Performing Maintenance Tasks to Increase
Computer Speed and Ensure Security
Your computer may begin to run slower over time. Slower performance can be caused by:
Disorganized files
Unnecessary software
Unused network drives
Too many programs that run automatically at startup
In addition, viruses can cause serious damage and dramatically slow your computer's performance.
You can protect your computer, increase its operational life, and enhance its performance, if you perform standard maintenance tasks, such as:
Cleaning the computer and its components
Disk defragmenting
Scanning for virus and spyware
Tools are available through your computer's operating system to manage and improve its performance. Use this document as an overview of the options provided.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: To learn more about maintenance tasks, see Windows Help and Support: click Startor ®Help and Support.
Cleaning Your Computer
Before You Start
Read the safety instructions available in the Dell™ safety information that shipped with your computer.
Turn off and unplug the computer from the electrical outlet. For a laptop computer, remove any batteries.
Cleaning the Computer
To clean your computer, wipe the computer, keyboard, and plastic portion of the monitor with a soft cloth dampened with water.
Do not use aerosol cleaners, flammable liquid, or other spray cleaners. Do not allow water to drip inside the computer or keyboard.
NOTICE: Always use compressed air to clean the lens in an optical drive, and follow the instructions that come with the compressed-air product. Never touch the lens in the drive.
If you notice problems, such as skipping, with the playback quality of your optical media, try cleaning the media.
Hold the disc by its outer edge. You can also touch the inside edge of the
center hole.
NOTICE: To avoid damaging the surface, do not wipe in a circular motion around the disc.
With a soft, lint-free cloth, gently wipe the bottom of the disc (the
unlabeled side) in a straight line from the center to the outer edge of the
disc.
For stubborn dirt, try using water or a diluted solution of water and mild soap. You can also purchase commercial products that clean discs and provide some protection from dust, fingerprints, and scratches. Cleaning products for CDs are also safe to use on DVDs.
Managing Your Computer Performance
The control panel provides the tools for you to manage and improve your computer's performance.
Windows Vista®
Click Start®Control Panel.
Click System and Maintenance®Performance Information and Tools.
Use the following options in the Tasks area to improve your computer's
performance:
Manage startup programs — disable some of your startup programs to improve performance.
Adjust visual effects — change how menus and windows appear to optimize performance.
Adjust indexing options — index options to help you find what you are looking for on your computer.
Adjust power settings — change power-related settings so that your computer resumes from power-saving settings more efficiently; and adjust battery usage for laptop computers.
Open Disk Cleanup — delete unnecessary or temporary files on your hard disk to increase the storage space on your computer.
Advanced tools — access advanced system tools, such as Event Viewer and System Information.
Windows® XP
Click Start®Control Panel® Performance and
Maintenance®Administrative Tools.
Select one of the available options to perform maintenance and improve
performance on your computer:
Component Services — system tools to monitor the status of system services, event viewer, and other processes running on your computer.
Computer Management — provides access to system tools, such as Device Manager, Disk Defragmenter, Disk Management, and other storage, and service system utilities.
Event Viewer —advanced system tool to view security, application, and system events to check for errors or problem areas.
Local Security Policy — advanced security tool to manage and update system security for passwords, local policies, local key policies, software restrictions, and IP security policies.
Performance — monitors your system performance to detect problems.
For some Dell systems, the settings available under the Advanced page of System Setup provide users with enhanced access to the options and controls that allow for computer performance to be manually tuned.
NOTICE: System Setup allows users unrestricted access when setting performance related parameters. Improperly configuring these settings or choosing options outside the capabilities of the installed components may cause system instability, reduced component operating life or permanent component damage.
For more information on accessing System Setup, see System Setup.
Software Based Performance Tuning
NVIDIA Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA) is a PC protocol for real-time monitoring and control of computer's thermal, electrical, acoustic and operating characteristics.
If your computer includes components compatible with ESA, Dell has pre-installed applications for monitoring and "tweaking" the performance of the components.
