Speed Tweaks

Adding Memory to the HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni

August 1, 2010 By Terry Stockdale

One of the differences between inkjet printers and laser printers has to do with handling of the data to be printed.

An inkjet printer gets its commands for each printed line, one at a time, from Windows. It prints the line and gets the data for the next line. Sometimes they buffer a little of the data so there’s no hesitation, but Windows is talking to the printer thoughout the whole print job.

That’s not the way that laser printers work. A laser printer has to get all the data for a whole page before it starts to print that page.

What happens if there is so much content, shapes or colors, that the printer’s memory can’t receive the entire page? You can’t print it. You have to add memory.

Continue reading Adding Memory to the HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni

Filed Under: Hardware, Networking, Performance Tweaks, Printers, Sales, Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips

Speeding Up Windows XP – Fine-Tuning Visual Effects

October 28, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

With all the news about the cute graphics (often termed “eye candy” to denote its real value) of Windows Vista, we need to remember that Windows XP has some of those features, too.

Windows XP’s graphical interface defaults to a number of cute options that are worthless from a usability point of view — and are worse than that, too — they’re animations that effectively slow down your computer.

You can find and control these settings via the Control Panel. As usual, click on the Start Button and then select Control Panel from the menu.

If you’re using the Windows XP-style control panel, you’ll see the Category view and the invitation to Pick A Category. Our options are controlled in the Performance and Maintenance section, so select that button.

Continue reading Speeding Up Windows XP – Fine-Tuning Visual Effects

Filed Under: Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

Speeding Up Windows XP

October 23, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

Remember back when you got your latest computer? It seemed so fast, so much faster than your previous computer. Now, if it doesn’t seem to drag, it just doesn’t seem as peppy as it used to…

Part of that effect is our memory — not the computer’s memory but the memories stored between our ears. We tend to remember the past with fond thoughts and rose-colored glasses. We also become used to the faster speed and expect it. Fast today is faster than it used to be <grin>.

There are some real aspects of computing, though, that affect our computer’s speed as we continue to use Windows.

The clean, fresh installation of Windows has little in the way of superficial extras that take up CPU cycles, that take up memory and that clutter the hard drive and the Windows Registry.

Continue reading Speeding Up Windows XP

Filed Under: Optimize, Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

WinPatrol – for System Control and Protection

October 22, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I’ve written a number of times about one of the programs that I use on every one of my computers, including my family’s computers. Well, really on every computer that runs Windows — and I’ve been using it since well before 2004.

This program is a great protection tool called WinPatrol. WinPatrol allows me to control which programs start automatically on my system. It also monitors my system for any changes to the programs that start automatically. Unlike some anti-spyware applications, WinPatrol allows me to make the reversable decision to disable auto-starting of a program, where most systems will simply not allow the program to set itself to auto-start.

WinPatrol is available in two flavors — the totally free WinPatrol and the added-function, added-information WinPatrol Plus.

Continue reading WinPatrol – for System Control and Protection

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Security Fixes, Speed Tweaks, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Vista, Windows XP

Quieting Windows’ Noises (and selecting other sounds)

June 13, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

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Do Windows’ sounds ever get on your nerves? In my case, I have grown to dislike the click sound when I click on a link in Internet Explorer or in Windows Explorer. I find it distracting as I work or play on my computer.

Fortunately, we can do something about that… Windows lets us assign different sounds to some specific Windows functions (“events”).

In this case, the offending selection is the sound file assigned to the event called “Start Navigation” in Windows Explorer. That’s right, even if you’re using Internet Explorer, that’s the Windows event that gets called when you click on a link.

In order to change the sound assigned to this event, the first step is to open the Control Panel and select “Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices”.

Continue Reading Quieting Windows’ Noises (and selecting other sounds)

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Speed Tweaks, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Windows XP

Compacting Email Folders

April 9, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

There is a little trick to the way POP3 email program like Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Thunderbird store the email messages you receive. A “deleted message” is not really deleted! Did you know that?

All your email program does is to rewrite a few characters in the file in order to tell itself that a particular email has been “deleted.”

One particular marking in the file indicates that the email has been deleted, so the program shows it in the Trash folder. A different marking shows it has been deleted from the Trash folder. But, it really has not been removed from the big email.

Switching Users in Windows XP

April 1, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I received a question from subscriber Joseph Baker who was having problems with his Windows computer. For some reason, his “Switch User” button wasn’t working.

The Switch User function (Start Logoff) is a powerful feature of Windows XP that allows multiple different IDs to use the computer– which would allow his wife to switch the active user from him to her without logging him off

Unfortunately, while I could think of a couple possible reasons for his problem, I didn’t have anything definitive:

1. Windows may have been hung — it happens
2. Swapping users takes a lot of memory if you had a number of programs open. Sometimes, when Windows is swapping real memory to the hard drive(called “pagiing” to “virtual memory”) and vice versa, Windows will seem hung but isn’t really,
3. The program in your user session may have crashed — and needed a Control-Alt-Delete to pull up task manager to close it Undoubtedly there are other possibiliites. If the problem happens again or routinely, look into it. If it was just this once, blame it on the phase of the moon or Bill Gates’ Revenge.

Read the rest of the story in Switching Users in Windows XP

Filed Under: Operating System, Performance Tweaks, Registry repair, Services, Speed Tweaks, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP

Adding a SATA Hard Drive to Your System

February 19, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

Recently, a Terry’s Computer Tips reader asked me about problems he was having in installing a Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive in his computer.

We corresponded back and forth until the problem was solved.

Read about the SATA problems and solutions in Adding a SATA Hard Drive to Your System

Filed Under: Hard Drives, Operating System, Speed Tweaks, Windows XP

Speeding Up Your Windows Computer

December 30, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

Recently, I wrote about speeding up your computer. In that article, I recommended adding more memory as the cheapest and most effective way to speed up an older computer. That helps you no matter what program you are running.

There are also some Windows XP settings that you can change to speed up your computer. These do not actually make a change in its speed, but they change your perception of its speed at a critical time — while you are waiting.

Windows XP has a “Performance Options” menu that includes 16 different checkboxes for settings that affect how fast Windows itself displays items on the screen — regardless of which video card you use. You can access this menu via Start / Control Panel / Performance and Maintenance.

Filed Under: Operating System, Optimize, Speed Tweaks, Windows XP

WinXP Slow Shutdown Problem — Solved!

November 27, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

Several months ago, I solved a Windows XP slow shutdown problem that had been plagueing me for about three months on my notebook.

Since I normally let the notebook run overnight or close it to let it hibernate, I wasn’t able to identify when the problem happened, so I wasn’t able to identify the change that occurred.

Read more in my article WinXP Slow Shutdown Problem — Solved!
at Terry’s Computer Tips.

Filed Under: Driver Corruption, Operating System, Registry repair, Speed Tweaks, Windows XP