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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Speeding up a slow computer, pros and cons to upgrading
Dear TechnoFiles:
My husband and I have
just read the piece about
“Upgrading to Vista” and
you talked about the fact
that if your computer was
slowing down drastically,
to defrag the hard drive,
do a virus and spyware
scan, and cut down the
number of programs run
ning in the background.
Our computer is slow
ing down and we know
about all those things
except how to cut down
the number of programs
running in the back
ground.
Can you give us step
by-step instructions on
doing this? We have no
clue where to begin.
-Terry in Texas,
formerly of Warner
Robins
Dear Terry in Texas:
Cutting the number of
programs running in the
background is probably one
of the best ways to speed
up your computer, especial
ly when you want to speed
up the time your computer
takes to boot up.
There are two main loca
tions for startup program
files: your startup folder in
your Start menu, and the
msconfig file.
First, your startup file is
located on your start menu:
Hit start, go to your program
folder, and you’ll see anoth
er folder called “Startup”.
Make sure the folder is
empty if you don’t want any
thing starting automatically
HICKS
From page 4A
have a rigorous discussion
about important issues
without animus. We need to
be able to have those kinds
of discussions, we need to
raise the level of our public
discourse.
Tim Russert also showed
us that even the most driv
en, hard-working profes
sional can still engage and
love his family well. A man
can be measured by how
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when you boot up. Should
you want to automatically
boot something, it’s super
easy to just drag and drop
a shortcut to that folder.
A final handy shortcut is
to hold down the shift key
while Windows boots and it
will skip the startup folder
for that time.
The second step in clear
ing out unnecessary pro
grams is going to the Start
button, choose run, type
msconfig to start the System
Configuration Utility. Click
the Startup tab and uncheck
all the programs that you
don’t need.
Be careful not to uncheck
your virus and spyware
checkers, but the majority of
the items can be unchecked
without negatively affecting
your computer in the slight
est.
Once you do that, you’ll
need to restart, and you
should notice a dramatic
change in computer respon
siveness depending on how
bogged down your computer
was before.
Try not to let the newfound
speed go to your head.
- Jason
he does his job, and Tim
Russert was widely appreci
ated for how well he did his.
But the love and devotion he
displayed for his family says
even more about the kind of
man he was.
Speaking at his father’s
funeral, Luke Russert quot
ed a letter of encouragement
he had received regarding
his father.
“If your dad could ask one
thing of all us it would be
to ask if our actions today
yielded respect for our fami
lies, been a credit to our
TechnoFiles
Jason and Tina
Ashford
Chief Assistant District
Attorney (Jason)/
Associate Professor at
Macon State College
(Tina)
Dear TechnoFiles:
I’m an avid gamer and
I’m wondering if I should
upgrade to Windows
Vista. There doesn’t seem
to be too many games
written for Vista yet, but
I’d like to be ready for
them when they arrive.
My system is an Athlon
64 3000+ running at 1.8
GHz (processor) with a
100 Gig hard drive and
1 Gig of RAM. What are
some pros and cons to
upgrading?
-RC
Dear RC:
Windows Vista is now the
Microsoft operating system
of choice. The minimum
hardware requirements
needed to run Vista are an
800 MHz processor, 512 MB
of system memory, 20 GB
hard drive with 15 GB of
space, and SVGA graph
ics.
Of course, no operating
system ever performs even
modestly with the minimum
hardware requirements! Your
system does exceed those
minimum levels, but you’re
not much above Microsoft’s
faith and of benefit to our
fellow man.” Words to live
by-
We need more Tim
Russerts out there in private
and public life.
Georgia Family Council
is a non-profit organization
that works to strengthen and
defend the family in Georgia
by equipping marriage advo
cates, shaping laws, prepar
ing the next generation and
influencing culture. For more
information, go to www.geor
giafamily.org, 770-242-0001,
stephen@gafam.org.
suggested requirements: 1
GHz processor, 1 GB of sys
tem memory (Vista and you
will be much happier with 2
GB), 40 GB hard drive with
15 GB free space. You didn’t
mention your video system,
but you’ll need support for
DirectX 9 graphics with 128
MB minimum of graphics
memory.
Personally, I’d like to see a
bigger hard drive and 2 GB
of system memory for your
system before you even con
sider upgrading to Vista!
Now to answer your ques
tion, I’ll start with the cons
of upgrading to Vista. First,
you need to be aware of
numerous hardware incom
patibilities - specifically
drivers, the little bits of soft
ware that tell Vista how to
interact with your comput
er’s systems.
In particular, your video
hardware must be truly
compatible with Vista or
you might experience slower
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game play with some of your
current games (if they run
at all). A quick search on
the Internet reveals all sorts
of stories of games running
at up to 50% slower frame
rates.
You already touched on
another disadvantage to
upgrading now: Lack of
games that take advantage of
the new Vista architecture.
Vista supports DirectX 10,
which gives you plenty more
objects, characters, details
such as trees, buildings and
backgrounds over DirectX 9
based systems. The problem
is there simply aren’t enough
DirectX 10 games available
- yet. As of today, there
are approximately 20 games
with DirectX 10 support
with another dozen or so to
be released before year’s end
(Source: Wikipedia).
If you’re looking for a few
good reasons to upgrade,
don’t despair. I mentioned
DirectX 10 as a con, but it
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turns out to be the biggest
selling feature for the true
gamer. You can’t imagine
the level of realism DirectX
10 games offer over their
older counterparts - it
will truly blow you away.
As the year rolls on, you
will see more DirectX 10
games being offered, with
one surely becoming your
“killer ap” which makes the
upgrade worthwhile. Vista
also offers better parental
controls if you have children
in your house and Games for
Windows Live allows you to
enjoy interoperability with
the Xbox 360 - meaning you
will be able to play against
Xbox players on cross-plat
form games.
- Tina
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