Check Your Computer Configuration

To view the summary of the computer configuration you need to go

go to start> run> cmd
this will take you to command prompt

go there and type systeminfo.exe press enter.

[BUT THIS WILL NOT SHOW IN DETAILS. FOR DETAILS CHECK BELLOW]

If your not sure what’s under the hood of your PC, here’s how to find out.

First, go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information
Under the System Summary Tag you will find:

(System model's value part actually is the Mother Board Model Number)

OS Version (i.e. Service Pack 2 in this example). If you have XP it’s best to upgrade to SP3.

Processor type and speed rating. This processor is 3391Mhz or about 3.4Ghz You’ll need a minimum 800Mhz processor for HDTV support.

Physical Memory – you’ll need at least 256Mb, 512Mb would be a lot better such as this one.

Next, under Components, click on the “+” to expand the listing, then click on “USB”.

You’ll see several USB Devices. If one of them says "USB Enhanced" (such as the one in the example highlighted above), you’ve got USB 2.0. This is important if you want to use a USB tuner or if you want to use an external hard drive to record HDTV shows. USB 2.0 is required for these functions. If you only have USB 1.1, all is not lost. You can buy a four port USB 2.0 PCI card for under $30.

Next go to Conflicts/Sharing under Hardware Resources. Although this is no prefect way to determine your type of video slot/card (AGP or PCI-e), this is probably the best method.

The above is an example of an older AGP board.

This is an example of PCI-e board.

NOTE: Onboard graphics may not use DxVA. This means your main CPU will be doing the MPEG-2 decoding. Most older Intel onboard graphics are non-DxVA.

You’ll also need to run DirectX 9.0. Vista has DirectX 10 loaded automatically, but if you have XP, to see what DirectX you currently have, select “Tools” at the top of the System Information screen, then clink on “DirectX Diagnostic Tool”.

Or to reach directly there, go to start> run> type"dxdiag"without qoutes>ok.>system tab, you will get all your system details there.

You’ll see the current DirectX version in the middle of the screen as highlighted in the example above.

To check your hard drive size and free space, go to the main Windows menu and double clink on “My Computer”. Move your cursor on top of your hard drive(s). The total amount of drive space and the amount free will display. Remember, an hour of recorded HDTV will take up 8-9 Gb of disk space.

MONITOR CHECK

To check your montior resolution capabilty, go to Start>Control Panel>Display>Setting
You should see the following screen:

Move the slider in the highlighted area to the desired resolution and click "Apply". The monitor should change to the desired resolution. If there is a problem, it will go back to the original setting after 15 seconds.

Use flash drive as RAM

Till this date, Microsoft’s windows had two options for the memory requirement of the computer, so that the computing can be done at cheaper rates and that too without installing the physical memory.

1. Physical Memory (RAM)
2. Page File (A virtual memory file, stored on hard disk).

The page file is used by the Windows OS to cater the needs of various applications when the physical memory is fully used up. The reason for that is, that Virtual memory is slower as compared to the physical memory and thus Phyical memory takes the first priority.

However, with the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft has introduced a new technology called ReadyBoost. With the help of this technology one can use any Flash drive, SD Cards, CF Cards as the third memory option for the computer.

Now, the benefits of USB Flash Drive or Cards as a source of Memory :

1. It is faster than the virtual memory which is accessed through the hard disk drive.
2. It is cheaper as compared to the actually Physical Memory.

How can it be activated ?

In order to activate the ReadyBoost technology on your FlashDrive or Memory Cards, you have to follow these steps…

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right Click on the Removable Disk Drive and select Properties.
3. Click on ReadyBoost Tab.
4. Enable the feature by selecting the option and allocate the amount of space you want to use as memory.

Things to be noted….

1. Regardless of the fact that you use Readyboost or not, you need at least 512 Mb of memory to run Windows Vista decently.
2. If your device is not giving the option of ReadyBoost then it means that it doesn’t clear up the minimum data trasfer rate required by ReadBoost technology.

5 ways to speed up your PC

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. This article discusses how to use the tools available in Windows 7, Vista, and XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you're online.

1. Free up disk space

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk to improve the performance of your computer. The tool identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.

Use Disk Cleanup to:

• Remove temporary Internet files.

• Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).

• Empty the Recycle Bin.

• Remove Windows temporary files such as error reports.

• Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.

• Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

• Remove unused restore points and shadow copies from System Restore.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup

Window 7 users

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.

2. When Disk Cleanup has calculated how much space you can free, in the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.

   

   Disk Cleanup dialog box

3. Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.

   • For more options, such as cleaning up System Restore and Shadow copy files, under Description, click Clean up system files, then click the More Options tab.

4. When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

For Windows XP users

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.

   

2. In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.

   

   Choose the files that you want to delete.

3. Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.

4. When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

2. Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to run Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:

• You add a large number of files.

• Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.

• You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

To use Disk Defragmenter:

Windows 7 users

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

   

   Click Analyze disk to start the Disk Defragmenter.

2. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.

   Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.

3. To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment disk button. In the Current status area, under the Progress column, you can monitor the process as it happens. After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.

4. To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.

5. To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.

6. You can also schedule the Disk Defragmenter to run automatically, and your computer might be set up this way by default. Under Schedule, it reads Scheduled defragmentation is turned on, then displays the time of day and frequency of defragmentation. If you want to turn off automatic defragmentation or change the time or frequency, click the Configure schedule (or Turn on Schedule, if it is not currently configured to run automatically). Then change the settings, then click OK.

7. To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

To use Disk Defragmenter:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

   

   Click Analyze disk to start the Disk Defragmenter.

2. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.

   Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.

3. To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button. Note: In Windows Vista, there is no graphical user interface to demonstrate the progress—but your hard drive is still being defragmented.

   After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.

4. To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.

5. To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.

6. To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

3. Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

Run the Error Checking utility:

1. Close all open files.

2. Click Start, and then click My Computer.

3. In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.

4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.

5. Click the Check Now button.

6. In the Check Disk dialog box (called Error-checking in Windows 7), select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.

   

   Example of Check Disk Local Disk dialog box

   
   

7. If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Tip: Only select the "Automatically fix file system errors" check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

4. Protect your computer against spyware

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using the PC safety scan from Windows Live OneCare. This scan is a free service and will help check for and remove viruses.

5. Learn all about ReadyBoost

If you're using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use non-volatile flash memory—like a USB flash drive or a memory card—to improve performance without having to add additional memory.