Keep your PC running smoothly

 At one point and time we all get into a situation where our PCs are just annoyingly slow. Even trying to open the Window's Media Player becomes a "grab the recliner" line. Or maybe you can cook dinner and eat it while simply trying to open your browser to check your emails. Trying to keep your PC running smoothly sometimes feels like an impossible task. Windows is prone to all kinds of bloat, which can bog down your PC or, sometimes in extreme cases—even render a system functionally useless. As time goes by, it’s almost impossible to prevent unwanted apps and other files from cluttering a Windows PC, regardless of how careful you try to be with what you download or install. There are simply too many ways for junk to seep its way into your PC

  With regular maintenance and a bit of effort, however, it’s possible to keep a Windows system fairly clean and performing at its peak level. A few of the things I'm going to cover here may come natural to savvy PC users, but these tasks will come in very handy for the casual users of today's digital world

Keep your PC updated

  Vulnerabilities in Windows and many popular applications are very common. To limit the possibility of such vulnerabilities being exploited on your system, it’s very important to keep your OS (operating system) and all of your applications patched and up to date. If you haven’t already set Windows to automatically update, do so now by opening the System and Security settings in the control panel, click Windows Update near the bottom-left of the window, and then click the Change Settings option. I personally prefer to manually install my updates. If this is your case as well, be sure to do this once a week. Microsoft usually releases most of their updates on what has been dubbed as “Patch Tuesdays”, but if a severe vulnerability is found and fixed quickly, MS may release a patch at any time

  It is also very critical that you keep your anti-virus and anti-malware programs patched and up to date. Malware programmers tend to be a few steps ahead of the game, so it’s extremely important to keep your defenses as current as possible. Anti-virus and anti-malware applications should be set to update themselves daily, but if a problem has occurred, or your system has already fallen to an infection, auto-updates may have been disabled without your knowledge. You should check the status of your anti-virus and anti-malware apps often to ensure they are updated and enabled

  Other applications such as Office or Adobe Flash are sometimes prone to vulnerabilities as well. Be sure to keep those apps up to date as well. The option to check for updates is usually  listed in their Help menu

Uninstall any Unwanted Programs

  You may be extremely careful about which websites you visit and the applications you install on your PC, but unwanted apps or programs will unavoidably find their way in. It may be through unpatched exploits in the OS or commonly used applications, user indifference, or an unintentional click in the "OK" dialog box. The more you use your PC and time passes, numerous unwanted programs tend to appear on Windows-based systems

  If you remove these unwanted programs, it will free system resources. Now this doesn't mean we are just freeing up disk space. Any program that launches with Windows or with a regularly used app, such as a browser, will also consume memory and possibly CPU resources as well. Uninstalling those programs will free up all of those resources for other things, which will ultimately improve the performance of your PC

  Simply navigate to your control panel, click Uninstall a program to gain access to the Add/Remove programs menu, click on the application and select the option to uninstall it. This can be very time consuming if you're in a situation where you don't know what each program does, and some applications, especially malicious ones, may not appear in the Add/Remove programs menu. An application removal tool like PC Decrapifier can help in this case. This program is very simple to use and it is free. Simply download the app, run it and follow the onscreen instructions

Get rid of the junk

  A very handy tool is Windows’ own built-in Disk Cleanup utility. Disk Cleanup is a good way to restore disk space, which can be especially helpful on low-capacity SSDs where every gigabyte is precious

  Simply right-click on your drive in File Explorer, choose Properties from the menu, and then click the Disk Cleanup button next to the pie chart of free and used disk space. The tool will estimate the amount of space it can free up. Now click the Cleanup System Files button, and the window will refresh in a few moments with an additional tab labeled More Options

  Click on the More Options tab. Now click the Clean Up button in the System Restore and Shadow Copies area of the window. This will eliminate old restore points and shadow copies and potentially free up a ton of space. Do not clean up these items if your system is misbehaving,  as you may need to use a previous restore point to fix things. On the Disk Cleanup tab, you’ll see a window labeled Files to delete. It’s usually pretty safe to check all of the options here. After selecting all the things you’d like to delete, click the OK button and let Disk Cleanup perform it's magic

Disable unnecessary startup programs

  Disabling unnecessary startup items is one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve the overall performance of a system, especially an older or underpowered system. Any program or add-on that launches automatically consumes memory and potentially CPU time. Disabling those apps and add-ons frees up resources

  To configure your startup programs, hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard and press the R key. When the Run box opens up, type in msconfig and hit enter. Now click on the Startup tab and you will see a list of the programs that automatically run when your PC is booted up. If you’re unsure about which items can be safely disabled or deleted, do a Google search with the file name to find out what it does and if you need it

  After doing all this, and it's totally worth it, your PC should run much smoother and it will allow you to do the things you want with much less effort. I hope this helps some people, but if you still have any questions about performing a task, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to help you

 

Logitech to no longer make console gaming accessories

   Big name Switzerland firm, Logitech, has announced it will discontinue the production of accessories for console gaming systems by the end of the year and focus on PC, tablet and smartphone products

