Upgrades
The latest driver for your graphics, sound, modem, monitor, printer, scanner,
etc. can give your computer extra capabilities and make it run smoother. A friend's
scanner benefited from a small 'patch' download which stopped the lamp staying
on. I have downloaded graphics card drivers which give extra tweaks and sometimes
more control over the refresh rate.
Windows has a 'Windows update' tab in the start menu which takes you straight to their update page for the latest bugfixes. Some of these will plug virus vulnerabilities and are worth installing. For huge programs or upgrades to programs like Internet Explorer, DirectX and Windows Media Player, it might be better to obtain a computer magazine CD with them on. The same applies to MS office programs.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 is worth installing to plug security holes and it has a better firewall than XP had before.
Performance Tweaks
A little settings-tweak can eke out a bit more performance (maybe 5%) by adjusting
the various cache memory settings. Right-click 'My computer' then > Properties
> performance > file system. Look in the 'typical role' list and select
'Network server'. Whilst you are in that section, click on 'floppy disk' and untick
the box which searches for the A: drive on each bootup. 'Cacheman' is a free download
which does the above a little better.
Monitor refresh rates (flicker speed) are seldom adjusted from new, yet can cause headaches or discomfort to the heavy computer user. Office workers should take notice of this one. A properly installed monitor driver allows for some adjustment. Right-click on the screen wallpaper, Properties > settings > advanced > adapter. The limit will probably be set by the monitor and it is important not to exceed its capabilities. Try one or two faster settings, say 72Hz and, if the new screen size is not too small, use it. You will probably need to alter monitor settings to restore height and width. Visit the monitor website to download the latest driver file and do the same for the graphics card. I have to say that the new LCD screens don't flicker as much as CRTs.
'Tweakui' is a free Microsoft utility which is downloadable from them or from such as Tweakfiles or Nonags. It allows you to do all sorts of little tweaks, such as removing the arrows on your icons, getting rid of some stuff from your start list, clearing IE history or Run history on bootup, mouse performance tweaks and some others. You can speed up the startup too and allow scandisk to start automatically after a crash reboot. There's a special version for XP.
For the more knowledgable, make sure that your hard disc drive, CD, DVD or other (E)IDE drive has DMA selected (if they are modern types) and that your modem COM port (usually 3) is set to a higher bits-per-second rate than the 9600 default.
There's a diagnostic program which you might be able to get hold of, SiSoft Sandra (not free), which can print out a list of hints and tips to improve performance. Mostly contradictory but there are some useful ones.
Hardware Ident Tip
If you can't find a manufacturer's name for whatever peripheral, you might be
able to find out from its FCC number. Most manufacturers will have had to register
with the U.S.A.'s FCC to be able to sell in that country, roughly equivalent to
'CE' approval on European goods. In fact the FCC is the USA equivalent of our
UK DTI's Radiocommunication Agency and relates to radio interference matters.
Here is the FCC ID number search page.
