Archive for October, 2009

How to speed up Windows XP

If you recently brought home you new computer with Windows XP operating system, and after only a couple of weeks you are finding it slowing down, then you may want to find out how to speed up performance on Windows XP.

Your operating system can slow down for a multitude of reasons like a virus, but chances are if it is only slow, you may well have some errors in your registry. Some files can become corrupted through the downloading process or the registry is bogged down from installing and removing applications.

Your registry is responsible for storing and maintaining all the files that basically run your system. It deals with installed applications, data user preferences, hardware device configuration and lots more.

Your registry is always changing, and being updated every single day. The registry is also a place where you can find many obsolete folders and files. Because your computer needs to run through everything in its registry upon startup and through out its daily operations, these folders and files that have become corrupted or obsolete will slow it down dramatically. If the registry gets too corrupted it may cause your entire system to slow down or even crash.

So, the first step you need to take for speeding up your Windows XP is to clean and optimize the registry with a good registry cleaner and optimizer tool. By keeping a clean registry, you can alleviate the slowness. You can find all sorts of registry cleaners on the Internet or at you computer supply store. The best place to start is by searching online because there you can look at any customer reviews about the software you’re about to buy. Buying a good registry cleaner is the first step to speed up performance of Windows XP.

Registry cleaners don’t just find and delete irrelevant folders and files, they are also capable of optimizing it so that everything is in its proper place. They can also assist in reducing or compacting the size of your registry to keep it running quickly. Any top registry cleaner will search out any of these files that have become corrupted through improper downloads, incomplete downloads, un-installing a program or failed downloads, and fix them immediately. It can also take care of removing any malicious entries from viruses or spyware.

The second important step you can take to speed up your Windows XP is to disable the Indexing Services which is an unnecessary service that takes a lot of RAM memory and wastes important resources from your computer. The Indexing Services process is responsible to keep track and updates the location of all of your computer files so that to give you a faster result when you search to find a specific file on your hard disk. This is an unnecessary service in my opinion and can be disabled, thus freeing you some precious memory for other tasks. This will speed up your overall Windows performance.

How to disable Indexing Services:

  • Go to Start > Setting > Control Panel
  • Double click Add or Remove Programs
  • Click the Add/Remove Windows Components
  • Uncheck the Indexing Services and press Next

 
Learning how to speed performance of your Windows XP may seem like an overwhelming task but following the simple two steps I described above you can get an enhanced PC performance. Many people are scared stiff when it comes to changing anything on their computer. While anything that is done to the registry by someone with little or no computer knowledge is highly recommended against, there are programs that can take care of everything for you. Therefore, you won’t have to worry about making your system worse using a registry cleaner.

Learning how to speed up performance on Windows XP is not very hard to do on your own. By seeking out a legitimate registry cleaner and also disabling the Indexing Services, you’ll have a smooth running fast system, just like the day you bought it.

Cisco ASA 5505 User License Explained

I get a lot of questions regarding the meaning of user license numbers for the Cisco ASA 5505. This model is offered in three User License options. 10 users, 50 users and UL (unrestricted license). The meaning of user license basically refers to concurrent IP addresses that can communicate between Internal (inside) network and Internet (outside) interface. So, for 10 user license, only 10 concurrent internal hosts (IP addresses) can access the internet. The same applies for 50 users (only 50 concurrent IP addresses can access the Internet). For UL license, there is no such restriction.

The user licensing has also an effect on the maximum number of IP addresses that can be assigned by the DHCP server of the ASA5505 to the internal hosts. For a 10-user license, the max number of DHCP clients on the internal network is 32. For 50-user license, the max number of DHCP clients is 128.

The official explanation from Cisco regarding the Cisco ASA5505 user licensing is as follows:

“In routed mode, hosts on the inside (Business and Home VLANs) count towards the limit only when they communicate with the outside (Internet VLAN). Internet hosts are not counted towards the limit. Hosts that initiate traffic between Business and Home are also not counted towards the limit. The interface associated with the default route is considered to be the Internet interface. If there is no default route, hosts on all interfaces are counted toward the limit. In transparent mode, the interface with the lowest number of hosts is counted towards the host limit. See the show local-host command to view host limits. “

The terms “Business” and “Home” VLANs above refer to the Internal and DMZ network zones.

How to Fix Windows Registry Errors

If you start getting weird error system messages or security messages on your Windows machine and you don’t understand what the problem is, the first thing you need to ask yourself is “how do I fix Windows registry errors?“. Most of those strange messages are related with the Windows Registry, and you need to fix it as soon as possible before losing your computer data.

While some may believe that by ignoring the problem that it will eventually get fixed on its own, this is not a wise decision as these registry errors are found in the deepest root of your computer, and therefore, they tend to get worse, much worse in fact if they’re not taken care of.

The Windows registry on your computer is responsible for storing information that is critical to your computer’s operations. When you make any changes like downloading a new software program, the Windows registry saves and remembers it for the future. Also, when you uninstall or install software, again these actions are recorded in the Registry.

Some of the more common Windows registry errors that you’ll encounter are:

  1. runtime error,
  2. DLL error,
  3. ActiveX error,
  4. Windows Explorer error,
  5. System 32 error,
  6. iExplore or
  7. iExplorer Error,
  8. Windows Installer Error
  9. Access Violation

 
You’ll want to immediately fix these Windows registry errors to prevent you computer from dramatically slowing down, or even worse lose your data.

Because the registry is so critical, it is also one of the main areas in which a lot of malware and viruses target. It is important to keep it clean in order for you computer to run at its best.

There are two methods to fix windows registry errors: an Automatic Method (Recommended) and a Manual Method. The Automatic method requires you to use a Registry Cleaner tool. In order to find a registry cleaner to fix your Windows registry errors, you can either go down to your local computer store, or you can go online and search for one there. You should read any and all reviews to find one that will perform the task on its own, without you having to do anything other than install it.

You’ll be able to find all sorts of free registry cleaners from sites like download.com, but in order to get a completely clean registry, you will need to buy one. Make sure that the registry cleaners you choose can work with your operating system. Some have specific operating systems that they will work for.

Fixing Windows Registry Automatically:

This is the recommended way to fix your Windows Registry errors with no hassles at all. You need to use a trusted Registry Cleaner program, such as RegCure Registry Cleaner from ParetoLogic. This is the software I use personally to keep my windows machines (both Vista and XP) in top shape and speed. I run it once every 2-3 weeks and has been a very valuable tool for me. It has also a registry-backup feature which I always use to be on the safe site. You can go ahead and download RegCure Registry Cleaner below and perform a free scan to verify its capabilities by yourself.

regcure free scan download

Fixing Windows Registry Manually:

One way to fix Windows registry errors, which most people don’t even know about, is to do a ‘system restore’. This is a manual method and is not guaranteed to work all the times. I highly recommend the Automatic method above.

  1. Go to your start menu, and then open up your program files.
  2. Scroll until you find the ‘accessories’ option, then click to open, where you should find the ‘systems tools’.
  3. Click on ‘systems tools’ and a screen will appear asking you if you want to go back to a restore point on your computer.
  4. You can view a calendar with all the different restore points that your computer creates.
  5. Click on a date that you know was before you developed the registry errors. It will then restore you computer to that point in time, hopefully, eliminating the error.

You won’t lose any saved documents or files in this process.

Some other excellent cleaner tools to fix Windows registry errors are
Registry Mechanic, Registry Easy and Registry Cleaner and Optimizer. All these, plus most others that you’ll find will usually come in free and paid additions. All of these Windows registry cleaners are easily installed, and after installation you can run them and just simply follow the prompts.

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