Fresh Media

***NOTE: i did not personally write this, so i take no credit for this
whatsoever. i just thought it would be nice to share this with the
community. this is a link to the original site where i got the article:
http://www.howtodothings.com/compute...er-faster.html

. hope it helps you guys out. enjoy!***













Computers are wonderful devices that allow us to do many things but
things can get rough once the garbage that comes in through our
internet connection begins to stop up our system. I have put together a
step-by-step procedure for cleaning all of this out. Follow the steps
below and you will see a noticeable improvement in your system. Enjoy!

1. Download Microsoft's Anti-Spyware program, Adaware, and Spybot Search and Destroy. Microsoft's program can be downloaded at Microsoft Windows Defender. Adaware can be downloaded at Lavasoft Downloads. Spybot can be downloaded at The Home of Spybot-S&D. All of these programs are free.
2. Install Microsoft's anti-spyware program now, but not the other two.
3. Run MSconfig. To do this, select Start>Run and type msconfig
   into the space. Select the Startup tab and get rid of all unnecessary
   programs. The way to determine this is to go to ProcessLibrary.com and check it against their database.
4. Boot into Safe Mode. To do this, restart the computer and press F8
   continuously. Select the Safe Mode option from the list and continue to
   desktop.
5. Delete any spyware programs from your add/remove. To do this,
   select Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs. Check all
   unknown programs against SpywareGuide.com.
6. Locate the temp folder in your computer and delete everything in
   the folder. This is located, usually, in C:\Documents and
   Settings\Username\local settings.
7. Still in Safe Mode, install Adaware and Spybot. Run Adaware,
   Microsoft's anti-spyware and Spybot. Update to the most recent
   definitions in each program and run them in full scan mode. Microsoft's
   program cannot be installed in Safe Mode. You have already installed it.
8. Reboot into standard Windows mode.
9. Download HijackThis. You can get this program here Merijn.org.
   Install and run it. Click Do A System Scan and Save A Logfile.
   HijackThis will analyze processes that are running on your computer and
   alert you when there are things running that should not be there. It
   will also let you know when there are programs running that are not
   malicious but can safely be gotten rid of because they are not needed.
10. Post the logfile in the Automated Log Analyzer at HijackThis.
11. After determining what's safe and isn't, check appropriate boxes and click Fix Checked.
12. Run the Microsoft Anti-Malicious program, which you can download at the Microsoft Download Center.
    This program is designed by Microsoft to detect and remove programs
    whose sole purpose is harming your computer. The technical term for
    this type of program is a rootkit.
13. Download and run BLBeta Expert. This can be downloaded at F-Secure Blacklight.
    Make sure to carefully review anything it detects before removing.
    BlBeta is another program that is designed to get rid of rootkits.
14. For Internet Explorer, click Tools> Internet Options>
    Security Tab. Click on the Internet Globe icon and select Custom Level.
    Disable the following: a. Download Unsigned ActiveX Controls.
    
    b. Initialize And Script ActiveX Controls Not Marked As Safe.
    
    c. Active Scripting.
    
    d. Scripting Of Java Applets.
    
    Also click High Safety under Java Permissions.
    
    If this causes trouble viewing any favorite sites, click the Trusted
    Sites icon of the Security Tab and use the Sites button to add the
    URL's of sites that are exempt from these requirements. The purpose of
    these changes is to tighten the security of your system so that not so
    many malicious programs make it to your system.
15. For Firefox, type about:config in the address bar. Right
    click in the window and click New and Integer. In the first box, type
    privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins. In the second box, type 2. This
    will prevent Flash popups in Firefox.
16. Open Regedit by clicking Start>Run and type in regedit.
17. Once Regedit is open, click the plus symbol next to the
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder, the plus symbol next to Control Panel, and
    then click the Desktop folder icon to display its contents. In the
    right pane, double-click MenuShowDelay to change its value. (This
    Registry location is referred to as
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL\PANEL\DESKTOP\MENUSHOWDE LAY.) The default
    Value Data is 400, or 4/10 of a second. Change the Value Data to 0 for
    the least delay, and click OK. This will make menus appear instantly on
    your computer instead of having a delay.
18. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTRO
    L\FILESYSTEM. Right-click Filesystem, select New, and DWORD Value.
    Rename NewValue#1 on the right-side pane to
    DisableNTFSLast-AccessUpdate. Double-click this new entry, change the
    Value Data field from 0 to 1, and then click OK. This disables the
    constant updating of the dates when a file or folder were last updated.
    This will speed up the system.
19. Open HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRE
    NTVERSION\EXPLORER. Create a new DWORD Value called DesktopProcess, and
    set its Value Data to 1.
20. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
    Double-click the AutoEndTasks string and change the value to 1. This
    causes all of the components of the explorer to run in one process,
    making your computer faster. There is a caveat for some users here. Do
    not make this change if you are not running at least a Pentium
    processor and 16 MB of physical memory.
21. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand SOFTWARE, expand Microsoft,
    expand Windows, and expand CurrentVersion. Right-click Explorer, expand
    New, click Key, and name the new key AlwaysUnloadDLL. Click
    AlwaysUnloadDLL, double-click the Default string, and change the value
    to 1. Windows tries to keep some DLL's in memory when the program uses
    them. If a user has low memory, this can cause performance issues.
22. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, and click Desktop.
    Double-click the HungAppTimeout string and change the value to 1000.
    Now, double-click the WaitToKillAppTimeout, string and change the value
    to 2000. This sets your system up to more efficiently handle
    application hangups. It also will optimize the amount of time a system
    takes to close a program when you try to end Windows.
23. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, expand System, expand CurrentControlSet,
    and click Control. Double-click the WaitToKillServiceTimeout string and
    change the value to 2000. This optimizes the time that it will take for
    Windows Services to close when the system is set to shut down.
24. Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER, expand Control Panel, click Desktop, and
    double-click the MenuShowDelay string in the right-hand pane. Change
    the value to 100. This will cause Desktop menus to appear almost
    instantly.
25. Close regedit.
26. Set Recycle Bin to 1-3 percent of the hard drive space. To do this,
    right click on the Recycle Bin. Select properties. Move the slider down
    to the desired amount and click Ok. By default, the Recycle bin takes
    up too much of your space.
27. To ensure DMA is in use, click Start, right-click My Computer,
    click Properties, select the Hardware tab, and click Device Manager.
    Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers entry, double-click the entry for
    the channel where your hard drive is installed (most likely the Primary
    IDE Channel), and use the Transfer Mode drop-down menu to select DMA If
    Available if PIO Only mode is selected. Click Ok, reboot, and recheck
    the setting to make sure it sticks. When this is enabled, it will allow
    information from your CD/DVD to go straight to memory, bypassing the
    system processor and speeding up the system.

You should notice markedly increased speeds in your computer.
Remember that this is not a "do once and forget it" procedure. Crud is
constantly building up in your computer, so make sure and set up a
maintenance plan to keep your computer clean.