I’m certain that we have all seen them, software programs that promise to have your PC “Running just Like New”. I’ve seen many people use them and most have to admit that the programs did little or nothing to speed up their computer. In some cases these programs have even crashed their computers.

What these programs typically do is remove orphaned or invalid registry entries. This will usually shrink the registry by 150-800 entries. Sounds good right? Well when you consider that the registry is made up of many thousands of entries, removing a few hundred really isn’t that impressive. After they remove the orphaned entries, they may compress or compact the registry, moving entries to make the file size smaller.

Will these processes speed up your computer? Yes, a little. What these programs all fail to take into consideration is how many programs are running on startup. The more programs you have running at once, the less processing power and memory your computer can give to the more important programs and processes.

Lets look at a computer as if it were a person… If you are trying to write a research paper, you need to put all of your attention into writing the paper, right? Well, lets add into the mix a stereo playing distracting music, a dog barking, a cluttered desk and your neighbor’s baby screaming. None of them are really requiring your attention but your mind has to bounce around a bit more than it should to work on your research paper. Just think about how much more you could accomplish if you removed the screaming baby, barking dog, cleaned up your desk and put on more soothing music. This is what you really need to do in order to speed up your computer. “So how do I speed up my slow Computer?” I’m glad you asked, here are a few simple steps!

• Make sure your computer has enough RAM (memory)
• For Windows 2000 and XP, you should have a minimum of 512MB.
• For Windows Vista and Windows 7 I recommend having a minimum of 2 GB.
• Remember, more is always better!

** Warning: Editing the registry can be dangerous and Biden PC does not warrant any changes that you make.**

**If you  do not feel comfortable doing this, Biden PC can do it for you for the small fee of $15.00**

• Download Autoruns from Microsoft. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
• Unzip the file and run autoruns.exe.
• Look at the bottom left corner of the window. Don’t do anything until is says “Ready”.
• Once it says “Ready”, click on the “Logon” tab. That is all we are going to concern ourselves with.
• Find the line below “Explorer.exe” and start unchecking boxes. DO NOT UNCHECK “Explorer.exe” OR ANYTHING ABOVE IT.
• Most things here can be disabled. Things like iTunes, QuickTime, Adobe, Google Update… These can all be disabled.
• Do not disable your Antivirus (Norton/Symantec, McAfee, Avira, AVG, CA…)
• Do not disable “cftmon.exe”

Once you have disabled what you feel comfortable disabling from the system startup, reboot your computer and enjoy how much faster it is. Feel free to share this information or like with your friends.

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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As I have had 2 clients in the week that have Hard Drive Problems, I would like to talk a bit about what these problems are and how to recover data when they occur.

First, hard drive problems are typically bad spots on the internal platters (think of CDs inside a metal box with metal arms that run across them reading data) that can no longer be read from or written to. These spots are called sectors and when a sector cannot be accessed, your Operating System (probably Windows) ignores it and writes data around it instead of in it.

There are 2 different types of problems that cause bad sectors. We’ll start with the type that is the most common and least problematic.

Software errors are exactly what they sound like, problems with the data on the drive. A software error can be caused by a small number of things. This includes:

1. a write-head not writing in the exact space that a sector is located in, therefore causing 2 sector errors.
2. a piece of data being written and the master record (for the drive) not being updated or incorrectly updated.
3. loss of power while writing data.

There are a number of ways to fix or recover data from these software hard drive problems. Lets go over those now.

1. Chkdsk – No that is not a typo. Chkdsk is short for CheckDisk and is a Windows native application that performs a scan of your hard drive and maps out bad sectors. This allows your drive to continue performing and reduces the probability of more sector problems. Click here to see how to run Chkdsk in Windows.
2. If data has been lost, there are many free programs that can be used to recover them with decent reliability. Many can be found on the Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows. If you don’t feel comfortable creating a boot cd, then check out Recuva. I have recently used to to recover many files from a client’s PC.
3. As well as data recovery, the Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows can also perform hard drive scans and fix many errors. If you need a copy, please contact me via my business website.
4. After recovering your data, I recommend backing up your data and completely formatting (Not a quick format) your hard drive. This will cause the system to ignore the problematic areas and rewrite the data elsewhere. Now, we hope, those hard drive issues should be gone.

There are also hardware errors that can occur in hard drives. These are more problematic but in most cases, data can still be recovered from the damaged sectors.

Hardware errors also have a number of causes that we’ll discuss a few of those here.

1. There can be dust or metal flakes (caused by the movement of the internal parts) inside the hard drive that get onto a platter. This can cause a small magnetic blackout of a sector. If it moves along with the head it can cause small scratches like on a CD. Also, like a CD, the data can usually be read using different methods (Please don’t use toothpaste inside your hard drive.).
2. Dropping Computer or Laptop – If you drop your computer, in many cases it will be safe from harm but there is the chance that the read head (which is kind of like the needle and arm on a record player) can scratch the surface of the platter. These will require special Data Recovery facilities to retrieve the data.

Here are a few ways to fix or recover data from more serious hard drive problems.

1. You’ve heard me say it before and you’ll hear it again, the Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows is a godsend and the same programs that can retrieve software error sectors can also retrieve hardware error sector. TestDisk and Disk Investigator (both on the UBCD4Win) recently saved my hide.
2. SpinRite – Gibson Research Corporation makes a great piece of software that can fix the drive so you can retrieve data from damaged hard drives. I have used it quite successfully many times.
3. If the above tools can’t do it, I would recommend sending the drive to a data recovery specialist. There are many to be found. Simply google “data recovery” and you’ll find plenty. As I’ve never had to use one, I really can’t recommend one.

Now that you have recovered your data, I recommend backing up your data and completely formatting (not a quick format) your hard drive. This will cause the system to ignore the problematic areas and rewrite the data elsewhere. Now, we hope, those hard drive issues should be gone.

May all of your hard drives have long lives,
Tim