Number 301 - June 2008

PC Pitstop - The Ultimate Tune-up
by Vinny La Bash, Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
If your computer's performance resembles that of a tortoise rather than a hare, bring it to PC Pitstop for an overhaul. The chances are high that this unusual website can cure most unspecified performance illnesses, relieve errors, and cure backup problems. It's especially good at reducing Vista related performance issues.    Fine tuning your PC is the website's specialty. It will take your rig through a variety of diagnostic checks automatically. All the diagnostic tools are entirely automatic, non-intrusive, and totally safe for your machine. Let the tools do their work, and you will be presented with a list of suggested improvements along with tips on how to implement them if needed.    Most people don't bother to keep their device drivers up to date either because they are unaware of the importance of doing so or more likely because they simply don't know how. Device drivers are essential pieces of software that allow your applications to communicate with your hardware. They instruct printers on what to print and how to print it. Drivers make sure that when you press an A on your keyboard an A shows up on your screen. Without device drivers, your computer would be useless junk.    The site offers a free Drive Alert Notification Service that determines if your drivers are up to date. Out of date drivers can be the reason why certain features on your hardware don't work. Obsolete drivers can introduce bugs into your system by creating memory conflicts. The tool is easy to use, and no specialized knowledge is required to take advantage of it. That can be said about any of the diagnostics on the PC Pitstop website.    Another special tool is the optimize feature that can bring your system running to its maximum efficiency. Manufacturers tune their systems so they will work reliably. Efficiency is rarely considered so as time goes on your machine runs slower.    PC Pitstop will check your internet connection to see if it is working effectively. The fine tuning process it uses gets you up to speed without having to install new hardware or undergo time consuming or difficult diagnosis on your own, and the site will inform you if you have been infected with any nasty internet bugs.    Extraneous registry keys can tear down your machine's performance over time. PC Pitstop can point out the redundant keys and tell you how to remove them without damaging your system. Temporary files that Windows uses when running are often not deleted before Windows shuts	down. Sloppily written programs can leave incorrect information in the registry. Often files originally associated with the entries have been moved or deleted. Over time they can drag down your system.    Caches for your web browser can be cleaned up and resized to get your broadband connection working the way it was designed to work. Many systems have shown dramatic increases in download speeds after being properly adjusted. The site is able to do this by conducting dynamic tests under actual conditions with your connection.    Most of us have unnecessary programs that run every time we boot up. PC Pitstop will list these programs so you can remove them from automatic startup and get faster boot times.    Vista's default settings are designed to visually dazzle rather than perform efficiently. PC Pitstop makes valuable suggestions and recommendations to make your machine more responsive without sacrificing its good looks. You can make these changes manually or purchase the Optimize module and have it done automatically.    The amount of free space on a disk drive is an important factor in hard drive performance. Once free space declines beyond a critical point, hard drive performance deteriorates rapidly. Fragmentation accelerates, web pages load slowly, and email send and receive can become unstable. PC Pitstop's tool DISK MD will alert you if it finds anything amiss on your hard drive, and will tell you how to fix it.    Windows has an important feature called System Restore which can be an invaluable aid in bringing back a crashed system. Its drawback is that Windows has to create and delete large files every day, which can add to fragmentation and hurt performance. Disk MD defrags those restore points where most defrag utilities do not.    There are many more useful tools on the PC Pitstop web site. Some are free and some are for purchase. You can pay them to take care of any potential or actual performance issues or note the problems and fix them yourself. It's your choice.    Copyright 2008. This article is from the June 2008 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication.
Number 301 - June 2008