in about 30 seconds :] w/ bt and all that

Are you familiar with msconfig? If not, you should definitely use it to disable unnecessary programs that automatically start when you load Windows. I only have three processes on this list running at all times: "ifrmewrk," "ccApp," and "VPTray." The first one allows me to use wireless internet and the other two are for my Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Software.

To access this, go to Start -> Run -> Type "msconfig" -> Click the "Startup" tab. (If you go to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ you can type in the file names to see what the programs are and whether or not they are necessary)You can do one of two things at this point. Most people just uncheck the unnecessary ones, which is fine, but sometimes they will get rechecked automatically this way. I took it one step further and deleted the keys from the registry, so they don't even show up on the list.

If you decide to do this, make sure you keep everything checked, then close the System Configuration Utility and go to the Run menu again. This time, type "regedit" and go to both these registry folders:

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Run

and

2) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Shared Tools -> MSconfig -> Startupreg

Delete the unwanted startup items and boom you've got a clean msconfig startup tab and minimal background CPU usage = fast computer.

I am a minimalist and sort of anal about these things so I reformat my hard drive a couple times a year and that keeps my computer running perfectly also...I'd imagine reformatting is a much bigger pain for most than it is for me b/c I keep essentially all my stuff on an external hard drive (I rerouted the My Documents folder to read off the external drive so essentially everything other than my Internet Favorites that I can't download or install from CD which I need isn't on my computer and doesn't need to be backed up before a reformat...but if you want to know how to do this I can certainly help.

Regardless, I think just sticking to what you're doing and disabling the unneeded startup items will do the trick.

Also, go to www.ccleaner.com and download CCleaner. Its a great registry cleaner/junk file remover. Run it nightly.

To prevent your laptop from software-related ills, I recommend these steps:

(1) Download the latest security updates for your XP and keep it updated.

(2) Run a slim, fast, and good AV program like NOD32. I've used Norton 2004, 2005, Kaspersky v5, Kaspersky v6, McAfee v9, and NOD32 is the best so far in terms of speed, detection rate, and low-RAM usage.

(3) Secure your wired and wireless connections with a firewall such as ZoneAlarm.

(4) For your spyware needs, I recommend AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy, PestPatrol, and Spywareblaster.

(5) Make a backup of your C drive with an imaging program like Acronis TrueImage and partition your HDD so that your data are separate from the system files.

**For hardware maintenance:

(1) Dust your laptop, especially the vents with compressed air.

(2) Defragment your HDD.

(3) Use a program like Notebook Hardware Control to lower voltages to your CPU.

(4) Enable power-saving features from within XP or within Dell's QuickSet.

How does this help (other than keeping the notebook clean)? And how do you do it? Just take a can of compressed air and blow into the back?

Make sure the computer is off when you do it but, cleaning the fans with compressed air is important as it allows better cooling.

What is that temp guage?

Hey Emotion,

I like the temperature guages on your desktop. Is that a program that can work with any notebook computer, like my e1405? What is it called where can I download it?

Thanks, Derek

I bet it will! It runs fine on my M1210, it's known as NHC aka Notebook Hardware control. You have to activite the monitoring system before the gauges appear. Link: http://www.pbus-167.com/nhc/nhc.htm (free) like i said before i swap it out for RMclock once in awhile because i seem to have some problem with it. It does everythng RMclock does expect for throttling which is pretty dam useful for underclocking. Anyhow if problems appear try rm clock the nhc is in pre-release so their oughta be problems http://cpu.rightmark.org/download.shtml (free)My acronis hates NHC and <3's RM don't ask me why lol.

Thanks

Thanks for the links, yes it NHC is working on my e1405. Its pretty cool, and exactly the type of tool I was looking for.

Derek

A system partition makes a bid difference also.

Do you mean a separate partition for the virtual memory? Or just a host of separate partitions for the core OS, programs, data, etc.?

Regards,

zakaluka2.

NO! if your on your laptop I would not recommend doing that at all!(exception are laptop embbeded w/ 2 hard drive) it will actually slow down the system. The first partition will be the fastest on any hard drive.If you don
t believe then create your first partition and run hd rune and create another and see the difference and so on. hence all the rest will slow down bits by bits. Therefore
1st partition = windows/application/virtual memory/
2nd partition = storage (or what i did, Label this spot Multimedia)
for my project/mp3/downloads/
3rd partition = storage files that i hardly use or are big ass ISO.
120GB break down =
1st 40GB
2nd 25GB
3rd 50GB
4th 1 Media direct lol :P
Hint: 1 reason why I hate dell partition set up!

Well, I agree with you. I was just asking vipervix what he was talking about.

Regards,

zakaluka2.

I ordered my laptop with 1GB of ram. Im only going to be using it for wireless internet, AIM, winamp and coding. How fast is mine going to be even before cleaning it up? Im just wondering because i have 712mb right now of non dual channel ram and i miss the feeling of speed that i get from my friends XPS.

how would i go about making sure my partitions are correct? i reinstalled windows and deleted the partitions after i booted from the windows cd, i had to in order to reinstall, seems like my e1705 isnt running as efficient as it could be.

NOD32 seems pretty good, is it worth getting the full version?