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kestrellI ended up doing a lot of this on Christmas, because I had just backed up my files to my external hard drive on Christmas Eve, and I figured I would not be using the laptop all day.
Decluttering and organizing my files recovered about 1 1/2-2G of memory, and I also uninstalled a number of programs, such as Open Office, which is never as accessible as I want it to be, and most notably I uninstalled the Google desktop, which had been perceptibly slowing down my computer.
I then followed the tips in this article
5 ways to speed up your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx
although I had already freed up disk space and was running an anti-virus/malware/spyware cocktail, which includes Spybot Search & Destroy which has a mode for blind users.
I then ran Disk Cleanup and the Error Checking utility from the Windows system tools in Accessories, and that took most of Christmas Day. Then I ran the Defragmenter, which took overnight into the next day.
At this point I had recovered another 2G of memory.
Next I ran a registry cleaner, which not only finds memory dumps and such but also helps to streamline Startup.
Re Jaws-friendly registry cleaners, here are some demos and recommendations I found:
from Blind Geek Zone
http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/audio.htm
Podcast: 06-02-2009 - CCleaner Demo.
A demonstration of the popular
CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Download link
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
utility program that many people use to cleanup their computers on a regular basis. This is a walk-through of all of the features of this flexable program.
CCleaner demo.mp3
http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/Audio/CCleanerDemo.mp3
Note that the default download site from filehippo uses a graphic to start the download, so you may wish to use the alternate sites link.
Also from Blind Geek Zone, from the same URL
Podcast: 05-03-2009 - PC Maintenance.
Geovanni Bahena gives a presentation in the BGZ chat room about using various programs including registry mechanic to do pc maintenance. Afterwards he takes questions from the audience.
from Fred's Head Companion:
a page containing registry tweaks you can apply to Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Another Jaws-friendly registry cleaner from
http://www.freelists.org/post/jawslite/Registry-Mechanic-No-Longer-Accessible-with-JAWS,2
Auslogics Registry Cleaner:
http://download.cnet.com/Auslogics-Registry-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-10909814.html
My laptop is appreciably faster. I'm going to look into whether I can find someone to pay to install more memory on my laptop, but for now, at least my laptop is not so slow that it's making me insanely frustrated.
Decluttering and organizing my files recovered about 1 1/2-2G of memory, and I also uninstalled a number of programs, such as Open Office, which is never as accessible as I want it to be, and most notably I uninstalled the Google desktop, which had been perceptibly slowing down my computer.
I then followed the tips in this article
5 ways to speed up your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx
although I had already freed up disk space and was running an anti-virus/malware/spyware cocktail, which includes Spybot Search & Destroy which has a mode for blind users.
I then ran Disk Cleanup and the Error Checking utility from the Windows system tools in Accessories, and that took most of Christmas Day. Then I ran the Defragmenter, which took overnight into the next day.
At this point I had recovered another 2G of memory.
Next I ran a registry cleaner, which not only finds memory dumps and such but also helps to streamline Startup.
Re Jaws-friendly registry cleaners, here are some demos and recommendations I found:
from Blind Geek Zone
http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/audio.htm
Podcast: 06-02-2009 - CCleaner Demo.
A demonstration of the popular
CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Download link
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
utility program that many people use to cleanup their computers on a regular basis. This is a walk-through of all of the features of this flexable program.
CCleaner demo.mp3
http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/Audio/CCleanerDemo.mp3
Note that the default download site from filehippo uses a graphic to start the download, so you may wish to use the alternate sites link.
Also from Blind Geek Zone, from the same URL
Podcast: 05-03-2009 - PC Maintenance.
Geovanni Bahena gives a presentation in the BGZ chat room about using various programs including registry mechanic to do pc maintenance. Afterwards he takes questions from the audience.
from Fred's Head Companion:
a page containing registry tweaks you can apply to Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Another Jaws-friendly registry cleaner from
http://www.freelists.org/post/jawslite/Registry-Mechanic-No-Longer-Accessible-with-JAWS,2
Auslogics Registry Cleaner:
http://download.cnet.com/Auslogics-Registry-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-10909814.html
My laptop is appreciably faster. I'm going to look into whether I can find someone to pay to install more memory on my laptop, but for now, at least my laptop is not so slow that it's making me insanely frustrated.
