I went through and edited all your text. Use whatever you wish. I will definitely be using some of the information you have gathered as much of it is good.
Operating Systems may get loaded down with malicious software and other programs slowing down system performance if they are not maintained properly. Some tools to improve system performance are as follows:
Open Run -> type "MSCONFIG" and press enter.
Go into Startup and find programs that you do not use or do not want starting up when you boot your computer and un-check them. This will make your start up faster. (Be wary unchecking everything, some things you actually do need for Windows to operate properly).
Also in MSCONFIG go to BOOT.INI and click on "Advanced Options..."
Check NUMPROC= ( entitled "Number of Processors" in Windows Vista) and select in how many processors you have (if your system has more than one). Windows default is to use only one core.
Run a virus scan, DO NOT USE NORTON Anti-Virus. I recommend Avast! and if you do not want to pay money (other good free programs are Spybot - Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware). Fix any viruses and malcious software you may find with your virus scanning programs.
Run Disk Defragmenter. The easy way to find this program is: Start -> Programs ->Accessories-> System tools-> Disk Defragmenter. Analyze your hard drive and click Defragment now. Over time your hard drive will clutter up with fragmented files and be spread over the drive. Defragmenting will organize files on the hard drive and speed up access time. I would recommend using Disk Defragmenter at least once every two weeks.
Run Disk Cleanup. You can find it in the same folder as Disk Defragmenter. This application will help you clean up old and unneeded files on a computer. You can also compress old files that you do not use.
Right click on your recycle bin, go to properties, click on Global settings and allocate 5% for all hard drives. 10% is just too much.
RAM is random access memory. The processor uses RAM to temporarily hold both data and instructions while it is processing them. RAM is much faster to access than permanent storage (hard drive). Most RAM presently transfers data at over two thousand of megabytes per second. A hard drive reads data at around 60 megabytes per second presently (as of 2009). RAM is volatile; it loses its contents when power is removed.
If you are using the Windows XP Operating System and your computer does not have at least 768 megabytes of RAM I would recommend you upgrade your memory. If you are using Windows Vista and your computer does not have at least 1500 megabytes of RAM I would recommend you upgrade your memory.
If you do not care about having an aesthetic desktop and would rather have a faster more efficient system (this will not effect video game graphics) then do the following: Start -> Control Panel -> System. Go to the Advanced Tab and click Settings (In Windows Vista click the Settings tab under Performance).
A pop-up will come up and for now be in the Visual Effects tab. There are four things you can choose. Once you have done this it is pretty obvious where to go, would you rather best performance or appearance?
I chose the custom option, as I do like aesthetic appearance but I do not need to have my windows fading in and out.
Your hard drive is the most important component in your computer. It is good to run an error check at least once every few months to make sure there are no bad sectors on your drive. Right-click on a hard drive via My computer -> Properties -> Tools and click on Error-Checking Check Now. A pop-up will come up with Scan for system Errors and Attempt to fix system errors. Check the second box (Scan for system Errors) because your HDD (hard drive disk) may not have errors. Let it run and fix errors if it finds them.
I might also add if you find bad sectors on a hard drive to get whatever data you value off the hard drive because the bad sectors spread eventually destroying whatever data you store on the drive.