For more information about ESA, see nvidia.com/object/nvidia_esa.html.
NVIDIA Performance
The NVIDIA Performance application integrates many of the functions previously available in the NVIDIA nTune application into the Performance section of the NVIDIA Control Panel.
NOTE: When using the Performance section of the NVIDIA Control Panel, you may be required to accept an End User License Agreement.
Device Settings
When launched, the application detects installed ESA-compatible devices such as CPUs, video cards, memory, system board, and chassis components.
Selecting a component in the Device Settings interface displays the available settings and options for that component. Advanced users can manually tune these options to tailor and customize their system's performance. These settings can be saved to profiles to be recalled at a later time.
NOTICE: System Setup allows users unrestricted access when setting performance related parameters. Improperly configuring these settings or choosing options outside the capabilities of the installed components may cause system instability, reduced component operating life or permanent component damage.
Dynamic BIOS Access
This section of the NVIDIA Control Panel allows you to change available BIOS settings via a Windows user interface. Changes to these options and settings take effect on the next reboot.
View System Information
This section of the NVIDIA Control Panel allows you to view version information for the system and installed drivers. This information can be saved to a file for further review as well as technical support scenarios.
Profile Policies
The Profile Policies section allows you to define when and how profiles saved in the Device Settings sections are used.
LED Control
Through the LED Control section, you can customize the color and intensity of the chassis LEDs. You may also create, save and apply customized LED effects through this interface.
NVIDIA Monitor
The NVIDIA Monitor application allows you to monitor, track and log performance characteristics of compatible components inside your computer.
The data can be used to track the system's performance over time as well as evaluate the effectiveness of a change made to system configuration.
When launched the NVIDIA Monitor application detects installed ESA-compatible devices such as CPUs, video cards, memory, system board, and chassis components. Selecting a component in the interface displays real-time data for the available operating characteristics of that component. These characteristics may include voltages, fan speeds, usage, temperatures and more.
You can customize the NVIDIA Monitor to:
Choose key performance characteristics to monitor, graph, and log.
Set reporting intervals and performance thresholds.
Disk Cleanup calculates how much space on your drive will be free if you
run the cleanup.
Click OK.
Defragmenting Your Hard Drive
You can improve the performance of your computer by defragmenting your hard drive. This action enables your programs to run faster and your files to open more quickly.
HINT: Why defragment a hard drive? A fragmented hard drive stores fragments of files in many different locations on the disk. The computer must search throughout the disk to retrieve the complete file. Disk Defragmenter combines all the parts of a file that are fragmented into one location. This reduces the time your computer spends to locate all the parts of a file and open it.
Before defragmenting the hard drive, Windows analyzes the disk to determine if you need to defragment it. You should perform this procedure at least once a week.
NOTE: If you perform this procedure regularly, the defragmenting process should take only 5 to 10 minutes.
The Disk Defragmenter window opens. This window lists the hard drives
on your computer along with the storage capacity and the amount of free
space.
Select the drive you want to defragment and click Analyze to determine if
you need to defragment the disk. Click Defragment to go ahead and
defragment the disk.
NOTE: You should not use your computer during the defragmentation process.
Detecting and Repairing Disk Errors
Click Start®My Computer.
On the File menu, select Properties.
On the Tools tab, click Check Now.
Select the actions you want to perform and click Start.
Scanning for Viruses and Spyware
Computer viruses and spyware are hidden software that corrupts your files or gathers information from your computer without your knowledge or consent.
Computer viruses affect your computer's performance, and can destroy data. If your computer has Internet access, you should install antivirus and antispyware programs.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: To learn more about protecting your computer from viruses, see Viruses.
Windows Defender is an antispyware application that:
Checks your computer hard drive for locations infected by the spyware
Checks all files on your hard disk for spyware
Checks all currently running programs for spyware
FOR MORE INFORMATION: To learn more about Windows Defender, search for "Using Windows Defender" on the Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com). For more information about antivirus software, search for "antivirus software" on the Internet.
