Archive for February, 2009:
Setting Compression Options for a Drive
Windows includes a compression setting for your files. You can choose to compress the entire drive, a single folder, or just one file. My recommendation is that you always compress the entire drive. The compression feature supplied with Windows works quickly and the advantages of compressing the entire drive are too great to ignore. Even on drives that only contain applications; you can always get some level of increased hard drive space from data compression. It’s typical to see an increase in the 40 percent range, but the amount you see depends on the kind of files you want to compress.
NOTE
Before you read about it elsewhere, some people don’t like data compression because they think it slows their system down. Truthfully, there’s a small performance penalty from one perspective
and a small performance gain from another to consider. The small performance penalty is the time required to compress or decompress files as needed in the background. When working with small files, you’ll never even notice this time. The performance gain comes from the time saved reading the data from the hard drive. A compressed file requires fewer hard disk reads (which are somewhat slow compared to other data transfers), so you get a small performance gain. In general, these performance changes are so small that you won’t notice them.
To compress an entire hard drive, right-click the drive and select Properties from the context menu. Choose the General tab. Check the Compress Drive to Save Disk Space option as shown in Figure
5.1. When you click OK, Windows will ask how you want the change applied. For example, you could apply it just to the root directory of the drive. Select the entire drive to obtain the highest optimization
benefit.
NOTE
Windows will likely report that it can’t compress some files. When asked what to do about these files, select the Ignore option. Windows can’t compress some files because they’re always in
use or because Windows needs them in the uncompressed state. For example, Windows can’t compress the paging file because this file is always in use and it would be dangerous to compress paged
memory that is constantly changing.
Make sure you set Windows to display compressed files in an alternate color so you can see the results of the compression. To set the alternative color, choose the Tools Folder Options command in Windows Explorer. Select the View tab of the Folder Options dialog box and check the Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS Files in Color option. When you click OK, Windows Explorer will
use the new color setting.
Figure 5.1
Compress the entire drive to obtain the maximum optimization benefit.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Compressing Data Files
Unlike the vacuum-pack metaphor I used earlier, applications don’t fill data files with air—you can’t press them down to remove extra content because normally there isn’t any extra content. Data compression often involves a more subtle approach. For example, when you have five spaces in a row, you could simply come up with a code that says there are five spaces. The code might require two
bytes versus the five bytes used by the spaces. This is just one of many compression techniques.
WARNING
Never attempt to compress files on your system using the Windows built-in support with any applications open (except Windows Explorer). Always close every application to ensure the compression feature works as intended. This warning is especially important when you choose to compress an entire drive because Windows won’t compress open files.
The actual file compression methods aren’t nearly as important for optimizing Windows as the results. Some files, such as documents and most graphics, compress quite well, but others, such as
executable files (applications) don’t compress much at all. Consequently, the amount of disk space savings you receive from using the techniques in the sections that follow depends on how well the files compress and on the technique you choose (many file compression utilities have a series of minimum to maximum compression settings).
TIP
If you want to learn more about data compression, the Internet contains a wealth of resources. This topic is extremely important because other technologies such as communication rely on compression. You’ll find a good introductory overview of this topic on Howstuffworks at http:// www.howstuffworks.com/file-compression.htm . If you prefer a question and answer format,
check the Compression FAQ Index at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/compression-faq/ . A more
advanced compression reference (one that is technically precise but a tad hard to read) appears on the Introduction to Data Compression site at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/compression-faq/ part2/section-1.html . You’ll also find benchmarks for timing how long it takes compression utilities to work and discussions of the best compression technique to use for a particular need. All of these discussions are interesting to read, but the bottom line is that you still end up with more space on your hard drive.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Chapter 5 Saving Data for Later
Some people wrongly equate the term data with something they have created such as a document. Data can mean any assembly of computer information bits that you want it to be. You can use the term data to refer to materials you download from the Internet or the settings files created by an application. For that matter, applications are a form of data—they’re simply a binary (or computer formatted) kind of data. Data does include the documents and other files you create, but don’t limit the suggestions in this chapter to that small subset. It’s possible to save any kind of data you want for later use.
