Quick Fixes for Windows-Part 1

I am beginning a series starting today on Quick Fixes for Windows XP and Vista. Today we will start off with Part 1.

After years of purification and millions using it, Windows still remains as enigmatic, buggy and a failure prone. Each new edition Of Windows adds little more catchy features, but at the same time have loads of drawbacks. Vista�s new features seem to be more misfortune than worth and the prior XP doesn�t seem to have good time as age passes.

Windows has a slow start:

Quick Fix 1: Your computer can load device drivers for hardware�s that is no longer used. So to save on system resources, uninstall them. Sometimes a careless choice made can bring in problems and make the machine lose an important function. A wise decision could be to create a restore point in System Restore before proceeding further.

Device manager doesn�t show devices that aren�t currently connected to the system. Make them visible by pressing Windows-R to open the Run box, and type cmd, and then press Enter. Open command prompt and type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and press Enter. Don�t close command prompt.

Moving on, press Windows-R again and type devmgr.msc, then press Enter. In the device Manager window, choose View -> Show hidden devices. Click plus sign (+) next to branches to examine all drivers in the system. Devices which are not connected appear with a pale icon. If you come across an icon which you no longer want to use, then right click and choose uninstall to uninstall them. Then follow the prompts on the screen to complete. When you are done with the process, close the command prompt window.

Quick Fix 2: Once you map a network drive to a letter on the computer, windows will restore that connection automatically by default whenever you login. Resuming network connections takes time, speed up your startups by dropping connections that you don�t use.

Follow the instructions below.

Press Windows-E, Windows explorer opens. Then type Alt-T, D to open Disconnect Network Drives dialog box. Choose the drives to disconnect and then click OK.

In future, if you connect a drive for a present session, enter its UNC path; this appears in the address bar when selecting the drive in explorer and in run box. If you are using Tools, Map Network Drive command in Explorer, then be sure Reconnect at logon is unchecked before clicking Finish.

Quick Fix 3: Now you have to free your system�s memory and recover processor cycles by clearing clutter that starts when you login to Windows each time. You may discover some kind of Malware in the process. Check the free Autoruns program from Microsoft. you can consult Autoruns built-in-research tools, or you can also visit Paul collin�s Startup Applications List. This searchable list of common startup items provides description for each one, thereby indicating how likely the item is required on a typical stream.

Check the tools online.

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December 2, 2007 | Filed Under Software, Tips n Tricks