Rev it up: Rediscover your PC’s youth
Published: July 26, 2005
By Sandi Hardmeier
I can remember when I first stopped using a 56K modem and switched to broadband Internet access. Everything felt so fast. My husband, poor man, was stuck with dial-up for a while longer until I was able to purchase the necessary hardware and set up a home network so there was ample opportunity to remind myself how fast broadband is. Swapping to his dial-up account when broadband was down (which happened far too often in the early days) was downright painful.
For a while I assumed that I was simply used to broadband and my new computer’s speed — I told myself I was spoiled. As the situation worsened it became obvious that it was more than my imagination. My ISP ran the appropriate tests and denied responsibility. It was time to look further afield for a cause and a solution.
Tip: Broadbandreports.com hosts various testing utilities that will check for ISP related problems such as packet loss, bad routers, and upload and download speeds.
Some of the fixes you will see below are not specific to Internet Explorer. Experience has taught me that it is always a good idea to take a holistic approach when working on browser slow downs.
Delete cached Internet Explorer data
Internet Explorer is an excellent record-keeper, automatically hoarding lots of information while we are surfing the net. Over time this information can become unwieldy, and fragmented. Deleting this data can lead to an obvious improvement in Internet Explorer’s performance, especially on older machines.
To delete Internet Explorer’s cache:
1. |
From the Start menu, click Control Panel.
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2. |
In Category View, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Internet Options.
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3. |
On the General tab, click Delete Files in the Temporary Internet files section, select the Delete all offline content check box, and then click OK.
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Consider using the Delete Cookies button as well, but bear in mind that you may lose information that is sometimes recorded using cookies, such as Web forum identities, Web site preferences, and sometimes passwords.
Delete temporary files system wide
Temporary files can be found in various directories. For the purposes of this column, the directories to focus on are:
C:\WINDOWS\Temp
and
C:\Documents and Settings\{Identity}\Local Settings\Temp
Shut down all running programs before attempting to delete the contents of the above folders. If a file is necessary to a program or background process still running on your system an error message stating that the file is in use will appear. If you are unable to delete a particular file despite shutting down all running programs, write down the name of the file causing the error. Delete everything above, and then everything below, the problem file and concern yourself no further. Our aim is to get rid of as much detritus as possible, but it does not matter if some bits and pieces are left behind.
Tip: The Disk Cleanup utility is an easy way to delete cached and temporary files. It can be accessed by navigating to Accessories from All Programs on the Start menu, then opening the System Tools folder.
Adjust Internet Explorer’s cache size
One of the side effects of today’s mega-large hard drives is that Internet Explorer may automatically set its cache limit to a ridiculously large size, or the computer’s user will choose an extremely large cache size because they have the room.
I have seen computers with a gigabyte (GB) or more of space dedicated to cached Web pages. This is far too much. Any time saved by caching so many pages is wiped out by the time it takes Internet Explorer to index and then later find and load those pages. Also, the risk of cache corruption increases exponentially as the size of the cache increases.
I generally recommend a cache size of 50 to 100 megabytes (MB) for the average user, with 100 MB being for those with broadband and a newer (faster) PC. If you are in the habit of downloading very large files then you should consider increasing the size of your cache so that it will comfortably fit the size of your largest download plus about 50 MB.
Tip: If you regularly download files that are hundreds of megabytes in size, you should consider using a reputable download manager. You will find several listed on Windows Marketplace.
Clear History
Internet Explorer’s History feature is sometimes misused, with some people maintaining a browsing history of 30, 40, 50 or even the maximum of 99 days. Large history folders can slow inline automatic completion of Web addresses, and the Address bar’s drop-down list of prior addresses will take longer and longer to appear.
Instead of depending on the History pane to find preferred Web sites, consider adding such pages to your Favorites folder. Detailed information about the differences between History and Favorites, and features unique to both, can be found in my earlier article, Data in Depth: Get more from Internet Explorer Favorites and History.
Delete cached Internet Explorer data to help speed up Web browsing
Clear AutoComplete data
Internet Explorer can store form data and passwords. This is very convenient, but too much cached information will slow down Internet Explorer or, in extreme cases, freeze it completely. To avoid this problem, clear your Forms and Password cache regularly, after ensuring that your important information has been recorded elsewhere.
To clear Forms and Password cache in Internet Explorer:
1. |
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, then click the Content tab.
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2. |
Click on the AutoComplete button, and then click on the Clear Forms and/or Clear Passwords buttons.
 Clear your forms and/or password cache regularly |
Hard drive maintenance
Now that you have deleted cached data and temporary files, deleted your history and adjusted the maximum size of Internet Explorer’s Temporary Internet files folder it is time to turn our attention to the hard drive.
Over time the data on our hard drive becomes fragmented because Windows does not always save files in single chunks. It will try to save a file into the first chunk of free space it finds on a hard drive that is big enough for a file, but if it can’t find a suitable spot it will split the file into pieces before saving the fragments in different spots. As a hard drive fills up, and files are deleted and written, these empty spaces become more and more scattered, and files more and more fragmented.
The inside of a hard disk looks a lot like an old fashioned record player. There is a highly polished platter on which all data is stored, and a reading arm that swings back and forth to retrieve the data on the hard drive (a lot like an old fashioned record player’s stylus moves across the surface of a vinyl album while it is being played). The more fragmented a hard disk becomes, the more the arm has to swing back and forth to access the various bits of a file, slowing things down. The Windows Disk Defragmenter can improve your system’s performance by optimizing your disk usage and keeping files less fragmented.
To Defragment your hard drive:
1. |
Click the Start button, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
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Make sure that your screen saver and any running programs are turned off. Then simply select the hard drive that you wish to defragment and start the process running.
Defragmenting can take quite a long time depending on the size of your hard drive and even newer machines can benefit from this process. For example, my main workhorse PC running a 2.6 Celeron and with a GB of RAM installed reported over 40% fragmentation despite being only a few months old. The improvement in performance after running Windows Desk Defragmenter was quite remarkable.
The more blue the better… improve your system's performance by using Disk Defragmenter
Still having problems?
A common cause of Internet Explorer, and even system wide, slow downs is malware and viruses. If you see new toolbars in Internet Explorer, if you see pop-up advertisements, if new shortcuts have appeared on your desktop, if your home page and search engine settings have changed, if your computer tried to connect to the Internet unexpectedly, if your bandwidth usage has suddenly increased or if your system suddenly becomes sluggish or unstable, then we must seriously consider this possibility.
Run a full system scan using your current antivirus program, making sure that you first download and install the latest virus definitions. Once you have ensured that no viruses or Trojans have infected your system, complete a comprehensive malware check. For advice on how to do this, have a look at my previous article, Bug busting: Getting rid of spyware.
Tip: The Web page http://aumha.org/a/noads.htm can quickly scan your PC for the most common hijackers, and has links to advice about how to remove any malware that is detected.
Once you have completed all the maintenance and diagnostic steps listed above, Internet Explorer should be back to its old self. If you are still experiencing slow downs, I recommend that you refer to the Internet Explorer newsgroups for further, in-depth, diagnosis.
