Windows 1
Your PC rebor
May 2019 | |^63
“Not only can you delete and disable
start-up items, you can swap their
running order around too”
first by unticking them; later you can
right-click them to delete them, and
perform other tasks such as choosing
Check VirusTotal to upload the file in
question for a malware scan online.
Bring services into line
You’ll notice a Services tab in Autoruns,
which mirrors what’s shown when you
press [Win] + [R] and type services.msc
into the Run box. These system
programs run in the background and
while most are linked to Windows, not
all are. Not all are necessary and if you
want a quick and dirty speed boost,
installing Easy Service Optimizer (www.
sordum.org/?p=8637) will enable you
to choose one of four presets
depending on what services you’re
willing to sacrifice in the name of
performance. If you want to temporarily
suspend non-essential services when
performing resource-heavy tasks, such
as playing games or ripping high
definition (HD) video, then try JetBoost
(www.bluesprig.com/jetboost.html).
Services compete for resources like
everything else, but did you know it’s
possible to allocate different priorities to
services and programs to give favoured
apps more access to those precious
resources? You can do this via Task
Manager (right-click the Taskbar to open
it) – switch to More Details view. Locate
your target app under Processes,
right-click it and choose ‘Go to Details’.
Right-click the highlighted process and
choose Set Priority to see your options.
Whatever you do, avoid ‘Realtime’ –
this will quickly bring Windows grinding
,to a halt. Instead nudge processes up or
down a single notch to ‘AboveNormal’
or ‘BelowNormal’ respectively. Setting
certain background processes to
BelowNormal can hand resources to
other programs without unduly
affecting their own performance.Manage processes
The major problem with Task Manager is
that your custom priority setting lasts
only as long as the process is running.
The next time it’s launched, priorities
are reset to Normal. If you’d like topermanently raise or lower a process,
you’ll need a program called Prio (www.
prnwatch.com/prio/). Download the
32-bit or 64-bit version as required, and
once it’s running, you’ll find a new Save
Priority option has been added to the
Set Priority sub-menu. Make sure it’s
ticked and any changes you make to a
process’s priority will be stored and
reapplied the next time it’s run.
If you’re running a low-powered PC
that often appears to hang for periods
of time, then take a look at Process
Lasso (https://bitsum.com) – the free
version can ‘balance’ the demands made
by processes, automatically lowering the
priority of any which threaten to
overwhelm your PC’s limited resources.
Once installed, you can leave the
program to its devices. QBanish sluggish programs
Most of your computing life
is spent using applications
rather than Windows itself. If
your PC is struggling under
the weight of all the programs
you use on it, consider trying
to source more lightweight
alternatives. First, see if you
can source a portable version
of your favourite program
using http://www.portableapps.
com as a starting point as well
as the app’s own website.
Portable versions are self-
contained, so only consume
resources when they run and
don’t clog up the Registry or
other system folders. An
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Windows, ensuring that they- and your precious settings
- survive your next reinstall or
major system crash.
Second, see if a faster, less
bloated alternative is available
for those programs you can
easily swap out – programs
worth swapping include your
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image editor and even your
security software. Visit
https://alternativeto.net to
see which alternatives are out
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narrow down your search to
lessdemanding alternatives.
Prio enables you to permanently
set a process’s priority.The AlternativeTo website can help you track down resource-light
alternatives to programs that are holding your PC back.