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How Your Computer's Performance Can Be Stolen From You I received several requests for tech support in the last few weeks regarding performance or reliability issues and ALL of them had a system that was being over-tasked by background programs. One computer only had 12 MB of system memory remaining because the rest had been used up by background programs (and a system that choaked has a hard time launching any application, let alone a game). So I will review some of the causes and ways you can try to improve your system's performance and stability. I will include this discalimer: If you modify your system at all, you do so at your own risk. But I will provide this information in case you want to accept the risk and try to improve your system's performance and reliability. The problem is not going to get better, it will likely get worse as more software is starting to force your system to install and run background programs (sometimes without you, the user, even knowing about it). A good way to get a complete report of your system specifications, installed programs, and available resources is to use MSINFO32. To run this program, click on Start, Run, type in MSINFO32 and press enter. You can use this program to get a detailed report on your system. The 'System Summary' will be the first section that opens. Scroll down a bit to locate the available memory conditions of your system. You can use this as a very basic gauge of how much memory your system has to work with, which can also help in determining your system's overall performance resources. As an example, if your system has 512 MB of system memory, it's a good goal to keep at least 250 MB of it available (usually the 5th value from the bottom of the list). Keeping your system performing well is especially important if you want to do any gaming. Next, I'll cover some of the steps you can take to help improve your system's performance and increase its available resources. A major cause for PC performance and reliability problems is a large collection of background tasks. A lot of software developers are now starting to use your system as a gateway for advertising, monitoring your activities, delivering content, and checking for updates. Every time a piece of software is installed on your system and continually runs in the background, it is consuming a piece of your system's performance resources. The more pieces of your system's resources that are used up by running programs, the less you have for running other software you may need or want far more. After a few months of using your fast new system, you soon find it seems to slow down. Your fast multi-GHz processor doesn't seem to be keeping up with what you want to do, yet you aren't asking any more of it then you did when you first bought it. So how could it be getting slower? The problem often seems to get worse the older your computer gets. By themselves, background programs that launch at startup are usually pretty harmless, often using up 500K or less of memory each and very little CPU resources. But when combined with many others, the effects can be very dramatic and you may find your system has difficulty running your favorite game or it takes a lot longer to load something. If the problem is really bad, you may find your system crashes back to the desktop or has some other reliability problem. Sometimes these problems are caused by other things, but they are frequently the result of reduced system resources. So how can you get your system's performance back? The first location to check is the Startup section in MSCONFIG. To access this, click on Start, Run, then type in MSCONFIG and press enter. Then click on the Startup tab. You will see a list of programs with boxes next to them. Some might be duplicated (it's common to find two or more listings of the same program) and others might have names you don't recognize at all. If your system is pretty clean, you may only find 5-10 of these programs. If your system is loaded up with startup tasks, you'll likely find a long list of programs there. Many of these are referred to as 'quick-start' applications, which add an icon to your taskbar and often claim to add the benefit of starting up a program faster. Some are background programs that might either check for updates (using your internet connection) for a particular program, report your activities and/or use of a program, or provide access to certain controls/settings. In short, many of these startup programs aren't needed and when combined, can use up much of your system's resources. Most computers I've used only need about 2-4 of these programs active for things like the video card settings program, sound control(s), and/or a few select programs. The rest can be disabled. To turn off applications that you don't want in the startup section, uncheck the box next to the program to be disabled. If you turn off something you want active, you can recheck the box as desired. Next, in Windows XP you can press Control-Alt-Delete to bring up the task manager. Click on the Processes tab to view the programs that are running on your system right now. You can see how much memory each of them is using and the filenames for each program. If you are curious about a program, you can often type the exact filename into Google to get more information about it. Many programs are associated with Windows, but it's a good idea to watch out for programs that could be unnecessarily using up your system resources. Another important step is to check your system's startup programs and running tasks each time you install new software. After installing new software, open the startup tab in MSCONFIG and look for any new entries that may have been planted there. Most of these are not needed as discussed earlier and just run in the background, using up your system's resources. Uncheck boxes next to programs you don't want running, then restart your system and test. You can recheck boxes for programs you want to activate, if desired. Lastly, be careful what you choose to install. That free screensaver might look cool, but there can be a reason it is free. A screensaver can often be used as a host program for something else. If you install the screensaver and you suddenly have new desktop icons, a new toolbar on Explorer, or some other change to your system, you may have just been the victim of a spyware/adware installation on your system. The effect might be far more subtle, you may not notice any perceivable change to your system because the hidden programs will launch when your computer starts up and will be running in the background without any warning to you. Keep a good adware/spyware removal tool handy so you can check for problems occasionally (some also offer real-time protection, just be aware of any performance implications as that is the whole point of this article). Also, be very cautious about free software offers, that's one of the most common avenues used to install such adware/spyware onto your system. Keeping your system clean and efficient will help provide better performance and reliability. It's your system, don't let someone else take pieces of its performance away from you. Periodically check your startup programs and running tasks to make sure nothing is running that you don't want. Try to keep your available system resources as high as possible and check your system's setup after every software install. ___________________________________ Copyright © 1999-2005 StarWraith 3D Games LLC. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective companies 
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