12 replies to this topic

[Cursedbythegods]

I'm in no trouble currently, but I do wish to make my computer run faster,look better,be more customized,and free up some space.


If anyone recommends any (open-source preferred) or freeware programs to tweak,defrag,or speed up my computer,safer programs,imaging programs,etc... ...please tell me.

Right now I use...

Security and Cleaners.
*CCleaner
*Regcompact
*HijackThis
*Microsoft AntiSpyware
*Ad-aware SE
*Sygate Personal Firewall

Imaging Programs
*Gimp
*Blender3d

Alternates to Microsoft
*Firefox 1.0.3
*Thunderbird 1.0.2
*Gaim
*Deadaim
*OpenOffice 1.9 beta (or the newest beta as of May 30)

Other
*Konfibulater
*Python 2.4
*7z


Any good tweaks and overall nice habits/guides would be appreciated.

PS, tell me what I should get rid of here...

This topic could eventually be altered to newbies who wonder what they should get etc.

[Tarun]

Spybot should be in the list.

Defrag: PerfectDisk 7

Firewall: Outpost Pro.

[Cursedbythegods]

Tarun, on May 8 2005, 04:22 PM, said:

Spybot should be in the list.

Defrag:  PerfectDisk 7

Firewall:  Outpost Pro. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You have to pay for those if I remember correctly (not spybot but the others).I want free stuff for I am poor. :-P

[gunner]

Instructions:
Click Start
Click Control Panel
Click Switch to Classic View
Click View
Click Details

Click Display
Click the Desktop tab
Click Customize Desktop
Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup, and then click OK
Click the Screen Saver tab
Choose (None) for the Screen Saver
Click Power
Change Turn off monitor to Never
Click Apply, and then click OK
Click the Appearance tab
Change the color scheme to Silver
Click Effects
Uncheck Use the following transition
Uncheck Show shadows under menus
Click OK
Click the Settings tab
Change Screen resolution to 1024x768 pixels
Click Advanced
Click the Monitor tab
Change Screen refresh rate to 75 Hertz
Click Apply
Click Yes
Click OK
Click OK

Click Folder Options
Click View
Check the following boxes:
Display the contents of system folders
Display the full path in the title bar
Display the full path in the address bar
Show hidden files and folders
Uncheck the following:
Automatically search for network folders and printer
Hid extensions for known file types
Click Apply
Click Apply to All Folders
Click Yes
Click OK

Click Internet Options
Click Use Blank, and then click Apply
Click the Content tab
Click AutoComplete
Check Forms, and then click Apply
Click the Connections tab
Click LAN Settings
Check Automatically detect settings, and then click OK
Click Setup
Type area code, and then click OK
Click OK
Click Next
Click Next
Select Set up my connection manually, and then click Next
Select Connect using a broadband connection, and then click
Next
Click Finish
Click the Programs tab
Change HTML editor to Notepad
Uncheck Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser, and then click Apply
Click the Advanced tab
Uncheck the following:
Enable Install on Demand (Other)
Enable page transitions
Notify when downloads complete
Show Go in the address bar
Check the following:
Use inline AutoComplete
Use Passive FTP
Do not search from the Address bar
Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed
Click Apply
Click OK

Click Mouse
Click the Pointer tab
Change Scheme to 3D-White (system scheme)
Uncheck Enable pointer shadow
Click the Pointer Options tab
Uncheck Hide pointer when typing
Click Apply, and then click OK

Click Sounds and Audio Devices
Check Place volume icon in taskbar
Click Sounds Tab
Choose No Sounds for the Sound Scheme
Click No
Click Apply, and then click OK

Click System
Click the Advanced tab
Click the Settings button under Performance
Select Adjust for best performance
Check the following:
Show window contents while dragging
Smooth edges on screen fonts
Use drop shadows for icon labels
Use visual styles on windows and buttons
Click Apply, and then click OK
Click the Error Reporting tab
Select Disable error reporting
Uncheck But notify me when critical errors occur, and then click OK
Click the System Restore tab
Check Turn off System Restore on all drives
Click Apply, and then click Yes
Click the Automatic Updates tab
Select Turn off automatic updating
Click the Remote tab
Uncheck Allow Remote Assistance
Click Apply, and then click OK

