Tag: slow

1 Simple Tweak To Double PC Performance

Shifting your page file off the boot partition on to a secondary hard drive to increase system performance.


So I’ve made a pretty big promise with that headline but believe me I plan to deliver with this one but first a bit of theory. Stay with me! It isn’t difficult, you might even learn something and once you see the performance increase of this little tweak for your self you will be thankful you took the time to read more.

I also highly recommend reading this article on boosting your computer’s performance as well.

The Theory
If you own a computer you would have heard of memory or RAM. Memory is often measured in megabytes (mb) or gigabytes (gb) and it is where your computer stores information required for your computer programs and services to run.

If you already know all of this or are completely trusting you can skip this whole section and move on to the “How-to” section.

Programs running on your computer will use up some (or all of, in some cases) your computer’s memory, some programs and services use up quite a lot of memory while others barely use any. As memory usage increases computer speed and general performance decreases. Continue reading “1 Simple Tweak To Double PC Performance”


Starcraft 2: How to increase digital download speed

Throttle your upload speed on the Starcraft 2 downloader to increase download speed.

 

Running NetLimiter on the Starcraft 2 downloader to increase download speed.

As I write this I have just begun downloading Starcraft 2 after purchasing the digital download copy off of battle.net. I don’t know about anyone else but when I buy a game, especially one as long-awaited as Starcraft, I am itching to load it up and start playing it straight away!

Anyway, I started the 6.99gb download about half an hour ago. To begin with, the SC2 downloader gave me an estimated time of about 4 hours, which is ok I guess. But a few minutes later I watched in horror as the estimated time increased, 6 hours, 8 hours and so on. I looked at the connection details and realised that the downloader uses peer-to-peer sharing and that my upload speed was now higher than my download speed!

Fortunately within the downloader there is an option to switch off peer-to-peer sharing and just use direct downloading. I tried that but the speed barely increased. A quick scan of a few forums put me on to a little piece of software called NetLimiter. After installing NetLimiter I was able to re-enable the peer-to-peer method of downloading and limit the upload speed (within NetLimiter) to around 30kbps which saw my download speed eventually increase to around 900kbps.

A few points to be aware of:

  • Limiting your upload speed too drastically seems to also drag your download speed down as well, so don’t go cutting it back too much.
  • Inside the preferences for the Starcraft 2 downloader there is an option to disable background download throttling which I would also suggest you set.
  • NetLimiter runs as a 28-day trial. Should you need to use it past the trial period then it only costs $30USD for a single user license.

I’ll let you know how Starcraft goes!

Also if anyone has their own experiences, suggestions or comments please leave me a comment.

For a detailed and comprehensive guide to the art of Starcraft II be sure to check out the Shokz Starcraft II Strategy guide as well.

Thanks for reading.

Peak Performance: 7 Easy Ways To Keep Your PC happy.

What do you do to ensure that your computer is regularly maintained and tuned-up for peak performance? Find out what you should be doing as part of a regular computer maintenance plan.

What do you do to ensure that your computer is regularly maintained and tuned-up for peak performance?

I found this question on Yahoo! Answers, it rated as one of the most popular IT questions on the site so I thought I would answer it myself.

As I work in the IT industry I quite often work with other people’s computers both through work and through personal contacts and I have seen some messy ones! Nine times out of ten when someone brings their computer in for repair the only description they will give you of their problem is that “their computer is slow”.

Some times these are near-brand new computers that they have somehow managed to bog down with browser toolbars, background processes and a taskbar that is 40 feet long with all kinds of weird and wonderful items in a few months.

Following these tips you can keep your computer running nicely for a long time.

First of all I am only explaining what I do personally so if you have any suggestions please let me know in comments or send me an e-mail!

Continue reading “Peak Performance: 7 Easy Ways To Keep Your PC happy.”

8 Ways To Get Through A Boring Day

Everyone has suffered it before, long slow days at work where nothing exciting is happening, there is nothing to keep you occupied and the clock seems like it’s stuck in suspended animation. Well  I have taken the liberty to compile a quick list of time wasters for crappy work days. Continue reading “8 Ways To Get Through A Boring Day”