How do I get my computer running like it did when I first bought it?

I was wondering if there are some things I could do to help make my computer run very efficently.  And please don't say buy a new computer lol. I am on a very tight budget. Any advice and assistance would be appreciated.

Arron said:

I was wondering if there are some things I could do to help make my computer run very efficently.  And please don't say buy a new computer lol. I am on a very tight budget. Any advice and assistance would be appreciated.

Many times a sluggish computer is the result of too many programs running at the same time and using up the available memory, a very fragmented hard drive, very little free space on the hard drive, or running a CPU hogging anti-virus program like Norton anti-virus. 

While you need an anti-virus program Norton is not one you want.  It is a CPU hog. Microsoft's anti-virus program does an excellent job and is not much of a CPU hog.

Which operating system are you running?

Clean it up, your PC is like a blocked drain!  😂

TimSt said:

Many times a sluggish computer is the result of too many programs running at the same time and using up the available memory, a very fragmented hard drive, very little free space on the hard drive, or running a CPU hogging anti-virus program like Norton anti-virus. 

While you need an anti-virus program Norton is not one you want.  It is a CPU hog. Microsoft's anti-virus program does an excellent job and is not much of a CPU hog.

Which operating system are you running?

Sophos or AVG are light enough too.

https://decentsecurity.com/#/holiday-tasks/

Get a Mac?

sorry couldn't resist 

Smoot said:

best way is to wipe hardrive and re-install windows.

less drastic than that, defrag hardrive. 

clear browsing history, deleting cookies that build up.

use a cleaner program (lots out there are bad, even hold virus or malware) id reccomend CCleaner.  it works, its clean, just make sure to unclick the boxes so you dont download the extra stuff.

The Disk Cleanup program that comes with Windows does a good job too. It freed up 9 gig on my Windows 8 tablet and now it just purrs along.  Too bad Microsoft hid it on Windows 8. It was a b*tch to find.

Before you clean - up your computer, especially if you plan to format your HDD, go to manufacturer's websites and download all the latest drivers you'll need.  Put them on a USB drive.  Makes it it a lot quicker when reinstalling everything later.

If you're using Win10, it's also very easy to create a USB drive with the OS on it.  Much quicker install than from a CD image.

TimSt said:

Many times a sluggish computer is the result of too many programs running at the same time and using up the available memory, a very fragmented hard drive, very little free space on the hard drive, or running a CPU hogging anti-virus program like Norton anti-virus. 

While you need an anti-virus program Norton is not one you want.  It is a CPU hog. Microsoft's anti-virus program does an excellent job and is not much of a CPU hog.

Which operating system are you running?

I am running windows Professional. Its a 64 Bit computer.

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

I hear Macs are safer but I have never owned one. I would consider it if I could afford one. Lol.

TimSt said:

Smoot said:

best way is to wipe hardrive and re-install windows.

less drastic than that, defrag hardrive. 

clear browsing history, deleting cookies that build up.

use a cleaner program (lots out there are bad, even hold virus or malware) id reccomend CCleaner.  it works, its clean, just make sure to unclick the boxes so you dont download the extra stuff.

The Disk Cleanup program that comes with Windows does a good job too. It freed up 9 gig on my Windows 8 tablet and now it just purrs along.  Too bad Microsoft hid it on Windows 8. It was a b*tch to find.

I will try those suggestions.

Ezekiel_Zane said:

Before you clean - up your computer, especially if you plan to format your HDD, go to manufacturer's websites and download all the latest drivers you'll need.  Put them on a USB drive.  Makes it it a lot quicker when reinstalling everything later.

Thanks for the info. I will remember that.

Ezekiel_Zane said:

If you're using Win10, it's also very easy to create a USB drive with the OS on it.  Much quicker install than from a CD image.

I am running Windows 7 Professional. Not sure I want windows 8 or 10. I tried it for a little and did not like it. I may need to give them more of a chance. It was a bit confusing all the bells and whistles. Lol

I was a little surprised that Malwarebytes does make a difference with performance. Not a deal breaker but noticeable. I've been turning it off to play UO. I don't think UO is going to put a virus on my computer. I did recently notice that my computer had a new bios update and I was shocked what a difference it made. I got like a 20% performance boost off of that alone. I notice with Windows 10 there's just a ton of stupid junk running all the time. I've turned much of that off. Seems every program I've ever downloaded wants to run all the time if I let it.

I had Windows 7. I took them up on the free Windows 10 upgrade. Why not? Gotta check you manufacturers website to make sure your computer can do the upgrade ok but I didn't have any issues. Other than figuring out Windows 10. I know Microsoft had a tool to see if your system could handle the upgrade but I know a couple people that had issues so I didn't really trust that. My machine is about 4 or 5 years old? So I must have got the last Windows 7 machine made lol

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on my main PC so if you need some step by step instructions I can easily give them to you.

Anyone use a cleanup program from IOBit?  Is it considered good? 

IOBit make Advanced System Care? My husband uses that one, he thinks it's pretty good and it's free.

Glary Utilities and Smart Defrag

TimSt said:

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on my main PC so if you need some step by step instructions I can easily give them to you.

Thanks TimSt. I will try to do the easy stuff first to see if that helps. I don't have  a lot of lag but do when I go to events. It is not bad in luna but I want to keep my computer humming along. I have the free McAfee AntiVirsus Program but it is expired. Also had Kasapersky and have not renewed it. Should I uninstall those programs?