I was watching television the other day and a guy came on screen with a miracle system for compressing bulky items like sweaters and comforters using a special plastic bag and a vacuum. He showed a closet in a shocking state of disarray. The goal was to store more stuff in a smaller space. The commercial ended by showing a neat version of the same closet—all made possible by this miracle
device. Computer hard drives are a lot like closets and most of them are in a shocking state of disarray. Compression utilities can serve the same purpose as this miracle device on television—they can
help you make better use of the space and enhance the appearance of your hard drive.
Eventually, no matter how many gizmos you use, the closet in your home is filled and you need a storage shed to store more stuff. Offline computer storage serves the same purpose. You move the
compressed data files from your hard drive to a Compact Disk (CD), Digital Video Disk (DVD), tape, or other storage device for later use. Of course, not all storage media is equal. Just as any storage
shed can have leaks and can cause damage to your household goods, offline computer storage eventually loses contact with your data and damages it. Unfortunately, just as these storage sheds
don’t advertise the fact that they’re leaky, computer storage media tends to make claims that the facts don’t support.
Email presents a special problem for archiving because you use it daily and it accumulates fast. Making things even more interesting—it’s hard to find a cutoff point for some types of email so you can
archive it easily. Often the result of filing email for too long is chaos that you can’t quickly clean up. Email is a data store that requires constant vigilance and maintenance if you want to make it useful.
TIP
The most important principle of organizing anything—small kitchen appliances, bank records, a mechanic’s tools, whatever—is that items you use frequently need to be easily at hand, while items
you use infrequently should be out of the way, but secure. The same rule applies to electronic files.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Let’s Start Cleaning
This chapter has outlined a number of application optimization techniques. Not all of these techniques result in faster computer operation—many simply return resources that you would have
otherwise gotten had the application install or uninstall utility worked properly. Some techniques do result in a performance gain, but usually at a loss of something else. In fact, a major consideration
of any optimization technique is that you don’t get something for nothing—a gain in one place usually costs something else, well, except for getting rid of those excess uninstall files on your system.
The one piece of information that you should take away from this chapter is that you can usually do better than the automation provided with an application can at optimizing a setup for your
specific needs.
Your goal, once you complete this chapter, is to optimize the applications on your machine and to optimize the future installations that you perform. Sometimes, optimization means removing an
application that you really don’t need, but in many other cases it means defining which application features you really use and getting rid of everything else. An application optimized for your needs
might not make sense to someone else—their needs are different from yours. Consequently, knowing what you need to perform your tasks is essential. Keeping track of what you use can help in achieving the goal of an optimized machine.
Chapter 5 discusses various kinds of data archiving. Don’t assume that data archiving is simply storing documents away for later. Sometimes you have to store the document context, the application
settings, templates, or other tools used to create the document as well. Archiving can also mean saving the conversations used to create a document or the note you took while creating the document. The form of archiving you perform is also important. Chapter 5 discusses all of these issues and arms you with the information you need to make good archiving decisions.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Controlling Processing Cycle Usage (2)
The first issue to consider is whether you have other tasks running. For example, your system won’t zero out when you have a download occurring in the background. Wait until the download completes and try checking processor cycle usage again. Background tasks always require processing cycles. However, this is a good time to determine how much processor that background task is consuming. You might find that you want to run it at a different time (such as during lunch when your system isn’t otherwise engaged).
Another problem that you might encounter is a hardware or driver problem. For example, some motherboards in the past didn’t implement some advanced features correctly, resulting in a 50 percent processor usage indication at all times, even though the processor wasn’t actually working that much. (See the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at http://support.microsoft.com/ ?kbid=241532 for one example of this problem.)
Drivers can also cause problems. An incorrect driver can increase system processor usage significantly and in this case, the processor is actually working at that pace. One such example of this problem
is the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822603. A high processor usage indication can even occur as the result of outside sources such as Denial of Service (DOS) attack. Learn more from the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at http://support .microsoft.com/?kbid=273854.
When you’re part of a corporate environment, the administrator could install agents on your system to perform special tasks. One of the most common tasks is background backup—this feature helps protect your data from harm, but the cost is the use of some system resources. Check with your administrator when you’re not sure whether your system has an agent installed.
Sometimes, high background processor usage is an indication of something far more nefarious. Viruses are the worst offender, but you also need to consider how much the spyware that you might
have accidentally downloaded is costing you. Even though adware downloads and installs with your knowledge, it also works continuously in the background, burning up processing cycles and other resources that you could use for other purposes. Chapter 10 discusses these problems in detail and provides you with information you can use to rid yourself of these system resource leaches.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Controlling Processing Cycle Usage (1)
An essential part of any optimization process is controlling the processor. The processor should be available for your applications to use. When it isn’t, you have to question just how the system is using
the processor. In fact, non-user-application processor usage is a significant problem on most systems today. You might find that other processes are stealing the processor cycles you need for the following activities:
? Background tasks such as downloads
? System monitoring tasks such as those performed by agents
? Virus activity
? Other monitoring tasks such as those performed by spyware and adware
? Configuration problems such as a failure to install the correct drivers
? Hardware problems such as motherboard setup problems
Before you go much further, it’s important to determine whether you actually have a processor cycle usage problem. The best way to perform this task without breaking out a host of monitoring
applications is to right-click the Taskbar and choose Task Manager from the context menu. Select the Performance tab and you’ll see a display similar to the one shown in Figure 4.17. This particular display
shows two processors, but it works the same for single processor machines.
NOTE Windows 9x users will notice that they don’t have Task Manager directly available the way Windows NT and above users do. To display the Task Manager in Windows 9x, press Ctrl+Alt+Del.
The resulting dialog box shows which applications are running on your system. Unfortunately, Windows 9x does lack some features found on newer Windows versions. For example, you can’t track the amount of memory each application uses or overall system performance using Task Manager.
NOTE Windows 2000 users will notice that they don’t have a Networking tab like the one shown in Figure 4.17. Although this book doesn’t use that tab very often, it does come in handy when you
need to optimize remote applications or those that use resources on other machines. To gain the same functionality in Windows 2000, you need to rely on the System Monitor snap-in of the Performance
console located in the Administrative Tools folder of the Control Panel.
Let your system become idle—don’t touch the mouse or keyboard. After a few seconds, the CPU Usage indicator in the upper left corner should read somewhere between 0 percent and 5 percent.
When your system idles at this level, your system doesn’t have a processor usage problem. Your system has the maximum available processing cycles for the foreground application. However, when
your system won’t zero out, there’s a problem, but it need not be a concern.
Figure 4.17
Determine whether your machine has a processor usage problem before you begin troubleshooting it.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Using FontFrenzy
FontFrenzy is the complete replacement for the Fonts folder in this section. You can download it at http://www.fontfrenzy.org/. This utility is one of the best offerings there is for several reasons. First,
you can restore a previous font configuration with a touch of a button—none of the other font management strategies comes close to this level of convenience. Second, you can use this single utility to test, check, view, install, and delete fonts on your system. Figure 4.16 shows a typical view of this utility.
To begin using this utility on the local machine, select the View Installed Fonts command. Font- Frenzy will display all of the installed fonts on the current machine. You can select fonts on other
machines by clicking FrenzyMan on the toolbar, selecting the View Fonts in a Folder option in the left pane, and clicking Select. The font folder you select appears in the right pane. To see a particular font, select FrenzyInfo on the toolbar and double-click the font entry. FontFrenzy will display a new window with the list of characters for that font.
Before you begin modifying the current font list, click FrenzySnap. This feature lets you save a snapshot of the current font setup so you can restore it later using the Refrenzy option. When you want to restore the font list to those originally shipped with Windows, select the Defrenzy option. FontFrenzy will save the files you remove and you can delete them from the hard drive later. The idea is to ensure your applications will work with just the original Windows fonts (business applications normally will).
Figure 4.16
Select FontFrenzy when you need a complete font management utility.
As you can see from Figure 4.16, you can also work with individual fonts. You can remove them or add new fonts as needed. In short, FontFrenzy is a great utility for someone who needs to manage
many machines and perform font management quickly. It also provides a complete environment for people who use fonts as part of their work.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Using Font Runner
Using Font Runner makes managing fonts considerably easier than using the Fonts folder because you can work with the entire font, rather than individual font folders. In addition, you can create various
test scenarios to see how the font will work in a standard environment.
This is a good utility for someone who works with fonts occasionally or has more than one machine to manage. You download Font Runner at http://www.fontrunner.com/fontrunner/.
When you start Font Runner, it displays a window with a test phrase, but without any fonts loaded. Fonts can actually appear anywhere on your system, not just the Fonts folder, so this feature
makes the application more flexible. To see the installed fonts, those that do appear in the Fonts folder, click View Installed Fonts. Figure 4.15 shows a typical view of the Font Runner window.
