Drives

[codswallop]

Im not sure whether I'm stating this correctly,but I understand that you can share the pc's workload by putting some of it on other drives.Have I got this right and if so how do you it?My aim is to quicken up start-up and freesome more virtual memory.Thanks in anticipation.(I've probably got it all wrong)

[rojash]

Yes! You've got it all wrong :-)

Putting stuff on other drives will not affect the workload of the pc or speed up the start-up. However you can increase the amount of virtual memory (assuming there is insufficient space on your C drive), either by moving your data to another drive, or by moving the page file (swap file).

The easiest way to move your data to another drive is as follows:

Right-click on the "My Documents" icon on the dekstop
Choose Properties
On the Target tab, click the Move button
Browse to the other drive
Click Make New Folder and give it a name
Select the new folder and click OK

[codswallop]

Thanks rojash,I know that this will seem a silly question to you ,but bear with me.What drive do I transfer the data to?Is it just "MY Documents" that can be trasferred,if not what would you suggest?I have a lot of photos stored,could they be done ,and would they have to be in their own folder??
Questions Questions Questions!!!!!!
Thanks again.

[peanut]

You should also check that your virtual memory is properly set. Right click your "my computer" icon and select properties. Note the total ram. Then click the advanced tab, click the performance settings tab, select the advanced tab and go to the bottom where it says virtual memory. select change. Right in the middle you will see initial and maximum size. Make the initial size 1.5 times the number you noted earlier. The max should be 3 times the number you noted earlier. You may have to click custom size to make this change.

As for the startup, go to start, run, type msconfig and click ok. Go to startup and you will see a list of things with checkmarks by them. You should be able to uncheck everything but your security programs. You should see something giving you an idea what the program is in the location or command column. Any of those programs you uncheck will not load at startup. However they will take an extra couple seconds to load when you need to use the program. In other words If you do not immediately need the program as soon as you start your computer, why load them. Your computer will start much faster if it does not have so many programs to load up. When you are done making your changes you will need to restart you computer. After the restart a box fo the configuration utility will pop up. Click do not show me this again. Keep in mind that any of these changes are completely reversible so there is nothing to worry about. You computer may not start up quicker the first time because it needs time to make your changes, but it should be fine after that.

Some will probably disagree with this solution but i've been doing it this way for years and have no startup or memory issues. Good luck and i hope this makes sense and helps you.

[codswallop]

Crystal clear Peanut.When all is quiet I''ll give it a try.Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[codswallop]

Hi again Peanut,for the VM side of my question.I had alredy changed the settings as you suggested with no improvement.For the second part I followed your very clear instructions but when I saw the list of progs.it was all gobbidigook to me.It wasn't as you see it on the desktop i.e icons with names,just lines of data type.I just would not know what to uncheck!!!

[peanut]

Well like i said, you need to look through that for something that contains the name of your security programs. Like if you have norton internet security you will see something like ccapp or maybe you can expand the location column and look for symantec or something like that. Worst case scenerio, you can uncheck everything. Restart your computer and see if it starts any faster. Note the ones that are already unchecked first so that when you go back to check them again you dont check more than there was to begin with. If your computer does start faster after unchecking everything then you should really try to look through that startup menu for the names of those security programs so you can check those. If that is not an option, you can always keep everything unchecked and just reinstall all of your security programs and they will be back on the startup menu automatically. Then you can go back to that startup list and note whats checked so that next time you will know exactly what to keep checked.

[peanut]

Remember not to go online with everything unchecked!!!

[codswallop]

I tried the method of unchecking all the items but the first prog. I tried "Windows movie maker" I couldn't open,and because of the "shorthand" type of item description in the Startup I didn't know which one to enable again. You're dealing with a real thicko here!!!

[justwilliam]

Hey Codswallop there is a download called Startup Inspector which tells youin plain English what each programme in the startup does and whether it is needed there.Uncheck as required.Aswith msconfig the whole thing is reversable so no problem

[codswallop]

Thanks justwilliam,I used a site called bleeping computer.com that made clear what each prog.does and whether it was necessary or not at Startup.It seems to have improved the startup speed.Thanks again for your answer!!