Tips to Speed Up Windows XP

Posted on Nov 30, 2007 in Windows | 4 Comments

Although Windows XP is not the newest operating system from Microsoft (Windows Vista is the new version), I find that there are still many people that prefer XP over Vista. I, for one, am one of those people that prefers XP instead of Vista. I find it a faster more reliable operating system.

I have been using XP for many years now, and have at times looked for ways to tweak the operating system to get the most performance out of my computer. There are many tweak tips on the Internet, many true and many false, but I have decided to put together a simple list that you can use to make you version of XP run faster.


Simple XP Speed Tips

There are a few simple changes that you can make to XP that will help speed up the system. Some of the tips provided here may also make your system more stable and secure.

  • Stop unneeded programs from starting when Windows XP starts. This is perhaps one of the quickest ways to speed at least the startup of XP. This may also increase the stability of your system as fewer programs are running in the background. To perform this tip, do the following:
    1. Click Start->Run to open the Run dialog.
    2. Type msconfig.exe in the dialog and click OK.
    3. Click the Startup tab at the top to display a list of programs that start when Windows starts.
    4. Uncheck any programs that you don’t want to start when Windows starts.
    5. Once you have unchecked the programs, click OK and then the Restart button to restart Windows XP.

    For more information, please read Stop Programs from Running When Windows Starts.

  • Modify the Windows XP performance settings. The are certain settings that XP has enabled by default to make your desktop and applications look better. These can be disabled to slightly increase the performance:
    1. Click Start->Settings->Control Panel->System to open the system dialog.
    2. At the top, click the Advanced tab.
    3. Under the Performance section, click the Settings button.
    4. In the Visual Effects tab, select Adjust for best performance and then click OK.
    5. Click OK again to close the System Properties window.
  • Change to the Windows Classic theme. Unless you have customized the look of your desktop, or enjoy the look of Windows XP, you can squeeze a bit more performance out of your system if you switch to the Windows Classic theme:
    1. Right-click an empty area of your desktop and then click Properties.
    2. Under the Themes tab, select Windows Class from the list.
    3. Click the OK button to change themes.
  • Defragment your hard drive. This task should be performed during regular maintenance of your computer. Windows XP comes with a built-in disk defragment utility:
    1. Open Windows Explorer by pressing Windows Key+E.
    2. Right-click a drive to defrag and select Properties.
    3. Click the Tools tab and then click Defragment Now.
    4. Select the drive in the list and click the Defragment button at the bottom of the screen.

    For more information about automating this maintenance task, please read Automating Computer Maintenance.

  • Run anti-virus and anti-spyware applications on your computer. Both viruses and spyware can reduce the performance of your computer, or even worse, prevent it from booting. Ensure that you have anti-virus and anti-spyware applications installed and updated. Run scans from both applications at least once a week to ensure that your computer is safe.

    For more information, please read Protecting Your Computer from Viruses and Spyware.

  • Disconnect unused USB devices. There are times when you don’t need to have your scanner or printer connected to your computer. If you don’t need those devices then either turn them off or unplug them from the USB port. Every time Windows loads it also loads the drivers for all USB devices it detects that are connected to the system. If the device isn’t connected than the drivers aren’t loaded. Only connect the device if you plan on using it.

Summary

This post provided a few XP speed tips that are easy and safe to implement. Some of the tips may provide a more performance gain than others, while others will also help you keep your computer secure. In the future I’ll write another post in speeding up XP that will include much more advanced tips.

Getting Colour Values from Web Site Templates

Posted on Nov 28, 2007 in Web Site - Design | 1 Comment

Many of us aren’t the greatest Web site designers, or just don’t have time to design one, and because of this we rely on templates that others have created. The only problem with this is we may not understand how the entire Web site is designed with regards to files used and the layout of the site.

One issue that I have recently read about is getting the values for the site colours to use with Google Adsense. The template user wanted to know how to get the colours from the template to blend in the Adsense ads with the site. The problem a user may have is reading the cascading stylesheets that come with a template to find the correct colours. In this post I will show how to retreive a colour from a Web site without look at the cascading stylesheets.


Using an Image Editor

This method may seem long when you read it, but it basically involves taking a screenshot of the Web site, pasting it into an image editor and then retrieving the colour.

In this example I will use Windows Paint and Windows calculator to get the colour. You can use any image editor that allows you to retrieve colours, such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.

To get the colours use the following steps:

