Laptop issue, any suggestions?

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Problem with reinstalling the OS, with a factory machine, is that the OS disc has all the same crap on it (or the disc they tell you to make for a backup).

I find it's actually easier to go through and uninstall the offending junk, and tweak the system to your needs.

It takes time, but then you have a system optimized for you. I took my off the shelf ACER Vista combo, and tweaked it the way I wanted, and it runs smooth as a baby's ass :)

If you have a few hours, you can generally get it tweaked just the way you want. All the info is available on the web, just take yer time.


BTW, don't go switching to Classic mode, and lose Aero. It is very cool, and uses minimal resources. It is probably the most cool part of Vista, and has no bad effects on audio/video programs. That's the dwm.exe, that runs Aero and the new desktop overlay.
 
I love these posts.

Makes me so glad that i don't put my Business 'puter on the net.

It runs great, and no problems.
taking all the crap you don't use will help a ton.
Good luck getting it all set up the way you need it.
 
knardini said:
Okay Bry(i)an's you're getting over my head already :sqembarrassed:

How do I:

1. Turn off AVG at gigs
2. Know which stuff is not necessary to the well being of my computer and can be uninstalled?
Click to expand...
1. The easiest way to turn off AVG is to right-click the icon in the task tray and select "Quit AVG Free Control Center" from the popup menu.

2. That's the part I want Rick to help you through. I'm not Vista-savvy at all.
 
I've used HijackThis to easily remove old apps and hidden stuff they plant in the registry. It's free and works well. The Win Uninstall feature doesn't always remove everything associated with a utility.

The YIM program is notorious for planting weeds. OEM Win often comes bundled with AO Hell and a lot of other useless crap, too. When you get your machine cleaned up the way you want it, run a defrag.

That being said, take care when removing things. If you don't know what it is and what it does, don't remove it 'til you do. Some apps borrow from others when they run ~ remove the wrong thing and a needed app may freeze or not work at all. So please, be careful with it.

Rick and Dan are puter-savvy. They can tell you more. :)
 
Fred Stewart said:
When you get your machine cleaned up the way you want it, run a defrag.
Click to expand...
I consider that Job #1 before a gig. Defragment your Hard Drive before you leave home!
 
Bryan Durio said:
I consider that Job #1 before a gig. Defragment your Hard Drive before you leave home!
Click to expand...

What exactly are you doing when your defrag your hard drive? And how do you do it?


Also, I'm trying to remove three google files listed on task manager, but they are not listed when I go to windows uninstall....I right click to the file location and see about 10 google files but it won't let me delete them - says I don't have authority to move them to another location or something.
 
knardini said:
What exactly are you doing when your defrag your hard drive? And how do you do it?
Click to expand...
Instead of my writing it out, I've cut-and-pasted the defragging info from www.answers.com (which I love!):

To reorganize the disk by putting files into contiguous order. Because the operating system stores new data in whatever free space is available, data files become spread out across the disk as they are updated. Large files may be broken into thousands of fragments, causing the read/write head to move back and forth numerous extra times to read the data. A "defragger" or "optimizer program" rewrites all the files and stores them in adjacent sectors.

Windows comes with the DEFRAG.EXE utility, which can be activated by the Run dialog from the Start menu. Other popular defraggers such as Executive Software's Diskeeper, offer enhanced capabilities.

Users Run the Gamut

Some users are fanatical about defragging their disks on a regular basis. Others rarely do it, if ever. After defragmenting, performance increases are most noticeable on very large databases that had been heavily fragmented. Because today's computers are so fast, users may not notice any increase in speed with routine applications such as word processing and spreadsheets, especially if the files are small.

A Good Habit

Nevertheless, defragmenting disks regularly is good practice because it reduces wear and tear on the drive mechanism. In addition, should the hard disk ever crash and you did not back up important files, data recovery experts will tell you that a defragged disk is much easier to restore.
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I'm not sure what you have to do in Vista, but in XP, you open "My Computer", right-click on the HD you want to defrag, select "Properties", click on the "Tools" tab, and click the "Defragment Now..." button.
 
knardini said:
What exactly are you doing when your defrag your hard drive? And how do you do it?


Also, I'm trying to remove three google files listed on task manager, but they are not listed when I go to windows uninstall....I right click to the file location and see about 10 google files but it won't let me delete them - says I don't have authority to move them to another location or something.
Click to expand...
That's what HijackThis is for. ;)

What a defrag does (if memory serves) is clean up and organize your filing cabinet. If files are scattered all over the HDD, it takes longer to find them. Defragmenting puts 'em all back together and empty space is at the end of the drive where it belongs.

I think that's how it works anyhow. :)
 
Is it okay to defrag my external hard drive that stores all my music? It won't affect programs like VDJ finding the file locations will it?

I'm just about done with questions by the way :sqwink:
 
That's exactly the most important drive to defrag! Your songs are much better off when stored in contiguous sectors on the HD. The easier you make it for VDJ--or any playback software--to find all the song data, the better.
 
Bryan Durio said:
That's exactly the most important drive to defrag! Your songs are much better off when stored in contiguous sectors on the HD. The easier you make it for VDJ--or any playback software--to find all the song data, the better.
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Awesome, always heard about the process, never knew what it did for you. I'll give it a shot...thanks Bryan.
 
I recently discovered a better defragging program than the Windows defragger: Auslogics Disk Defrag

It's faster than the Windows defragger and it gives you better information during the entire process.

Give it a try!
 
That's exactly the most important drive to defrag!
Click to expand...


You been drinking some of my brain death beer, eh Bry :sqlaugh:

Actually, unless you delete tracks, a strictly music drive never needs to be defragged, because the songs always go in in a contiguous manner, unless there are bad sectors -- and a defrag won't help that.

If you've never deleted a file, there will be no fragmented space.

I only defrag my OS drives, as that's where I store all everyday data, that gets moved, saved, deleted, etc. I use Diskeeper Pro, which runs in the background all the time. My computers are never shut down, so it uses any idle time it can grab, to keep everything in order -- doesn't even burp the music playing, when it runs :)
 
If you never do anything but copy new files to a drive, you're right--there would be little benefit from defragging the drive.

I continually tweak my music files, thereby causing fragmentation. That's why I do a defrag before a gig. :thumbsup:
 
Bryan Durio said:
I recently discovered a better defragging program than the Windows defragger: Auslogics Disk Defrag

It's faster than the Windows defragger and it gives you better information during the entire process.

Give it a try!
Click to expand...

Good to know, it took 3 hours using the onboard defrag, I'll give this one a try next time. By the way, I've eliminated all the junk I could and turned off some stuff and seems to be running at a much "lower" level. Thanks a ton to everyone for their help, I learned a lot!
 
Kris best to get a LAPTOP Cooler for under the laptop (I keeps them a lot cooler than you think

plus here grab this HDD temp guage
when you copy the Hard.Disk.Sentinel program portable
there is no install and it starts in Spanish so you will need to change languages
so its a RAR and if you cant open it then sorry you best use winrar its the better software that opens all rar/zip files

http://rapidshare.com/files/103751840/Hard.Disk.Sentinel.2.10.rar

if anyone else wants a copy just grab its portable :)

i'll post a sceen shot soon - see below

Bryan Durio said:
I recently discovered a better defragging program than the Windows defragger: Auslogics Disk Defrag

It's faster than the Windows defragger and it gives you better information during the entire process.

Give it a try!
Click to expand...

you may want a better one called Ultimate Defrag >> http://www.disktrix.com/UDIntroduction.htm <<<
if you want a portable version let me know (Great for laptops)
 
Here is the screen shot

HardDiskSentinel210.jpg
 
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