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Tweaking the Desktop

Your favourite screen savers, wallpapers and other desktop accessories are probably keeping your system from running at best potential. Use our tips to make the most of your system's resources, even if this means doing away with some of your personal add-ons.

Start by finding out how efficiently your system is operating. Right-click My Computer to select Properties/Performance Tab for an idea of how many system resources are free. If the figure hovers around 94 percent, this is more than ideal.

Your wallpaper too may be everything you like in a background. However, it also consumes resources since it's continuously refreshed. Disabling it gives the computer more efficiency. Right-click the Desktop and choose Properties. Set the Background Tab to None and click OK. To reset your Desktop to a plain colour, go to Appearance and select Desktop under Item. Scroll through the Colour box to choose a colour you like.

Screen Savers that you have diligently searched out and installed also use up most of your system's resources. Disabling them will give your computer a reasonable hike in performance. Right-click any empty area of your Desktop, go to Properties/Screen Saver Tab and select (None), before clicking Apply and OK.

You also have a few other options when your system lies idle. You could activate your screen saver prior to leaving your computer for a short while, by selecting the program and the required time setting. You can instead activate the power management system settings if you're likely to be away for a longer period of time. Go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/Power Management and select the Power Schemes Tab. Here, choose Home/Office Desk and change settings for System standby. Turn off monitor and Turn off hard disks to suit your requirements. To avoid activating settings each time you leave your system, just activate the Sleep mode using the Sleep key on your keyboard or use Start > Shut Down > Standby.

Consider turning off your Active Desktop and animations in case they're enabled. Right-click on your Desktop, select Properties/Effects Tab, deselect all the Visual Effects options and click Apply. Then, go to the Web Tab and un-check View my Active Desktop as a web page.

A larger desktop resolution might be healthy but if your interests lie in greater system speed, reduce the resolution. Right-click on an empty area of your Desktop, go to the Settings Tab and move the slider in Screen area to the left.

If your video card is good on speed, your computer might benefit from higher colour depths. Right-click on an empty portion of your Desktop, go to the Settings tab and press the down arrow under Colours to choose True Colour (24bit) or (32 bit). Next, click Apply and then OK.

Multiple open windows and programs can slow your system down. Minimise all windows except the ones you are currently working on to save on system resources.

Some programs start-up when Windows boots. These programs expend system resources and slow down system performance. To remove programs from your start up menu, go to Start/Programs/ StartUp and next delete selected programs.

Radhika Peddi
[email protected]

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