  1. Open up your Web browser and navigate to the Web site.
  2. Press ALT+Print Screen to make a copy of the screen. The screen copy will be in memory, so you won’t see anything change.
  3. Click Start->Run and then enter mspaint.exe in the Run dialog. This will open up Windows Paint.
  4. In Paint, press CTRL+V to paste the screen copy from memory into the document. You should now see the screen in Windows Paint.
  5. From the toolbar on the left, click the eyedropper icon, also called Pick Color and then click the colour you want to find the value for.
  6. Once you have clicked the colour, click Colors and then Edit Colors from the menu at the top. You should now see the Edit Colors dialog box on the screen.
  7. Click the Define Custom Colors button to expand that dialog box.
  8. The colour you clicked with the eyedropper will be the selected colour in the dialog. Write down the three numbers beside Red, Green, and Blue labels. For the Web, we will be converting those three numbers to hexadecimal.
  9. Click Start->Run and then type calc.exe in the Run dialog box.
  10. With Windows calculator open, click View and then Scientific to get more advanced calculator functions.
  11. Near the upper-left corner of the calculator you will see four option buttons: Hex, Dec, Oct, Bin. These are the differernt number systems. We will focus on Hex (hexadecimal) and Dec (decimal) for now. Ensure that Dec is selected.
  12. Typein the Red value that you retrieved from Windows Paint in the calculator, and then click the Hex option. The value should now be converted to hexadecimal, which you should now record somewhere. If the number is not two characters in length, then append a leading zero to the value.
  13. Click the Dec option and then enter the Green value, and then select the Hex option. Write down that value beside the red value.
  14. Repeat the previous step for the Blue value and write that value down next to the green value.

    15. For example, if you had a value of Red=155, Green=98, and Blue = 201, then your new number should be 9B62C9.

  15. The number you should end up with will be 6 characters in length. This is the hexadecimal number that represents the colour you selected on your Web site. You can now use this number in Google Adsense, or any other place and the colour will match your Web site.

Summary

This post explained how to retrieve a colour value from a Web site without reading the cascading stylesheets. Windows Paint was used to retrieve the Red, Green, and Blue values of the colour, and Windows Calculator was then used to convert the three numbers to hexadecimal. Using this method, you can easily find out colour values of an colour on any Web site.

Review: Web Mash

Posted on Nov 26, 2007 in Web Site - Review | No Comments

With Technically Easy I try to write posts that are both informational as well as helpful. I am a more serious blog as compared to other blogs. There are many types of blogs that people have authored, informational, personal, witty, or funny, as is the case with Web Mash.

It is nice to just get away from the pressures of life and just kick back and laugh and just have fun, and that is just what this blog provides.

Click to continue reading »

About Colour Management

Posted on Nov 23, 2007 in Digital Cameras, Digital Photos, Scanning | 2 Comments

For those who like to edit and print your pictures with the same colours you see on a computer monitor, then learning how to manage colours is very important. Although the colours may look similar between a printed photo and how it is displayed on a computer monitor, chances are that there is some colour differences.

In this post I will discuss what colour management is, and how best to use it to reproduce the colours in the photos you see on your monitor.


Devices and Colours

If you were to show a thousand people various shades of red and ask each one to point to the true red colour, you will probably get a thousand different answers. Each person has their own opinion on what the colour red looks like. Devices to some degree are no different.

There are many devices that deal with colours: scanners, printers, digital cameras and monitors. If they all displayed the same colour the same way, then there wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, each device displays colours differently so if you were to transfer a picture between two devices, chances are the colours won’t be the same. This is where colour management comes in.

The goal of colour management is to obtain a match of a colour between devices, provided the device is capable of displaying the necessary colour.

In order to get the same colour to display on a device you would first need to calibrate the device. A search on Google for monitor calibration will result in almost two million pages in the search results. There is much discussion on calibrating your monitor. Once you have calibrated a device, you will then have a colour profile that can be associated with that device.

Colour Profiles

Once you calibrate your monitor you can save the information in a file called a colour profile. This file contains information about mapping the colours for that device. Some mappings may provide information about the closest possible colour and remap the entire colour range to allow for different gamuts.

Many of the devices that are used to present specific colours to the user include an ICC colour profile that may be installed along with the drivers and applications. The colour profiles may also be available on the vendor’s Web site or through a third party.

You may need several colour profiles for a particular device to ensure that your colours are as accurate as possible. For example, a photo printer can print a photograph on many different types of paper: glossy, matte, normal printer paper. Each of the paper types reproduce colours differently, and as such will require a separate colour profile for the printer. You may be able to get a profile from the paper manufacturer, or they may suggest a profile to use. Either way, it is best to use a profile specific to that paper type.

In photo editors, there is an option to define the various colour profiles to use for the devices. Make sure you select the colour profile that is associated with each device that you will be using to ensure that your get accurate colours.

When saving your photos, you can embed the ICC colour profile so if someone were to open that photo on a computer without the profile, the colours will still be displayed accurately because the profile information is embedded inside the file. The downside to this is that it makes your image file larger.

Summary

Each device that is used with photographs can display colours differently. To get accurate colours, it is important to use a colour profile for that device. The device’s vendor, or a third party vendor, can provide you with the necessary colour profile for the device. Some devices, such as printers, may require different colour profiles depending on the target output, such as glossy or matter paper.

Automating Computer Maintenance

Posted on Nov 21, 2007 in Security, Windows | 3 Comments

I have written several posts in the past regarding regular computer maintenance. Keeping a regular maintenance schedule is important if you would like to protect yourself against viruses and spyware, as well as maintaining the computer performance. My latest post title Regular Computer Maintenance provided a tutorial on performing some standard maintenance on your computer.

In addition to the information provided in that post, there is an automated way of virus and spyware scanning as well as defragging your hard drive, all without you having to worry about it in the future. This post explains how to accomplish this.

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