The Best 5 Computer Tips and Tricks

1.Disable System Restore

You can gain a lot of drive space by disabling System Restore. (You should already have a backup regimen in place before you do this.) In Vista, right-click My Computer, select Advanced system settings, click the System Protection tab, and uncheck any drives. In XP, right-click My Computer, then under System Tasks, click on "View system information." Click on the System Restore tab and click the box next to "Turn off System Restore on all drives" to disable it.


2.Configure Windows Update

Windows Update is great, but if it's set on autopilot, it will download updates that require a reboot, then pester you forever to install them, and eventually reboot on its own. Change the Windows Update settings (in the Windows Security section of the Control Panel) to download updates but ask you whether to install them.


3.Disable Delete Confirmation

You can disable the confirmation that pops up whenever you delete something by right-clicking the Recycle Bin and selecting Properties. Uncheck the delete confirmation box, click Apply and then OK, and you're done. Also, you can bypass the Recycle Bin entirely by holding down the Shift key while deleting files.


4.Disable Windows Animations

Sliding Window animations look cool, but you can improve system performance by disabling them completely. Right-click My Computer and go to Properties. In Vista, select Advanced system settings, or click the Advanced tab in XP. Click Settings in the performance box and uncheck any box that says animate, slide, or fade.


5.Create a Custom Toolbar

If you're constantly accessing a particular folder, you can add it to your taskbar for quick access. Right-click the taskbar and scroll to Toolbars, then select New Toolbar. It will open an Explorer window, so browse to your folder and select it. It's also handy to add My Computer as a toolbar.

10 Steps you should do when your Computer Hangs up

You are in the middle of doing your work, suddenly you realized your computer hanged up. But the problem is, you have not saved your work! Don’t panic! There is a solution for that! And you can surely save your file! Here’s how:


1. Click on “ctrl-alt-delete” keys.

The windows task manager will then open, click on all programs that you don’t need and end the task. You will see that all programs on your taskbar will close one by one. If this will resolve the issue! – then save! (tip# 1: if you’re working on an MS Office application, it will automatically save your file in case the programs suddenly shut down — tip# 2: always save your file at least every 2 minutes by just simply clicking on the “diskette icon”— its just one click!)


2. If it did not resolve the issue,

are there some users logged on that computer? If so, go to switch user (for XP) and log off that user, go back to your log on screen and log on again.


The reason the computer hang up is because if there are many open programs and applications, these retains in the memory, if it is too much for the memory to handle, it freezes! Another reason too the computer hang up is because if you are connected to the internet via dial up, and you are running too many applications and opening many websites. So I suggest, if you are multimedia user or a heavy internet user, then you are better off with a higher memory, at least 512Mb of memory.


There are simple ways to avoid computer to freeze or hang up:


3. Clean your history at least once a week

>tools>internet options>clear history. I normally set my history to “0”, meaning, when I restart my computer, it doesn’t save history pages that I have visited


4. Delete all internet temporary files

>tools>internet options>delete files (do the “offline” content too!)


5. Delete cookies

(some do not do this, but I do delete cookies at least once a week!) >tools>internet options>delete cookies
6. Remove unnecessary programs that you no longer use
they are just occupying space and memory! >control panel>add/remove programs


7. Do defragmentation at least once a week

>point the mouse to “start” button, then right click “explore”>right click the mouse pointing to drive C (which is usually the main system logical drive) >properties>tools>defragment now


8. You can also check the logical drive’s volume for errors.

>point the mouse to “start” button, then right click “explore”>right click the mouse pointing to drive C (I repeat, is usually the main system logical drive) >properties>tools>check now


9. It is better to have only one user being logged on.

Even if there are many users, make sure the user logs off after using the computer, rather than keeping it logged on and you do the switching of users. Switching users is good as long as you don’t keep all users logged on—I think that is more logical


10. Always shut down properly the computer.

(do NOT use the power button when turning it off!