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Windows XP Registry File

The windows xp registry file is a database file that is part of windows xp. It contains all the information and parameters pertaining to your windows xp installation. It holds information about the programs that you have installed as well as the entire configuration parameters for your system. The windows xp registry file also holds all the information on how the desktop looks to you.

Your computer runs fast when your computer is new and the windows xp registry file has not got much in it and is clean without leftover information. As your computer gets older and you install more programs as well as removing programs you no longer want, your computer starts to slow down. This is because the  windows xp registry file get larger and larger causing windows XP to take longer to find information. Your registry will also start to contain errors, which also has a slowing effect.

This is the reason why you get a windows XP slow startup. You will find that you will probably get a Windows XP slow shutdown and find Windows XP slow as well when you are using it. The windows XP  registry file is one of the main components that can affect your windows XP performance.

By removing unnecessary entries, your computer finds what it needs in the registry a lot faster. Despite this, the windows registry will still get full up over time. Frivolous entries will clutter the windows xp registry file as it becomes fuller and fuller and more and more programs are installed or removed.

One way to reduce this is by using a registry cleaner. This works by removing and deleting unnecessary program information. It will also remove all those errors that have accumulated in the windows xp registry file. When you create or delete files or install or uninstall software, it adds to your registry. Unfortunately by removing programs fragments are frequently left behind. Bits of the software programs are often still on your computer. If you leave these remnants, problems can be caused, sometimes making your Windows XP unstable and slowing it down causing problems in the future. A registry cleaner is programed to clean up your registry file by removing anything that should not be there and compacting it.

Because of the need for Windows XP to use the registry, there is no way to avoid cluttering up your windows xp registry file. You can fix the Windows registry errors, but you should avoid trying to delete registry errors yourself. You would be much better off purchasing a Windows registry cleaner and periodically running it.

A most thorough registry cleanup will be performed using registry scanners and cleaners. With minimal instruction, the windows registry will be repaired and cleaned by these tools. Don’t make a mistake, a windows registry clean is of utmost importance to extend your computer’s life. One reasonable priced cleaner I recommend is “Registry Winner”. “Registry Winner” gives you a free scan that will give you an indication on how good or how bad your registry file is. So take action and click on “Registry Winner” to get your free scan. “Registry Winner” also has additional optimization tools that will help to increase the performance of your PC. It is compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

The commercial registry cleaner programs now sold are much more efficient and up-to-date than the windows free registry repair tools available. Just remember it is important that you periodically “clean“ your windows XP registry file not only to speed up windows XP but to keep it stable.
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Having Windows XP Slow Shutdown Problems?

Have a Windows XP slow shutdown problem? Waiting to go to bed and you want to make sure your PC powers down? Maybe you are just waiting for it to reboot.  it may take more time to complete the shutdown process. So what is is causing this Windows XP slow shutdown problem? A slow shutdown can be caused for a number of reasons. One thing that can cause this is the Windows XP page file.

By default Windows XP when shutting down goes through a process of clearing the page file. This page file is commonly called “virtual memory” and is used to swap pages of “real” memory to this “virtual memory” that resides on your hard disk. The smaller you real memory is (ram) the higher the memory swapping activity. Although this in itself will not cause the Windows XP slow shutdown problem it tends to make the running of programs slow during normal running. During the shutdown though it takes time to clear all the Virtual Memory as being on disk the access to it is slower than real memory. Unfortunately the clearing of virtual memory option is usually set by default.

So why is this so? Well for some reason Microsoft for some reason seemed to think that a large proportion of people buying a PC with Windows XP installed are going to run other operating systems as well as Windows XP (e.g. Linux etc.). This meant that a virtual memory that is not cleared can cause problems when switching between operating systems. Considering that only a very small proportion of users would be doing this you wonder why this option was enabled rather than disabled by default.

As I mentioned this option is enabled, it causes the system pagefile to be cleared upon a clean shutdown. This takes considerable time for the Windows XP operating system to flush out the pagefiles, thus causing your Windows XP slow shutdown problem. Fortunately can turn this option off and improve shutdown times. At the same time if you just happen to be one of those people who does run multiple operating systems then the cache still remains intact and accessible for the other operating system.

So let me show you how to turn this option off. You have to use the registry editor to do this.

  1. Start the registry editor by clicking on “Start” then on “Run“
  2. Type in the run box “Regedit” then click “OK“
  3. First perform a save of the registry by clicking on “File” then “Export” and save a copy of the whole registry. (Just in case you have to copy it back)
  4. Click on the “+” sign next to the following folders “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” then “SYSTEM“.
  5. Under this folder click on the  “+” sign next to the following “CurrentControlSet” then “Control” then “Session Manager” and lastly click on the folder icon labeled “Memory Management“
  6. Under the “Memory Management” folder look for the key called “ClearPageFileAtShutdown” If the value is already set to “0” then you have nothing to do. Your Windows XP slow shutdown problem is not this. Just exit the Regedit editor.
  7. If it is set to “1” then right click on the key and click on “modify“
  8. Change the  “Value Data” to “0” then click “OK“

And that’s it! Well for you it may be.

Not quite, if you are having a Windows XP slow shutdown problem and you have Windows XP Professional installed then you are lucky. You do not have to go through all the above heavy stuff. (I guess they have to give you something for all that extra dosh you paid out) You can turn off virtual memory clearing as follows:

  1. Click on “Start” then “Run“.
  2. Type in “secpol.msc” in the run box then “OK“.
  3. Click on the “Security Options” folder.
  4. In the right panel look for the policy called “Shutdown:Clear virtual memory pagefile” and double left click on it.
  5. In the box that pops up left click on the “disabled” button then “OK“.

That’s all, don’t you wish you had Windows XP Professional.

To conclude, there are many other things that can cause Windows XP slow shutdown problems. Many of the fixes suggested for the Windows XP slow startup problem can also be applied. (Cleanup disk, defragment etc). These are explained elsewhere on this website.

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Is My Wireless Secure

You may ask “Is My Wireless Secure” but how does one check if your wireless network is basically secured? That is, is there a password to stop outsiders connecting to it? Well, there are a couple of ways to check but it is worth checking both.

First, if your PC or laptop is connecting to a wireless network it will just connect to the “preferred” network that is usually yours. It will do this automatically so really you do not know which network it has connected to.

To check which one it is connected to perform the following:

  1. Left click on “Start” then “Settings” then “Control Panel”
  2. When your control panel shows find the icon  labeled “Network Connections”
  3. Double left click on this.
  4. A window will appear showing all your possible physical network connections.
  5. Double left click on the one that says “Wireless Network Connection”
  6. Another window will appear showing all the wireless networks that your PC or Laptop can “sense” They will say that they are “secured” or “Not Secured”. It will also show that you are connected to one. Make sure that it says “Secured” It should also be the one that shows the strongest signal strength.
  7. Make a note of the name of the network you are connected to.

This is the end of the first check of  “Is My Wireless Secure”. The second way to make sure is as follows:

  1. Left click on “Start” then “Settings” then “Control Panel”
  2. When your control panel show find the icon  labeled “Network Connections”
  3. Double left click on this.
  4. A window will appear showing all your possible physical network connections.
  5. Right click on the “Wireless Network Connection” and then select “Properties”
  6. In the window that appears you may see one or more networks shown under “Preferred Networks”
  7. Find the one that you noted in instruction “7” above and double left click on it.
  8. In the next window that check if the following indicates.Network Authentication = “Open”
    Data Encryption = “Disabled”

    If they indicate this then you are not protected.

  9. If anything else under these headings there should be a password  under the heading  “Network Key”

If you find you are not protected in either case then you should go to the article “Enabling Basic Wireless Security” (TBA)

After doing that you should come back to “Is My Wireless Secure” and do this recheck.

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Using Wireless Internet

Using Wireless Internet it’s here and how puzzling is it for some of us. We do not want to know its technicalities but how to use it. It’s around us so maybe we should learn a bit about it. Purely in the non-technical sense of course.

Basically all you need to know about wireless internet is no different than that you need when you buy your first mobile phone. Let face it Internet connectability  (is this a new word) is with us and is going to affect our life more and more.

So what is wireless? Oh dear, says it, no wires. So how is it going to affect us?

If you now consider in the average family we have our kids needing to access the Internet almost on a daily basis. They either have or they bring home a laptop provided by their school in order to do their school homework. Dad wants to download his music little sis want to do things, mum wants to find a great recipe for that coming great dinner and even as my daughter does needs to access a website to order books bought for the school. Using wireless Internet will allow this.

So we have a laptop for sis, maybe one for little sis and the main computer for general use and we haven’t factored in that real big brother attending college.

Using Wireless Internet  not only allows multiple people to access the Internet at the same time but also allows them to share information within the household even if they are not connected to the Internet.

But there are a few things we should think about.  One of them is security. Let face it being using wireless internet means we are broadcasting things about us. We can stop this and in future articles I will be teaching you just how to do this.

I travel around and are amazed how many wireless networks I can use because they are not secure yet it is so easy to secure them. No secure system is absolutely secure but lets face it your house is not absolutely  secure but you would not go out without thinking of locking you door.

This may not deter the professional thief but it will deter 95% of the opportunity thieves. The same with Wireless Internet. Fortunately you can make your wireless pretty secure more so than your house.

How do you find if you are at least basically secure. Read my next article “Is My Wireless Secure?” to find how you can check.

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Main Parts Of A Computer

There we are sitting in front of our computer with lots of gadgets hanging around and connected to our computer. We may wonder what are the main parts of a computer.

Well there are parts you can see and parts you cannot (inside that big box) There are parts that you cannot see just by looking. (Software).

So what are the main parts of a computer? Lets look at the hardware first.

The first thing is that us at home with our computer don’t call it that. We call it our PC that stands for Personal Computer. (We assume here that it is yours that why it’s personal) They are called many other things but we don’t really need to go into that.

The term PC usually encompasses all the components of a computer (hardware and software)

We are first going to discus the “Box”, as this is essentially the computer. You know, the bit that you wish you could hide out of sight somewhere. Unfortunately the “box” contains all the stuff that is needed in a computer to make it one which the most important part is the:

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The Central Processing Unit is usually a single large bit of electronics (A chip) that does all the work. It looks at the instructions from the software and acts accordingly. The CPU chip is typically a small thin square chip, which is seated firmly on a thing called a Motherboard (more on this later). The faster the CPU can perform these instructions the better. Unfortunately the more powerful the CPU the more your PC usually costs. If the CPU gets very busy it can get quite hot. To prevent this there usually is a fan and heat sink placed on it to keep it cool.

The Motherboard

The motherboard so called because it contains lot of other parts that control your computer. (We have just seen that the CPU is one of these) Sometimes the term “Mainboard”  is bandied around instead of “Motherboard”) The “Motherboard” also contains the main paths to connections to your external devices. The “Motherboard” as well as the CPU being plugged into it can have other things plugged as well. e.g. a “graphics card”

Computer Memory

Computer memory also plugs into the motherboard. Memory is needed to temporally store the software programs you are currently running on your PC. The CPU accesses the software instructions in the memory that you are currently running. Having this memory speeds up the process of running your PC programs and needless to say the more you have the better.

If the PC did not have this memory then it would have to get the instructions from a Hard Disk drive which are extremely slow by comparison.

A term most commonly used for memory is “RAM” (Random Access Memory)  RAM usually comes in the form of a long thin PCB stick. Data stored in memory is not permanent and is lost when you switch off your PC. Another type of memory that is also on the motherboard is called Read Only Memory (ROM). This is a more permanent form of memory, and works similar to RAM. ROM can only be read from and not written to under normal circumstances.

Data in ROM memory is not lost if the PC is switched off and is used to store important information that is required by the PC when switched back on again.

Sound Card.

The sound card sometimes called the Audio Card that acts as a dedicated CPU to process audio data. Most sound cards are in modern computers are now an integral part of the motherboard. Although these give reasonable sound quality you can also buy more expensive sound card that give higher quality sound. These can be plugged into the motherboard. In most cases the “Onboard” sound card is sufficient for most.

Graphics Card

The Graphics Card, also called the Video Card or Adapter is what controls what you see on your monitor. As with the sound card it can be part of your motherboard or a higher quality (and faster) one that plugs into the motherboard. Once again it has it’s own CPU that is dedicated solely to processing complex graphics-related data. It usually also has its own memory. Displaying graphics takes an enormous amount of work and that is why most people (especially gamers) install a higher quality graphics card that can be quite expensive.

Using a quality graphics card takes a lot of the work that the main CPU used to do making the display of images (specially moving ones) much faster, (this is why gamers install them)

Power Supply Unit

Of course with every electronic device power is needed. This is provided by the Power Supply Unit that is also internal to the box. The power supply converts the mains power to the voltage levels that are needed to drive the various electronic components.  if the PSU cannot provide sufficient stable power to the hardware components of a PC. Wires with plugs on the end are used to distribute the power to the various components. There are usually spares that are used if extra components are installed in the PC.

Disk Storage Drives

As main memory (RAM) is only a temporary storage facility we need somewhere to store all our stuff permanently. I’m sure when you bought your PC the salesperson (being politically correct here) spouted on how many gigabytes hard disk storage the PC has.

Hard disk drives are plugged into the motherboard via cables from the back of the disk drive. The motherboard in most cases has a built in disk drive controller although on much higher powered PC’s there are plug in controller boards.

Hard disk drive data is semi permanent, that is things can be written to them and deleted from them. They are also sort of semi random access but can only randomly access complete files not data within a file like you can do with RAM.

On big problem with hard disk drives is that they can become fragmented. This when, specially on large files the bits of the files get placed on different parts of the disk. This occurs because of deleting and writing files down to the hard disk. This occurs over time and can be fixed by periodically “defragmenting” the disk with a “Windows” utility”

A term that is going rapidly out of fashion is another type of disk drive called a “Floppy Disk Drive” PC’s nowadays don’t even have one of these installed as they have rapidly been superseded by memory Sticks and Cdrom drives

The last type of disk drive is and Optical Disc Drive  more commonly know as a CDROM drive or a DVD drive. These use a laser to read or write to a cdrom or DVD disk.

Display or Monitor Device

A PC would be useless without one of these as it is what shows the results of all the work the CPU has done. Data is display on the screen of the monitor. These day they tend to be LCD monitors the old CRT heavy monitors rapidly going out of style. I even doubt if you can buy the old style new any more.

In the main the output is displayed graphically. This graphical data usually comes directly from the graphics card. Nowadays modern PC’s can also be plugged into a television set of any type, such as CRT, LCD, Plasma, Rear or Front Projector. Monitors have the ability to display graphics at different resolutions. These are usually expressed in so many pixels wide by a number of pixels high (e.g. 800x 600 or 1024 x 768 and higher). A pixel is a single dot on the screen. The higher the resolution the clearer the image.

Cooling Devices

Like all electronic devices (yes that’s all a PC is) they can generate a lot of heat, especially when they are being used heavily. We have already spoken about cooling for the CPU but the rest of the components need cooling as well. A fan is incorporated into the “Box” to  cool the inside of the case.

The PC Case

This is what hold all the electronic components, The motherboard, CPU, controllers, Disk drives and more plus of course the Power Unit. The Case is usually ventilated at the back and at least one side (usually where the CPU heats sink fan is ventilated)

A common mistake with PC owners is to place the case hard up against something restricting this flow of air from the case side. This can sometimes be seen by strange things happening when you are using the PC (system suddenly reboots, get funny errors) This is caused by overheating. Modern PC’s usually have a overheating cut out that drops the power as well if it gets too high.

Peripherals

This is a term used to describe anything attached externally to the PC. Printers, external disk drives and such. Even your keyboard and mouse are classed as a peripheral.

Operating System and Software

We have now reached the parts of a computer you cannot see you only see the results of what they do on your screen.

The first of these is the Operating System, such as Windows XP. This is the most necessary piece of software as it tells all the hardware and software components in a PC what to do to achieve a desired result. In other words, It is the boss and controls everything.

The term software, is a more general term, referring to a collection of instructions which perform a particular task, more generally called programs. Itunes we probably all know is software that allows you to download music or videos and play them. Outlook Express is a program that manages all your e-mail. Whatever they are they still run under the control of the “Operating System”.

So there you are a brief understanding what all the main parts of a computer are. Don’t forget  if you wish to go into the workings deeper have a look at “How Computers Work“

 
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