Windows XP, Vista Help » XP Tips & Tricks http://wvistathemes.com/windows Tips, Tweaks, Errors-Problems-Solutions Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:44:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Which Programs Are Safe To Disable In MsConfig http://wvistathemes.com/windows/msconfig-safe/ http://wvistathemes.com/windows/msconfig-safe/#comments Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:19:07 +0000 admin http://www.wvistathemes.com/windows/?p=27 So you want to make your computer run faster, increase your frame rate for gaming, and boost your Internet surfing speed? Good idea and a good way to start is by disabling unnecessary programs from running upon startup through msconfig. We are not all “computer geeks” however, and we are not always sure which programs are safe to disable. Well, there is one link that will help users of any experience level to determine which ones are safe.

First, fire up msconfig.exe, then navigate to Sysinfo.org. There you simply type in the name of anything in your msconfig list and they’ll tell you all about the software in question.

I typed in  RAID Event Monitor, which is in my list, and got this:

iaanotif.exe
IAA Event Monitor User Notification Tool – part of Intel? Application Accelerator – “a performance software package for desktop PCs using select Intel? chipsets” that “replaces the ATA drivers that come with Windows with drivers optimized for desktop and mobile PCs.” If you use the RAID version it’s required to notify you if a RAID 1 disk has failed

Now I know if it’s safe to disable this tool. Pretty cool eh?

]]> http://wvistathemes.com/windows/msconfig-safe/feed/ 0 Speed up Windows XP with BIOS settings http://wvistathemes.com/windows/speed-up-windows-xp-with-bios-settings/ http://wvistathemes.com/windows/speed-up-windows-xp-with-bios-settings/#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:34:05 +0000 admin http://www.wvistathemes.com/windows/?p=4 You can only speed up XP with tweaks and setting changes so much. Be sure all your drivers and software applications are up to date and you have a sufficient amount of memory (at least 256mb). Also backup your system before performing these tweaks.

Making some changes to the BIOS settings can increase boot time and free up some memory. These should work for Windows 2000 as well as XP. To enter BIOS set up, reboot your computer and hit the setup key (usually the del or one of the function keys) before Windows starts to boot.

  1. Make sure the “Rapid Bios Boot” or “Fast/Quick boot” are enabled.
  2. Most motherboards will allow you to set your bus speed slightly higher by enabling “Turbo Frequency”. This only minor overclocking and should help your entire system run faster.
  3. The Standard BIOS Setup Menu makes sure that all your drives are configured. Here you can turn off “auto-detection” if your sure you’re not using a certain drive like the CDROM drive.
  4. Enable Quick Power On Self Test (or POST) to run a less detailed POST, resulting in a faster boot sequence.
  5. IF you’re planning to only boot off your hard drive, set your “Boot Sequence” to start with C. You can always change this later if need be.
  6. Disable “Boot Up Floppy Seek”.
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