Turning off unessential services:

Turning off serives that are running on your system can help speed up boot time and responce time. However be carefull what you turn off. Some services are linked to other applications and may render them unable to run. It is a good idea to keep track of what you turned off and what applications if any were effected. Following the guides on these sites will help. Make sure you read what each does and their recomended settings. If you are unsure, set the service to manual.

The Elder Geek: http://www.theeldergeek.com/ (trustworthy site!)

Black Vipers How To: http://www.blackviper.com/ (Great for XP, XP 64 and Vista

Computer Tune Ups:

Often times a system will start to run slow after it has be running for a while. I dont mean how log it has been on, but since the last system load. Everything you do is stored on your computer even if you delete and uninstall programs, applications and yes, even pictures and videos. Each item you place on your system creates an entry in your registery. After a time, too much "redundant" information that is no longer needed can start to bogg down your system, causing it to run slow. Things that can be done to help improve performance are regestry cleaners, advanced defrag and file optimization. Below are some programs that I have found work the best. They also have a very high rating on cNet and other professional sites. Some are free, some are shareware, while others are trials with a reasonable low price.

Can You Run It?: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

Perfect Disk: http://www.raxco.com/:2hg0lk03]http://www.raxco.com/

Tweek 3D: http://www.tweak3d.net/]http://www.tweak3d.net/

Clean MyPc: http://www.registry-cleaner.net/ | (Shareware, free trial, low cost)

Virus Protection: Many people ask, "What should I be using?" I have tried out a lot of software programs, as well as worked on many peoples systems that have had problems. A lot of people ask about Norton or Norton System Works. Though it does come free on prebuilts and is one of the most common, it may not always be the best thing. Norton runs a lot of processes in the background (that you cannot see in the Task Manager) and can bog down a system fairly quick. I recomend the following below, as you can chose what exactly you want to run and when. This is something that Norton does not have. Granted Symantec does have some very good programs, but if you are gamer or designer, you will want a virus scan program that will do the job just right yet not take up a lot of resources. McAfee is about the same. Some good programs, but some of them, like the virus scan is a bit bloated for anyone other then the normal user who just wants to visit sites, blog and read emails.

TrendMicro House Call: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ (ALWAYS Free online full scan:AAA+ site)

TrendMicro Virus+ Software: http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/  (Free evaluation, good price)

Grisoft AVG: http://www.grisoft.com/]http://www.grisoft.com/ (Shareware, payed for upgrades)

Ad-aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware

HijackThis: http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis