PERSONAL COMPUTER PROBLEMS

JULY 30th 2008

It is time to update this page which was started to deal with the oft reported problem of 'Disk Thrashing', the annoying over-activity of the hard drive that interferes with the activity of the program the user wished to use. I suggested a means to reduce this but now, after further trials I have come to a more radical conclusion.

I write paticularly for those like myself who do not wish or need to upgrade to the latest awful breed of laptop with low, wide screens (a huge mistake, the 4 x 3 postcard/TV ratio has always been and will remain the best) and reflective screen surface (which means you can't see anything properly unless the area behind you has no bright lights). It is amazing the mistakes the industry makes and these two are really bad, though the low, wide screen is the most serious as it has no use whatsoever other than in the cinema and not really even there.

While I have personally declined the temptation to move to Vista and remain happy with XP, the following advice applies to both.

1. Get rid of all anti-virus, anti-spyware and proprietary firewall programs
2. Install PC Tools Spyware Doctor with Antivirus and PC Tools Registry Mechanic.

This is rather easier, if you have a PC of a certain age than adding more RAM or fiddling around with other means to reduce page-file writing and expanding virtual memory demands. It will speed up your PC in the most surprising way, mainly due to the mess you will have removed.  It will add greatly to your security as SD updates daily, very quickly.

Uninstalling some well-know antivirus programs may lead to problems with your socket settings.
If that happens and you can't connect to the Internet, go to start menu > run > type in: cmd > ok. 
The command prompt will open, type in: netsh winsock reset > Press Enter

2. SECURITY