50 New Windows Secrets (Part 3)

31.  Pin items to jump lists Jump Lists appear when you right-click program shortcuts on the Taskbar or highlight items in the left-hand pane of the Start menu. By default, recently opened items are shown this way, but you can also pin your favorite documents so they always appear. Either click the pin icon next to one of the recent items to make it a permanent fixture, or simply click and drag a file from a folder on to the program’s Taskbar icon.

Jump Lists appear when you right-click program shortcuts on the Taskbar or highlight items in the left-hand pane of the Start menu

32.  Remove pinned items If you fall out of love with something, simply roll your mouse over the unwanted item in the pinned list and click on the pin icon that appears to remove it from the list.

33. Remove recent list If you don’t use the Recent list or have privacy concerns, it’s easy to disable it. Click ‘Start’ right-click ‘Computer’ and the select ‘Properties’. Untick ‘Store and display recently opened items on the Start menu and Taskbar’ and click on ‘OK’.
34. Change number of recent items Alternatively, you can click ‘Customize’ instead and change ‘Number of recent items to display in Jump Lists’ from the default value of 10 – it can be as low as one, or as high as 60. We suggest no more than 15.

Speed up

Follow these tips to streamline your PC and make it perform faster

35. Trim your start-up Stopping non-essential programs from starting with Windows doesn’t just cut boot times, it frees up system resources and speeds up your PC, too. Use Autoruns (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx) to identify and disable those programs you rarely use or don’t need immediately.
36. Stagger start-up programs Sometimes your PC slows to a crawl during the boot process because too many programs are trying to start at once. Use a free program called Startup Delayer on the disc to delay less important programs, so they start at a quieter time, speeding up performance and boot times in the process.
37. Clear out the clutter Install CCleaner from this month’s free cover disc – this clears out unwanted files, reclaims system resources and cleans up your Registry, although remember to always be careful when tinkering with the Registry because serious problems can occur if you make a mistake. Don’t delete any Registry backups in case you need them later.

Use Autoruns to identify and disable those programs you rarely use or don’t need immediately

38. Get online more quickly If Internet Explorer 8 takes an age to open, select ‘Tools > Internet Options > Programs’. Click on ‘Manage add-ons ‘ and view the load times for each add-on (you may need to scroll to the right to view this). Try disabling sluggish add-ons unless they’re particularly important, like those linked to your security program.
39. Speed up start menu searches Right-click the ‘Start’ button and select ‘Properties’. Click ‘Customize’, scroll down the list of available options and select ‘Search without public folders’ under ‘Search other files and libraries’. Click ‘OK’ and you should find that results appear much more quickly than before.
40. Load websites more quickly Change your DNs servers to OpenDNS to browse the internet more quickly and safely. Visit https://www.opendns.com/start to sign up for a free basic plan, or follow the step-by-step guide we published on page 82 of issue 39 (if you missed it first time around, visit www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk to purchase a back issue).
41. Scale back visual effects If you don’t have a lot of memory installed (1GB in Windows 7 or Windows Vista, or 256MB in Windows XP), click ‘Start’, right-click ‘Computer’ or ‘My Computer’ and select ‘Properties’. Select ‘Advanced system settings’ (or ‘Advanced’ in Windows XP) and click ‘Settings’ under Performance. Select ‘Adjust for best performance’ and click ‘OK’ for a speed boost.

Change your DNs servers to OpenDNS to browse the internet more quickly and safely

42. Speed up your drives If you’re not worried about data loss, press [Windows] + [R], type devmgmt.msc in the box that appears and then press [Enter] to open Device Manager. Expand ‘Disk drives’, double-click each hard drive or USB drive in turn and switch to the Policies tab. Select the option for better performance, but make a note of the warnings before clicking ‘OK’.
43. Give your PC a helping hand If you have a spare USB flash drive, you may be able to use it to give your PC a small performance boost. Plug the drive in and – if prompted choose ‘Speed up mi system’. Otherwise, click ‘Start > Computer’, right-click your flash drive and choose ‘Properties’, then look for a ReadyBoost tab.
44. Configure ReadyBoost Choose ‘Use this device’ to enable ReadyBoost. Make sure the amount of space you allocate to ReadyBoost is at least the same as the amount of memory (in gigabytes) installed in your PC – you can find this figure out by clicking ‘Start’, right-clicking ‘Computer’ and them selecting ‘Properties’.
45. Manage your fonts Over time, the number of fonts installed on your PC will gradually increase, and each one uses up precious system resources. Use a program such as AMP Font Viewer (on the cover disc) to remove those fonts you never use. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users should right-click the program shortcut, choose Properties > Compatibility tab and tick ‘Run this program as an administrator’ for it to work.

Tidy up your disk

46. Auslogics disk defrag A fragmented hard drive slows your computer down because it takes the PC longer to access your files – it also increase the workload of your hard drive, shortening its life. There is a free defragmentation tool built into Windows, but if you want to push the performance envelope further, install the free Auslogics Disk Defrag from the cover disc.
47. Speed up file access Disk Defrag can also reorganize your hard drive during the defragging process to improve performance. Click ‘Settings > Program Settings > Algorithms’ and tick ‘Move system files to the beginning of the disk’. Click ‘OK’, select your drive and then choose ‘Action > Defrag & Optimize’.

Disk Defrag can also reorganize your hard drive during the defragging process to improve performance