   The news for Logitech's new focus was confirmed by CEO of accessories, Bracken Darrell, while also confirming the company's very poor third quarter financial results

   Sales have dropped 14 percent year-over-year to $615 million, while the firm had a net loss of $195 million compared to the profit of $55 million

  Darrell said: "As we articulated when we started the third quarter, continued weakness in the global PC market was the primary factor in our disappointing results. These results are unacceptable and we are taking decisive action as an outcome of my strategic review"

  Darrell adds, "We have initiated the process to divest our remote controls and digital video security categories, and we plan to discontinue other non-strategic products, such as speaker docks and console gaming peripherals, by the end of the 2013 calendar year"

  The CEO also stated that the company intends to sustain its leadership in PC platform-related products where they have engineering, distribution and scale advantages, and develop more mobility-related products, leveraging the powerful growth of tablets and smartphones

How to set up multiple graphic cards on your PC

  The easiest and most simplistic way to make your PC games look better is to buy the best graphics card that is on the market today. Say you already run the best graphics card money can buy, the next step is to install a duplicate card and linking them together to give yourself monster graphics control. Most experienced PC users have a machine with a top-of-the-line graphics card, but adding a second or even third card and running them together can lead to a big performance boost in today's most demanding PC games 

  This process can also become a bit tricky, though it has gotten much easier than in the past. Multi-GPU graphics configurations have dated way back to 1998 when 3dfx debuted the Voodoo 2 and the accompanying SLI. When two Voodoo 2 cards were installed in a system and configured properly, each card would alternate rendering odd and even scan lines. The result was typically a massive increase in performance, with frame rates nearly double that of a single Voodoo 2

  Just about every GPU from Nvidia and AMD can be paired up to work together as well, but they work very differently than the Voodoo 2 from back in the day. Modern graphics cards set up to run in multi-GPU configurations normally render alternate frames or split a frame horizontally, with each GPU working on a certain portion of the frame. Pairing multiple graphics cards together today can still substantially increase performance

  The two most important words you need to know when it comes to multi-GPU rigs are Crossfire and SLI. Nvidia dubbed its multi-GPU rendering software SLI (Scalable Link Interface), in admiration to 3dfx, though it's not at all like the old SLI system that was included with the Voodoo2. Nvidia had actually acquired 3dfx quite a ways back, leveraging that brand, although the technology is quite different. AMD named its multi-GPU rendering system CrossFire. Assuming they gave it that title due to sounding awesome

  Crossfire and SLI are technically very similar. Up to four separate graphics cards from the same product family can be linked together within a system to distribute the workload of rendering graphics and to increase performance

  One or two small edge connectors are featured on both Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics cards, normally located at the top and front of the printed circuit boards. If there is only one edge connector present on a specific card, that means only two cards can be linked together for CrossFire or SLI operation, but cards that feature two edge connectors can be set up in two, three, or four-card configurations. Obviously with the four-card GPU configuration sharing a 3D workload being the best

  When you decide to configure your PC in this way, there are a few things you must to consider. First of all, you'll need a motherboard that contains the necessary PCI Express x16 slots that is also compatible with either or both technologies. Also, you'll need a PC case that can hold and cool the graphics cards. The last thing you need is a power supply unit (PSU) that is powerful enough to accomodate the cards with the power they demand

 

  The multiple cards must also be linked together using a bridge connector, which is normally included with either the cards or the motherboard, and you must go into your graphics driver control panel and enable the SLI/Crossfire feature

 

Setting up your crossfire/SLI system

 

  After making sure you have enough cooling power, the necessary motherboard, and a PSU that can kick out the needed power for your extra graphics cards, the installation of the cards is fairly straighforward. The process is actually very simlar to installing only one card

 

  First, as with any time you modify or install any kind of hardware on your PC, always make sure that you turn the system off and pull the power cord from the socket so there is no power current running through your PC at all. Now, insert the graphics cards into the appropriate PCI Express x16 slots located on your motherboard and connect the necessary 6 or 8-pin power feeds for your cards. The last step to the actual installation is to link the cards together with the bridge-connector(s)

 

  Now, just connect your monitor to the main graphics card, which is normally the card closest to the processor on your motherboard. Plug your power cord in, start your system up and download the current drivers for your cards. If you are using Nvidia cards, get your current drivers with the Nvidia Driver Updater. If you are not using Nvidia, please refer to the manufacturer's website to obtain the latest drivers for your cards

 

  If you are not prompted to enable the SLI or Crossfire feature,  simply go to your graphics card control panel and manually enable it

 

  Please keep in mind that after you install this modification, the cards will require more power and produce more heat within the case. So please be sure you have the necessary power supply, and definitely make sure you have sufficient cooling. You may have to modify your case to add more cooling fans. If you have a solid (non-windowed) case side panel, you can professionally have a window installed on your panel with the necessary areas to fit cooling fans. If you are not mechanically inclined, I would not suggest cutting this window out yourself (it could end in disaster)

 

EVGA - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 30 Graphics Card

VisionTek - AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 PCI Express 30 Graphics Card