Cleaning Time

With the release of Microsoft Vista, the successor operating system of Windows XP; your computer may be feeling a tad self-conscious. Not to worry, this is nothing that a light spring cleaning/ semi-extreme computer makeover can’t handle. Showering some well deserved attention on your PC can have it looking and feeling younger.
I’m not going to get into the whole backup and cleaning tasks normally associated with computer spring cleanings because you probably already do those things anyway. What I will focus on is getting your computer to start faster and shutdown faster, but before you make changes to your system it would be a good idea to make a full backup and create a restore point.
One of the easiest methods to speed up your computer is by reducing the number of programs that start when Windows starts. Open the start menu in the lower left corner and select run. Now you want to click the OK button after typing msconfig. Select the startup tab from the box that appears. Uncheck the programs that you don’t want to start when Windows start. If you make a mistake, don’t sweat it, this is why you made a backup and a restore point before you started.
The next thing on the list is to construct a fast shutdown button. First, you move your pointer over an open portion of your desktop and right click your mouse. A menu should appear with new listed as the next to last item. Select Shortcut from this sub-menu. A Create Shortcut wizard should appear with an area for you to type the location of the file that you are creating a shortcut for. Type Shutdown -s –t 07. Click the next button and you can enter a description, short message, or leave it blank. Select the finish button and you’re done. You can double click and walk away, this button will shutdown your system in seven seconds.
All that is left from the cleaning side is to update the drivers and versions of programs on your system. At a minimum you want to insure that your spyware, anti-virus, firewall, and pop-up blocker programs are current along with critical patches from Microsoft.
With the dirty stuff out of the way, you can treat your system by giving it a partial Windows Vista makeover. First, download Vista Start Menu SE free of cost from snapfiles.com or download.com. This will change your start menu to one that has a little more pizzazz and similar to Vista’s. The other free upgrade is called a virtual desktop manager. This program will let you divide your screen into four mini screens. You can then click on any of the screens and run each as if they were individual computers. These few technical nips and tucks will give new life to your older system. Many of the programs discussed are designed for Windows 2000-XP, but a little searching can uncover nifty programs for older systems.