@Arron who is your net provider, comcast gives Norton for free.  Clear out all cookies, that can slow a cpu down alot.

Bilbo said:

@ Arron who is your net provider, comcast gives Norton for free.  Clear out all cookies, that can slow a cpu down alot.

I have xfinity, which is the same as comcast I believe. If it is the same maybe I will lookint that if Norton is a good program and does not use uo my CPU Resourses.

*use up my CPU Resourses that is. lol typo.

Arron said:

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

fyi

Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 on January 13, 2015, but extended support won't end until January 14, 2020.

I loved Win7 but eventually we all have to grow up.

I have  Malwarebytes which I find to be really good but it does hog up some performance. I turn it off when I'm running UO. Does anyone think we need something like that just running UO?

Just because you are only running UO it doesn't mean that your computer is immune to other threats in other areas, you are still connected to the internet and hackers don't care what programs you are running, they'll try anyhow.

Arron said:

TimSt said:

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on my main PC so if you need some step by step instructions I can easily give them to you.

Thanks TimSt. I will try to do the easy stuff first to see if that helps. I don't have  a lot of lag but do when I go to events. It is not bad in luna but I want to keep my computer humming along. I have the free McAfee AntiVirsus Program but it is expired. Also had Kasapersky and have not renewed it. Should I uninstall those programs?

If you have both anti-virus programs installed and running even if expired that will slow your computer down. Before uninstalling them you will want to install another antivirus program such as Microsoft Security Essentials then go ahead and uninstall them.  The Microsoft product is free and never expires and Microsoft has a vested interest in keeping your computer virus free so the virus protection is updated daily even on weekends and holidays.

To defrag my hard drives I use the free version of Disk Defrag by Auslogics. It has an option to defrag the paging file the next time the computer boots up.  A fragged paging file can make your computer slow. I skip the other products from Auslogics only because I don't need them.

 Arron said:

I was wondering if there are some things I could do to help make my computer run very efficently.  And please don't say buy a new computer lol. I am on a very tight budget. Any advice and assistance would be appreciated.

It helps the most if you stop visiting those unsavory websites.

Uninstall any antivirus you're not using. They should auto start after every reboot so unless you like turning them off everytime just uninstall. Uninstall anything you don't use and shut down any process that isn't necessary that you don't want to uninstall. ITunes causes the most lag for me so it's shut down while I play.

I run malwarebytes for a weekly check then turn it back off. I also use Security Essentials and have restore points. Norton has been known to quarantine and flag UO with a false positive for malware after patches while letting Trojans slip by.

Deleting cookies and browsing history helps as does a weekly defrag.

If all these options fail to improve performance, then it's time to look into financing.

Also watch what your hardware is doing. I junked a popular "gaming" keyboard when I started my system with the internet down. It wouldn't let me use it without an internet connection ????. So I checked into how much of my connection it was using just to run a dam keyboard. Now my keyboard and mice are from other companies and don't connect unless I tell them to. My system seem to run faster and I feel a lot more secure.

F--- big brother.

Tim said:

Also watch what your hardware is doing. I junked a popular "gaming" keyboard when I started my system with the internet down. It wouldn't let me use it without an internet connection ????. So I checked into how much of my connection it was using just to run a dam keyboard. Now my keyboard and mice are from other companies and don't connect unless I tell them to. My system seem to run faster and I feel a lot more secure.

F--- big brother.

Those with the defragging... just buy an SSD. Its 2019..

I have SSD on three of my desktops and I still defrag them for a slight improvement in speed. 

TimSt said:

I have SSD on three of my desktops and I still defrag them for a slight improvement in speed. 

Your SSD has no moving parts in it, no seek time, no rotational latency. Unlike your old spinning disks, your SSD does not have to move some physical part to some physical area for reading data. Your "slight improvement" is just placebo.

JollyJade said:

TimSt said:

I have SSD on three of my desktops and I still defrag them for a slight improvement in speed. 

Your SSD has no moving parts in it, no seek time, no rotational latency. Unlike your old spinning disks, your SSD does not have to move some physical part to some physical area for reading data. Your "slight improvement" is just placebo.

The speed improvement I am talking about is not from the hardware but from the software. For 64k of contiguous sectors only 1 command needs to be sent to the controller. For non-contiguous sectors multiple commands need to be sent to the controller. Each command sent takes time to process. I am referring to the read sector command of the sata protocol. For a heavily fragmented file you could end up calling read sector 64k times instead of just once. Calling a function 64k times is going to be slower than just calling it once.

TimSt said:

JollyJade said:

TimSt said:

I have SSD on three of my desktops and I still defrag them for a slight improvement in speed. 

Your SSD has no moving parts in it, no seek time, no rotational latency. Unlike your old spinning disks, your SSD does not have to move some physical part to some physical area for reading data. Your "slight improvement" is just placebo.

The speed improvement I am talking about is not from the hardware but from the software. For 64k of contiguous sectors only 1 command needs to be sent to the controller. For non-contiguous sectors multiple commands need to be sent to the controller. Each command sent takes time to process. I am referring to the read sector command of the sata protocol. For a heavily fragmented file you could end up calling read sector 64k times instead of just once. Calling a function 64k times is going to be slower than just calling it once.

Indeed, point taken. Just we are talking like nanoseconds here? Already magnitudes lower than what we used to have with spinning disks. If your UO is running slow, I highly doubt its due to disk performance as long as you dont have an HDD from 10 years ago. So I still say defrag is mostly snakeoil..

Still better than deleting cookies though