Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Trim the Fat 205
Tame Mindless Animation and Display Effects 205
Make Menus More Mindful 211
Start Windows in Less Time 211
Start Windows Instantly (Almost) 215
Shut Down Windows Quickly 222
Start Applications Faster 224
Make Your Hardware Perform 225
Get Glass 226
Maximize the Windows Performance Rating 232
Improve Battery Life 235
viii | Table of Contents
Manage IRQ Priority 239
Overclock Your Processor 240
Hard Disk 242
A Defragmentation Crash Course 242
If in Doubt, Throw It Out 246
Optimize Virtual Memory and Cache Settings 249
Choose the Right Filesystem 254
Advanced NTFS Settings 255
Transfer Windows to Another Hard Disk 258
Work with Partitions 263
6. Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Crashes and Error Messages 276
Viruses, Malware, and Spyware 277
What to Do When Windows Won??™t Start 286
Manage Startup Programs 291
Check Your Drive for Errors with Chkdsk 294
What to Do When a Program Crashes 298
What to Do When a Program Won??™t Start 303
Green Ribbon of Death 305
Blue Screen of Death 307
Dealing with Drivers and Other Tales of
Hardware Troubleshooting 313
How to Add Hardware 314
Interpret Device Manager Errors 318
Go Back in Time with Restore Points and Shadow Copies 322
Test for Bad Memory (RAM) 326
Don??™t Overlook the Power Supply 328
Fix USB Power Management Issues 328
Fix Printer Problems 329
Preventive Maintenance and Data Recovery 329
Patch Windows with Windows Update 330
Quick, On-the-Fly Backups 331
Back Up Your Entire System 332
Recover Your System After a Crash 339
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