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Windows1
Check your hard disk space. As a rule, you want to keep at least 15% of the hard disk space free to keep the computer running smoothly. Simply go to
My Computer, right-click on
Hard Drive, and go to
Properties. There you'll see a pie chart of your free versus used space. If it’s mostly full, you'll want to start by removing unnecessary programs and files; it it’s not, you probably want to tackle the actual way your computer operates.2
Remove any programs you do not use. Go to
Control Panel >
Add or Remove Programs (or
Uninstall a Program, depending on your operating system) to find a master list of programs installed on your computer. Some things will strike you as useless immediately, in which case you can remove them right away. Others won’t look familiar to you and may require you to do some research.It may help to see how often you use the program. If you right-click one of the column titles above your program list (ex. Name, Publisher, Size, Installed On, etc.), you should be able to add additional characteristics by which to judge your programs. For example, find
Last Used On on the list of options and check it; a column displaying the last time you used each program will now appear and can also be used to sort your programs. Some programs will not have been used in years and may be candidates for deletion.When in doubt, don't remove anything you don’t recognize; it may be critical to the function of your computer – and if you delete twelve different things only to discover that your computer no longer works properly, it will be very difficult to determine where exactly you went wrong.Don't forget to empty your recycling bin.3
Prevent unnecessary programs from starting when the computer boots. The more programs try to run while your computer initializes, the slower everything will be. Revise your startup programs by altering your system configuration via MSConfig.4
Install an anti-virus program, spyware scanner, and an anti-malware. The fewer bugs, viruses, and bits of adware your computer has to manage, the more time it will have to devote to other processes. While you're at it, make a point of keeping Windows up-to-date; not only will this keep Windows itself in better shape, but some viruses ride in on Windows updates that are downloaded way after the fact (and therefore not monitored as closely).5
Run a Disk Cleanup. This can clean up hundreds of megabytes of temporary files – sometimes even gigabytes (if you have Windows XP, Vista, or 7). It will also open a window in which you can chose what to delete. Go to
My Computer, right-click the
Hard Drive and select
Properties, and then click
Disc Cleanup (within the General tab). Check all the boxes except for the game files and setup files.6
Run a Disk Defragment. This will reconfigure the way the hard drive stores information for maximum efficiency. Go to
My Computer, right-click the
Hard Drive and select
Properties, then go to the
Tools tab and click
Defragment Now.Defragment is NOT required for SSD (Solid State Drives)7
Check for any disk errors. These will also slow your computer down. Go to
My Computer, right-click the
Hard Drive and select
Properties, then go to the
Tools tab and click
Check Now under the
Error-Checking area. When the dialogue box opens, check both boxes.If you get a window saying that Windows can't check the disk while it's in use, click on
Schedule Disk Check and then
OK. It will run on your next reboot.8
Turn off indexing. Go to
My Computer, right-click the
Hard Drive and select
Properties, then unclick the box indicating that the drive should be indexed. Don't do this if you actually use any of the Windows Search functionality. The background indexing is what makes those searches fast and Windows is already very good about not getting in your way to do indexing while you're trying to do something else.9
Clear your Prefetch folder. Windows saves a file of the program you are using to make it start up faster. After years of use, this folder gets stuffed with irrelevant programs.Open Notepad and type:
del C:\Windows\Prefetch\*.* /QRundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks(Copy and paste this text to ensure you don’t make any mistakes.)Save as
faster.bat (the .bat extension will run it as a batch file).Run it! Simply double-click the file to initialize. In a few moments, the command prompt will disappear and your programs should run more smoothly.10
Change Prefetch Parameters. This a dangerous task to complete unless you follow these steps exactly. If you're not sure about anything, don’t continue.Go to
Start >
Run and type
regedit to initialize the registry editor.Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>Session Manager>Memory Management>Prefetch Parameters to access the parameters.Double-click
EnablePrefetcher. Once the new window pops up, there should be a small, editable text box with the number 3 in it. (Windows allows 4 options: 0, 1, 2 and 3.) 3, the default, fetches everything.Change this to
2. Your PC will boot a lot faster and your PC performance shouldn't be affected.Click
OK and then
close regedit.11
Add RAM to your computer. To see if you need more RAM, initialize the
Windows Task Manager by pressing
CTRL+ALT+DELETE. Under the
Performance tab, find the area devoted to
Physical Memory. If the
Free amount hovers around zero but the computer is still slow, you may need to take your computer in to add RAM or even add more RAM yourself.12
Restart your computer. The computer usually needs to reboot to implement changes.13
Defragment your hard drive. This should make the system boot faster.Yes, repeated defragment again (See above) as changes may require another defragment.14
Remove gadgets you don't use. All gadgets that are running slow down your computer.15
Log off the users who do not want the computer. Switch user your account then if you see that many users are logged in, log them off.