Click Taskbar and Start Menu
Uncheck Lock the taskbar
Check Show Quick Launch
Click the Start Menu tab
Select Classic Start menu
Click Customize
Check Display Favorites
Check Show Small Icons in Start Menu
Uncheck Use Personalized Menus
Click OK
Click Apply
Click OK

Click User Accounts
Click Change the way users log on and off
Uncheck Use the Welcome screen
Click Apply Options
Close the Window
Exit the Control Panel

Open My Computer
Right-click on the hard drive icon and select Properties
Uncheck Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast searching
Click Apply
Select Apply changes to X:\, subfolders and files, and then click OK
Click OK
Reboot machine, Call me in the morning.

[DjLizard]

Refresh rate should be as high as your monitor and resolution can accept -- the higher, the better for your eyes.

The rest I didn't read

[Cursedbythegods]

DjLizard, on May 9 2005, 03:46 AM, said:

Refresh rate should be as high as your monitor and resolution can accept -- the higher, the better for your eyes.

The rest I didn't read

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same here.Those things were sorta pointless, but appreciated.

[agumon]

*defragment your hard disk...
*remove un-necessary start up entries... i recommend starter... or just use run -> msconfig...
*disable indexing service... right click on your hard disk and properties, uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching"... then select "Apply changes to subfolders and files". "Ignore All" if any files cannot be dis-index...
*set static page file size

this are few things i can think of...

[Tarun]

I find using XP-AntiSpy as a faster way to disable a bunch of junk that you don't want.

[bpm3k]

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities.

[Bi0haZarD]

Neat little Photoediting program i found. called "Paint .Net" runs off the .NET Framework so you'll have to have .NET Framework installed for it to work.

very nice freeware version of photoshop basically.
Paint .NET Screenshots

[DjLizard]

CCleaner is #36 on that list, but for some reason, apparently falls short of the 'Empty Temp Folders' program (bah).

[rridgely]

bpm3k, on May 20 2005, 03:54 AM, said:

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dont have microsoft office and have been using Star Office 8 (I got it for free during the beta trials). I love it, it makes powerpoint and excel documents with ease, plus they seem to be fully compatible with ms office. The only thing I didnt like was the word processor. I went to the above mentioned site and saw a link for abiword and it works perfectly. I do have ms works and this is deffinately a step above that pos.

[Eldmannen]

AntiVir
http://www.free-av.com/
A free (as in beer) anti virus scanner. Works on Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris. Does not contain any big bloated interface with skins. Does not eat up all your processor power or memory. Simple and great.

7-Zip
http://www.7-zip.org/
File archiver that supports alot of format such as 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB. It is completly free software which is released under the GNU LGPL, its open-source. It has its own .7z format which offers superior compression ratio.

ABC (Yet Another Bittorrent Client)
http://pingpong-abc.sourceforge.net/
Is a free, open-source Bittorrent client, you can use it to download files from Bittorrent with is.

Miranda IM
http://www.miranda-im.org/
Free, open-source (GNU GPL), multi-protocol IM (Instant Messanging) client, that you can use to chat with people on Jabber, MSN, ICQ, IRC, etc. It is highly customizable and very easy to use. It is very simple and bloat-free. Doesnt hog your processor power or memory.

DC++ - Your files, your ways, no limits.
http://dcplusplus.sourceforge.net/
Is a free, open-source DC (Direct Connect) client under the GNU GPL that connects to DC hub's for P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing with other users. Has TTH hashes, etc.

FileZilla
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
Is a free, open-source (GNU GPL) FTP client, it is easy to use, it is great, its competly spy/adware free.

Mozilla Firefox
http://www.getfirefox.com/
Great web browser, free, open-source. Secure, safe, tabbed browsing. Can disable Java, Javascript, third-party cookies, third-party loading of images, etc (to get rid of banners), it blocks popups, etc.