nLite supports Windows 2000, XP x86/x64 and 2003 x86/x64 in all languages.

It needs .NET Framework 2.0 in order to run. You can download it from here.

You can download nLite from their website at www.nliteos.com.

1. Update the PC’s video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS (be carefull with this one).

    

2. Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can “prefetch” portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That’s fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them (maybe you noticed when it’s idle, it starts “thinking” for no reason). Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete. The location is at C:\Windows\Prefetch.

    

3. Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Just double-click the My Computer icon, then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button.

    

4. In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to “DMA if available” for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

    

5. Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Follow my previous tutorial to find out how here.

    

6. Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

    

7. Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer — only its responsiveness.

    

8. If you are comfortable with editing registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP – iit’s free.

1. Visit Microsoft’s Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

    

2. Try to have fewer than 500 type fonts installed on your computer. The more fonts you have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts — that is, anything over 500 — will noticeably tax the system.

    

3. You might try not to partition the hard drive. Windows XP’s NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called “D drive.” You’ll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won’t be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won’t need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

    

4. At least once a year, open the computer’s case and blow out all the dust and debris. While you’re in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. If your PC is in waranty period, go to the company you bought it from, and ask them to clean it up.

Christopher Sholes solved this in 1860 when he developed the keyboard you use now– the so-called “qwerty” keyboard (look at the top row)–which made everything function smoothly. He basically tried to “spread out’ the letters that were used most frequently, so that the chance of the bars crossing was far reduced.

We stuck with it to retain the flexibility of using computers or typewriters in the 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s.

From the action-bar select File and select Preferences.

In the Preferences window, select Expert Features and check the Enable overburn disc-at-once.

 Choose a Maximum CD Length and click OK (*82:59:59 is the maximum value I suggest, but as you can see from the screen capture above I have set mine significantly higher). The reason is because I frequently use 99min 850 MB CD media).

For a more accurate test you can use a nero tool called nero speed test to see how much a specific CD is capable of being overburned. From the action-bar select File and select Write CD.A window will appear when you have exceeded expected length, click OK to start the overburn copy.

Remember to set disk to burn Disc at Once, you cannot overburn in Track at Once Mode.

You have just been struck by the Blue Screen of Death. Anyone who uses Microsoft Windows will be familiar with this. What can you do? More importantly, how can you prevent it happening?

1. Hardware conflict

 The number one reason why Windows crashes is hardware conflict. Each hardware device communicates to other devices through an interrupt request channel (IRQ). These are supposed to be unique for each device. For example, a printer usually connects internally on IRQ 7. The keyboard usually uses IRQ 1 and the floppy disk drive IRQ 6. Each device will try to hog a single IRQ for itself. If there are a lot of devices, or if they are not installed properly, two of them may end up sharing the same IRQ number. When the user tries to use both devices at the same time, a crash can happen.

To be fair to Microsoft, the problem with IRQ numbers is not of its making. It is a legacy problem going back to the first PC designs using the IBM 8086 chip. Initially there were only eight IRQs. Today there are 16 IRQs in a PC. It is easy to run out of them. There are plans to increase the number of IRQs in future designs.

 2. Bad Ram

 Ram (random-access memory) problems might bring on the blue screen of death with a message saying Fatal Exception Error. A fatal error indicates a serious hardware problem. Sometimes it may mean a part is damaged and will need replacing.

But a fatal error caused by Ram might be caused by a mismatch of chips. For example, mixing 70-nanosecond (70ns) Ram with 60ns Ram will usually force the computer to run all the Ram at the slower speed. This will often crash the machine if the Ram is overworked.

 One way around this problem is to enter the BIOS settings and increase the wait state of the Ram. This can make it more stable. Another way to troubleshoot a suspected Ram problem is to rearrange the Ram chips on the motherboard, or take some of them out. Then try to repeat the circumstances that caused the crash. When handling Ram try not to touch the gold connections, as they can be easily damaged.

 3. BIOS settings

Every motherboard is supplied with a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. A common way to access these settings is to press the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up.

 Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, and you should revert to default settings.

 A common BIOS error concerns the CAS latency. This refers to the Ram. Older EDO (extended data out) Ram has a CAS latency of 3. Newer SDRam has a CAS latency of 2. Setting the wrong figure can cause the Ram to lock up and freeze the computer’s display.

 4. Hard disk drives

After a few weeks, the information on a hard disk drive starts to become piecemeal or fragmented. It is a good idea to defragment the hard disk every week or so, to prevent the disk from causing a screen freeze. Go to

 * Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Defragmenter

 This will start the procedure. You will be unable to write data to the hard drive (to save it) while the disk is defragmenting, so it is a good idea to schedule the procedure for a period of inactivity using the Task Scheduler.

 Hard disks will slow down and crash if they are too full. Do some housekeeping on your hard drive every few months and free some space on it. Open the Windows folder on the C drive and find the Temporary Internet Files folder. Deleting the contents (not the folder) can free a lot of space.

 Empty the Recycle Bin every week to free more space. Hard disk drives should be scanned every week for errors or bad sectors. Go to * Start-Programs-Accessories-System Tools-ScanDisk

 5. Fatal OE exceptions and VXD errors

 Fatal OE exception errors and VXD errors are often caused by video card problems. These can often be resolved easily by reducing the resolution of the video display. Go to * Start-Settings-Control Panel-Display-Settings

 Here you should slide the screen area bar to the left. Take a look at the color settings on the left of that window. For most desktops, high color 16-bit depth is adequate. If the screen freezes or you experience system lockups it might be due to the video card. Make sure it does not have a hardware conflict. Go to

* Start-Settings-Control Panel-System-Device Manager. Here, select the + beside Display Adapter. A line of text describing your video card should appear. Select it (make it blue) and press properties. Then select Resources and select each line in the window. Look for a message that says No Conflicts.