Macintosh1
Check your hard disk space. As a rule, you want to keep around 30% of the hard disk space free to keep things running smoothly. Simply right-click the
Hard Drive icon on your desktop and go to
Get Info.2
Uninstall unnecessary programs. You can either uninstall them manually or download a program to help you sort and delete them. Some things will strike you as useless immediately, in which case you can remove them right away. Others won’t look familiar to you and may require you some research.When in doubt, don't remove anything you don’t recognize; it may be critical to the function of your computer – and if you delete twelve different things only to discover that your computer no longer works properly, it will be very difficult to determine where exactly you went wrong.3
Delete files you don't need. Unless you have very little storage space on your computer or simply have an abundance of unnecessary documents, deleting small files won't make much of an impact on your computer’s overall function. However, any large files like movies you never watch, photos you don't need, or songs you never listen to can really gum up the works and should definitely be removed.Don't forget to empty your trash bin.4
Prevent unnecessary programs from starting when the Mac boots. The more programs try to run while your computer initializes, the slower everything will be. Go to
System >
Preferences >
Accounts >
Login Items. Select any items you don’t need and click the minus (
-) sign to remove them.5
Repair the disk. Go to
Applications >
Utilities >
Run Disk Utility to repair both the disk and the disk permissions. It’s a good idea to run this once a month or at least once every few months.6
Remove unnecessary dashboard widgets. Even if you don’t have the dashboard activated, these widgets can eat up RAM by running background updates while you try to do other things.If you have OS X 10.4.2 or later, simply use the Widget Manager: go to the
Dashboard and open the
Widget Bar by clicking the plus (
+) sign; click
Manage Widgets and then either deselect widgets to disable them or, if they’re third-party widgets, remove them completely by pressing the
red delete button, which is a circle with a line through it, and click
OK to confirm.7
If you use Mac OS X, download a free program called Monolingual. With OS X, much of your computer’s hard disk is devoted to virtual memory and gets eaten up by language-availability software. Monolingual will allow you to remove languages you don’t use on in order to free up space.
Edit Warnings
Never delete system32 files on Windows! These are critical to running the OS correctly and will break your computer.
Do not delete "shared" files! Sometimes, a program you don’t want shares files with programs you do want, making those files unsuitable for deletion. Deleting the incorrect shared file can have wide-ranging consequences.
Edit Related wikiHowsHow to Keep Your Pc Running Fast and SmoothHow to Accept That Your Computer Is SlowHow to Make a Windows Computer Start up FasterHow to Set a Computer to Display Contents of the System FolderHow to Delete a Printer from a Macintosh ComputerHow to Do Common Tasks Faster in Windows 7How to Speed Up WordPressArticle Info Featured Article
Categories: Featured Articles | System Maintenance and Repair
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Decorating the Cupcakes1Decorate the cupcakes. Use store-bought or homemade frosting, as preferred. Dip your cupcake in the frosting, turning it so it comes out with a tiny point at the top. Dip it the exact same way in a shallow bowl of sprinkles. Be modest with the amount of sprinkles added, to create a cleaner look.
It's always good to heat up any store-bought frosting for about 15 seconds in the microwave to get it a little more liquids in order for the sprinkles to stay.If you prefer, pipe the icing onto the cupcakes rather than dipping them.Adding Sprinkles to the Marshmallows
2Dip the marshmallow in the sprinkles on both sides. As you can see here, different colors have been added to each end of the marshmallow for the best effect.
3After you're done with both sides you should have something like this:
Assembling the Cupcake Kabobs1Assemble the cupcake kabobs. Slide on the cupcakes, fruit pieces and marshmallows in any order you choose. Go crazy or follow a pre-designed pattern. Either way, the end result will look delicious!
2Hold the first kabob up to check its balance. Adjust if needed (for example, if it feels too top heavy, rearrange the pieces a little). Use this to inform the addition of the food pieces for the remaining cupcake kabobs.
3Place onto suitable plates for serving. Here, a Fourth of July themed plate has been used to serve as a complementary background. Done!
Edit Things You'll NeedBamboo skewersCooking spray
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