The left side of the display lets you select other folders on the machine. You can even choose folders on networked drives and view their content, making it possible for network administrators to
manage fonts on all of the machines accessible from the network without leaving their desk.
The upper right pane contains a list of fonts in the current folder. Notice that the list shows the font name using the font, so you can make a quick determination of which fonts you want to test. The list
shows just the font name, not the list of font files. To see the standard Windows font display shown in Figure 4.13, right-click the font entry and choose Open from the context menu. This context menu also contains options to install the font and to view the font information. You can’t use this utility to remove fonts—use the Fonts folder to remove fonts that you don’t want.
Figure 4.15
Use Font Runner when you need complete system management
of fonts.
The lower right pane contains a test phrase that you want to use. You can right-click this pane to adjust the font display. This display includes setting italics and bold, as well as changing the font color and background. The display makes it easier to see the font as it will appear in the environment in which you’ll use it. Consequently, you can make better decisions on which fonts to remove or keep.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Using the Fonts Folder (2)
Once you determine that you have found a good replacement for the font, you can delete the large font from your system. Make sure you highlight all of the font file entries, right-click the selection, and
choose Delete. Windows will ask whether you’re sure that you want to delete the fonts. Click Yes. Unfortunately, Windows hasn’t deleted the fonts yet—they’re stored in your Recycle Bin.
NOTE You can’t delete some fonts even though they’re immense and you don’t see any need to keep them around. For example, the Tahoma font normally registers an error when you try to remove it
from the system. It’s also important to keep some standard fonts such as Courier and the various symbol fonts handy for use within applications designed to use them.
As it turns out, storing the fonts in the Recycle Bin isn’t a bad idea when you know which application installed the font. You can try the application with the replacement font to determine whether it works as well as you had hoped. If so, simply empty the Recycle Bin—if not, you can restore the font to its former location. Just open the Recycle Bin, highlight the font files, right-click the selected entries,
and choose Restore from the context menu.
Figure 4.12
Look for a similar font before you perform any font deletions.
Figure 4.13
Sight verify that the replacement font will work as a replacement for a font you want to delete.
Using FontView
The FontView utility you download at http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/FontView/index2.php isn’t so much a font management utility as a font viewing utility. One of the problems with the Fonts folder is that you have to open each file individually to see what it looks like. Using FontView, you can see all of the fonts at once, as shown in Figure 4.14.
Figure 4.14
Use FontView when you want to get a good look at the fonts on your system.
You can combine FontView with the Fonts folder to create a good management tool for fonts. Neither product is complete, but the FontView price is right and its addition to the Fonts folder makes
managing fonts a lot easier. This combination works best when you use fonts occasionally and only need to check your font list after a new application installation.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization
Using the Fonts Folder (1)
The Fonts Folder provides limited font support. It lets you view fonts, install new fonts, remove old fonts, and perform a few font comparisons. You can find this folder in the Control Panel. Figure 4.11
shows a typical view of the Fonts Folder.
This view shows every font file in the folder. The Large and List views show you just the filenames and aren’t particularly useful when locating files you want to delete. The Details view shown in Figure 4.11 is the option of choice when you want to locate large files to delete. Notice that the figure shows the files organized by size. In this case, the largest font file is 479KB.
Figure 4.11
Perform simple font management using the features of the Fonts folder.
Unfortunately, deleting a font isn’t as simple as looking for the biggest files. For one thing, Windows requires multiple files to create a single font in most cases. A font that includes bold and italics
versions requires four font files: normal, bold, italics, and bold/italics (combined). The Palatino font shown in Figure 4.11 actually requires four files and the total savings of removing this font is 1.6MB.
It might sound as if removing the Palatino font would be a good idea. However, there’s another question to answer. You need to consider whether there’s a good replacement for that font on the system
when you use the font for decorative or other reasons. The Similarity view shown in Figure 4.12 helps you determine which fonts are closest to Palatino. The Book Antiqua font is very similar to
Palatino according to Windows and it only requires 593KB or about a third of the space that Palatino requires.
You don’t know that Book Antiqua is a good match though. To see how the Book Antiqua font looks, double-click the icon. Figure 4.13 shows how the Book Antiqua font looks.
Taken From : Microsoft Windows XP Power Optimization