Why Is My Computer Running So Slow! Part 2

In Part 1 of this article we discussed what may be causing your computer to run slowly. In this article we will discuss how you may speed it up. Part 3 will offer more tips and then we will wrap up these articles.

Before I jump in and discuss how to disable startup programs, I have to rant for a moment about seemingly helpful, but overall resource damaging programs.

Since the dawn of internet security scares, and real problems, every anti-virus company seems to want to shove a system security packages down your throat. In fact most of the time you cannot even buy a computer with out Norton Internet Security Suite, Mcafee's Internet Security Suite, Trend Micros, or many others. Most of these programs are a serious resource hog, and then you add on top of them the double, I use this term loosely "protection" added by the Microsoft Firewall and security programs and your computer is going slow out of the gate.

Do not misunderstand me, every user should have a firewall, anti-virus, and spyware cleaner. I just will never endorse Big Business companies using inflated programs that are somewhat costly, to do a job; when you can use a free or affordable program using minimal resources, that does the job better.

For a wonderful free or affordable anti-virus package I recommend using AVG Antivirus. by Grisoft. It uses minimal resources, has timely updates to its virus dictionary, and does an excellent job of cleaning your system. If you own a business for a very affordable price you can buy the business edition.

Another plague of todays world is spy-ware. An in a high tech day and age you need a high-tech solution. Another product by Safer Networking is Spybot Search and Destroy. This product is an excellent free spy-ware cleaner and it is extremely slow on system resources.

In the firewall game field you have two options. A software firewall and a hardware firewall. Hands down I will always recommend a hardware firewall in the form of a router. There are many reasons for this. Software firewalls are buggy and can be manipulated. Hardware firewalls are reliable and do a better job of restricting ports in my opinion. Routers also offer you the double benefit of potentially giving wireless access and offering many other built in services. A router normally allows you to take your single internet connection and hooking up 4 wired computers(standard) and many more wireless computers. Many manufacturers offer these D-link, Linksys, Airlink, Netgear and many others.

Using less resource intensive programs will improve your speed. In Part 3 we will discuss how to disable startup programs, how to uninstall unused programs, and finally discuss how you go about disabling startup services. We will also touch just a little on what services are safe to disable and which ones are not.

Why Is My Computer Running So Slow!

I am sure that you have asked yourself this question many times. Many inept technicians may immediately point to memory, or processor speed. Both of these are definitely reasons your computer MAY be running slowly. However there are much more relevant reasons your computer may be running slow. In fact after reading this article and applying some of the techniques I describe, you may bring new life to your computer even an older, slower machine. Below is Part 1 of a three part Blog on what you can do to speed up your computer.

In our present day and age the software business is huge. There is a meaningless competition that many software companies like to use to ensure that their software is always on your mind. It seems like in this day, every software package you have loaded on your computer wants to load when your computer starts. This can cause even a newer computer to run slow.

This creates a complex problem for a consumer. The majority of computer users are not techno-geeks like myself. In order to speed up your machines, normally you might hire a technician and pay a large amount of money to gain the speed you should have had when you bought the machine.

The worst part is that there are genuinely only a handful of startup programs that have to be there. Printer programs are usually picky and have to start when your computer starts. Anti-virus programs would have to start when your computer does. In addition you might add any security related program would need to start when your computer starts.(although I do not recommend most of these) Lastly Adobe writer requires a program that starts when your computer starts.

Since most of you use Windows XP and possibly Vista, I will directly be referring to these operating systems. Both XP and Vista also start "Services" along with your computer. Many are Windows related however software designers also have found a way to add there own "Services " when your computer starts. These "Services" are in addition to your startup programs. What I think absolutely stinks is many software designers add both "Services" and Startup Programs. What this causes after many programs and a short time is a cluster.

Realistically your computer only has so much memory to start with. If 1/2 of it is used upon your computer starting how fast will your machine run?? Most of you will never believe me when I tell you this, in a normal computing environment of an everyday user 512 megabytes of memory is sufficient to run Windows XP. Save for maybe gaming activities, and higher computing functions. However most users I service to clean there computers that are running too slow are pushing over 1 gig of memory and there systems are taxed.

For many tips and tricks to improving your overall computer speed, your internet browsing and your general computer use; Please wait tomorrow for Part 2 of the Why Is My Computer Running So Slow! series.

Windows Vista and HP PhotoSmart Printer Fix

There is a bug in the Windows Vista operating system and its handling of the HP Photosmart Printer load. Basically when you add your HP Photosmart printer, the printer will disappear after a short period of time. This will inevitably cause you to reload your printer, and the process will repeat.

There is a simple HP Service that is loaded in your system at the time the printer is loaded. The name of this service is the

HP CUE Discovery Service

Something in this service does not communicate correctly with Windows Vista.

There is a simple way to solve this issue.

1. Go to your Start window and in the text box at the bottom of the start menu type services.msc
2. Windows Vista will broadcast a message asking if you want to run this Management Console, you will want to say yes.
3. Once your services.msc opens up you will want to find the services starting with the letter H. Look for HP CUE DISCOVERY SERVICE
4. Right click on this service and choose properties.
5. A window will be opening and you will see a drop down box labeled startup type. Choose disabled.
   
6. Then you will see buttons labeled Start - Stop - Pause - Resume. Choose stop.
   
7. Finally click ok and reboot your computer(you do not need to reboot, however it is good measure)
8. The last step is to reload your Photosmart printer drivers.

This should fix your printer disappearing.

Good luck and Happy Printing.