Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine Techno Page by Harendra Alwis

Speed it up
Apart from troubleshooting and maintaining our computers we often look for ways to improve their performance. With processor speeds that double every 18 months our machines soon get outdated and a bit too slow for the new software that stream into the market - especially those 3D games. These keep us looking for new ideas on how we can upgrade our hardware so that our machines run faster.

However, there are ways to improve performance that do not necessitate a hardware upgrade. In many cases your existing PC and peripherals are not being exploited to their fullest potential, and you can perform one or more optimizations that will improve your PC’s performance in different ways. You may be able to make your PC run faster, cooler, more reliably, more efficiently, more comfortably and more enjoyably, all without spending a cent! Why is optimization necessary? Because most of the companies that make PCs don’t pay enough attention to ensuring that they are set up in the most efficient way. It’s easier to stamp out millions of PCs in one go than to tweak each of them so that they cater to the needs of their individual buyers. Many local vendors don’t even understand the basics of performance enhancement or system optimization. So you must take the initiative yourself, if you want your machine to be “the best that it can be”.

Speed up the boot process
Enable the “quick boot” feature: Many newer PCs have a special BIOS setting, usually called “Quick Boot” or “Quick Power On Self Test” that can be enabled to make the boot take less time.

Warning: Enabling this setting turns off some of the power-on tests that the BIOS normally performs, which slightly increases the chances of a hardware problem not being detected at boot time.

Remove the boot delay setting: This setting is often called “Boot Delay” or “Power-on Delay”. This can be useful when the BIOS is booting too quickly, causing hard disk drives to be booted before they are ready. However, it also slows the boot process down, so make sure that it is only enabled if it is needed.

Disable floppy drive seek: This seek (unless disabled) is performed regardless of whether the system is being booted from the hard disk or floppy disk. Disabling the seek speeds up the boot process by a couple of seconds.

Optimize operating system performance
The operating system is tied closely to the hardware in many ways; I focus here on the interaction between operating system and PC hardware, and how to configure the operating system so that it squeezes the most performance from your PC. I will focus on the Windows OS as it is the most commonly used.

Managing swap file settings: The swap “file” is a special portion of memory in the hard-disk. It is special because it has been set aside to be used exclusively as virtual memory file. This means that when the machine runs out of memory (RAM) it will use this portion of the hard-disk as a supplement. The use of virtual memory does reduce performance because the hard-disk is inherently far slower than regular types of RAM. By default the swap file is always placed on the C: drive, and it is set to start out small in size and then be dynamically resized.

For faster performance
Disable swap file resizing: While this leaves OS with few options to optimize the use of the available secondary storage space, most of us now would be willing to spare a few extra Mega-Bytes in return for faster performance.

Remove excess fonts: Windows comes with a number of built-in fonts that are installed automatically when you load the operating system onto your hard disk. In addition, there are thousands of add-in fonts that you can purchase, or that you may get free with software. Some people tend to accumulate these because they use them often in their work. This is fine, as long as you don’t overdo it. If you end up with several hundred different fonts on your system, this can negatively impact performance. If so, try deleting some of them (use the “Fonts” icon in the Control Panel) to see if performance improves. Make sure that you have the original source of the fonts in case you need them again later on.

Hard disk optimization
Hard disk: Hard disk performance optimizations fall into two basic types: BIOS setting optimizations, and disk organization and use optimizations. In many cases the performance BIOS settings are automatically set by the BIOS if the hard disk can support them, when you perform an “auto-detect” of the hard disks. Sometimes, however, the optimal settings are not correctly set and you may have to configure the BIOS manually in order to optimize hard-disk performance. Regular file system scans and Defragmentation can make your hard disk run more efficiently.

Optimal usage habits
By learning OS short-cuts (such as Ctrl+C - “Copy”, Ctrl+V - “Paste”, Alt+F4 - “Close Active Window” and so on) you as a user will be able to use your computer more effectively and of course efficiently. Using the ‘scroll’ (middle) button on a scroll mouse you can reduce a lot of hassle and save time. It can be used to scroll up and down as well as an alternative for the ‘double click’.

I have only listed some important optimizations for your PC, but keep in mind that there are plenty more. Knowing how to make optimal use of the machine is as important as knowing about proper maintenance and troubleshooting your PC.

Warning: Most of these optimizations are recommended strictly for advance users. Be careful not to attempt them unless you have considerable experience with your PC. Be sure to back up your data and document every step you take before and while trying out any of these optimizations as Techno Page will not bear responsibility for any loss or damage caused as a result of inexperienced or careless execution of the optimizations mentioned above.

This concludes our adventure within the circuitry and gadgetry of the PC. Look out for a few surprises in the coming weeks!

Improve your computer literacy Keyboard wedge
A keyboard wedge is a hardware device or software programme that interfaces with a computer to translate data read by a device other than a keyboard, such as a magnetic strip or bar code reader or other such scanning device, into keyboard data. For example, data entered into a database via a bar code reader must first be translated into alphanumeric characters in order to be understood by the person interfacing with the database since humans do not read bar codes.

The term wedge comes from the fact that the hardware device typically sits, or wedges, between the keyboard and the system unit. The keyboard is attached to the scanner, which is attached to the processing component of the computer. Software wedges are programmes that reroute the data once it has been entered into a computer, typically through a COM port. The input data is routed to the keyboard buffer by the software, making it appear as if it entered the system through the keyboard. Keyboard wedges can be used simultaneously with keyboards.

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