 If you have video card hardware conflict, you will see it here. Be careful at this point and make a note of everything you do in case you make things worse. The way to resolve a hardware conflict is to uncheck the Use Automatic Settings box and hit the Change Settings button. You are searching for a setting that will display a No Conflicts message.

 Look up your video card’s manufacturer on the internet and search for the most recent drivers for it.

 6. Viruses

 Often the first sign of a virus infection is instability. Some viruses erase the boot sector of a hard drive, making it impossible to start. This is why it is a good idea to create a Windows start-up disk. Go to * Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs . Here, look for the Start Up Disk tab. Virus protection requires constant vigilance. A virus scanner requires a list of virus signatures in order to be able to identify viruses. These signatures are stored in a DAT file. DAT files should be updated weekly from the website of your antivirus software manufacturer. An excellent antivirus program is Avast AntiVirus !

 7. Printers

 The action of sending a document to print creates a bigger file, often called a postscript file.

 Printers have only a small amount of memory, called a buffer. This can be easily overloaded. Printing a document also uses a considerable amount of CPU power. This will also slow down the computer’s performance.

 If the printer is trying to print unusual characters, these might not be recognized, and can crash the computer. Sometimes printers will not recover from a crash because of confusion in the buffer. A good way to clear the buffer is to unplug the printer for ten seconds. Booting up from a powerless state, also called a cold boot, will restore the printer’s default settings and you may be able to carry on.

 8. Software

 A common cause of computer crash is faulty or badly-installed software. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the program in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

The System Registry can be corrupted by old references to obsolete software that you thought was uninstalled. Use Reg Cleaner by Jouni Vuorio to clean up the System Registry and remove obsolete entries. It works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE (Second Edition), Windows Millennium Edition (ME), NT4 and Windows 2000.

Read the instructions and use it carefully so you don’t do permanent damage to the Registry. If the Registry is damaged you will have to reinstall your operating system. Reg Cleaner can be obtained from www.jv16.org

Often a Windows problem can be resolved by entering Safe Mode. This can be done during start-up. When you see the message “Starting Windows” press F4. This should take you into Safe Mode.

Safe Mode loads a minimum of drivers. It allows you to find and fix problems that prevent Windows from loading properly.

Sometimes installing Windows is difficult because of unsuitable BIOS settings. If you keep getting SUWIN error messages (Windows setup) during the Windows installation, then try entering the BIOS and disabling the CPU internal cache. Try to disable the Level 2 (L2) cache if that doesn’t work.

Remember to restore all the BIOS settings back to their former settings following installation.

 9. Overheating

 Central processing units (CPUs) are usually equipped with fans to keep them cool. If the fan fails or if the CPU gets old it may start to overheat and generate a particular kind of error called a kernel error. This is a common problem in chips that have been overclocked to operate at higher speeds than they are supposed to.

One remedy is to get a bigger better fan and install it on top of the CPU. Specialist cooling fans/heatsinks are available from www.computernerd.com or www.coolit.com

CPU problems can often be fixed by disabling the CPU internal cache in the BIOS. This will make the machine run more slowly, but it should also be more stable.

 10. Power supply problems

 With all the new construction going on around the country the steady supply of electricity has become disrupted. A power surge or spike can crash a computer as easily as a power cut.

If this has become a nuisance for you then consider buying a uninterrupted power supply (UPS). This will give you a clean power supply when there is electricity, and it will give you a few minutes to perform a controlled shutdown in case of a power cut.

It is a good investment if your data are critical, because a power cut will cause any unsaved data to be lost.

It’s preety usefull when you’re in a hurry.

I often think that antivirus software in general is like a politician, says allot, but doesn’t do much. The antivirus dream…stealthy, small in size, doesn’t eat too many resources, doesn’t bother the user, there is NO such thing.

In my opinion the best antivirus is the user itself. I once had no protection on my computer for about 2 months (I was just lazy to install) and…maybe I was lucky, but I didn’t get any virus. Or maybe I didn’t know, but the computer was behaving very normal. So my advice is: keep away from warez websites, crack websites, don’t download exe files that seem too small to be true, and most importantly be suspicious. So, don’t go downloading masses of viruses relying on antivirus software, just make your own security, and you’ll be at best.

My Antivirus: Avast Antivirus

My Firewall: None ( I got a router)

Anything else: NONE.

So, Happy New Year, and good luck.

The software gives you overall information (Computer name, OS, IE, DirectX, Motherboard, CPU Type, Motherboard type, chipset, RAM memory, BIOS, Display, Multimedia, Storage, partitions, network, peripherals, DMI), and very detailed characteristics of each one mentioned. Also you have the capability to benchmark you pc (memory – write read latency; FPU and CPU).

Considering the price and high-end features, the product is worth buying (not cracking ) but i’m very pleased with the trial version of it. So try it, its the best “system manual” you could ever have.

So click start, then Run, then type “msconfig” and press enter. Go to startup, and uncheck all programs that you think you don’t need them to start up. Click apply and then click restart now. After the restart you get an alert that all your changes were made. You check the “don’t show me this message again” and click ok. Thats all.

I cancelled allot of programs like Yahoo Messenger, Java, Nero etc. because they don’t need to start with windows. Sometimes in a session (time between pc startup and shutdown), you don’t use a certain program that was executed at the beginning, so it eats up your resources for nothing. You should allways make shure you unchek programs that eat allot of resources, don’t help you all the time or you use them ocasionally. (make shure you don’t uncheck any antivirus or similar software). So, good luck speeding up your PC ! Cheers!