To solve the stop-responding issue and then optimize Vista, it is necessary to use the Windows Vista installation disc and the follow the steps below to fix the problem:

1) Insert the Windows Vista installation disc and boot your system (Note that you have set it to boot from CD or DVD)
2) Set the preferred language and then click “Next” to proceed.
3) Click “Repair My Computer”.
4) Then, select the operating system to be repaired in  “System Recovery Options”  dialog box and then click “Next”.
5) Click to select “Startup Repair” option in same dialog box to automatically detect and then correct startup problems which result in stop-responding problems. Click “Finish” when the process gets completed.

But if you have preinstalled recovery option, you can simply follow the steps below to fix the issue rather than use Windows Vista installation disc to use “Startup Repair” tool.

1) Remove all floppy disks, CD and DVD from the computer, and then restart the computer
2) Follow one of the operations below to proceed:
A. If you only have one operating system, please directly get into Windows safe mode
B. If you have multiple operating systems, you can first select the one to be repaired and then press F8 to get into safe mode.
3) Select “Repair My Computer” within the “Advanced Boot Options” and press “Enter”.
4) Click one keyboard layout in the list and press “Next”.
5) Click one user in the list, enter the password and click “OK”.
6) Select “Startup Repair” option within “System Recovery Options” dialog box.
7) When the repair process finishes, simply click “Finish”.

(Note: if the problem still remains after you reboot your computer, please repeat the steps above to fix the problem)

With the simple steps above, you can easily fix the problem and then optimize your computer. But here, I still want to mention that to optimize Vista, it is necessary for you to pay attention to some other dispensable daily maintenance such as regularly run the built-in Disk Cleanup to clear the useless system junk files, or timely uninstall the unwanted programs from the computer, which should be followed by a simple disk defragmentation to rearrange the files on the hard disk, making them always stay at a single same place of the hard disk and much easier to input or output when necessary, which will greatly speed up the computer and avoid system crashes, freeze-up.

In conclusion, when using the computer, it is necessary for us to master some solutions to fix the stop-responding problem to optimize Vista, but a proper daily maintenance is more important in optimizing the computer, in my opinion.

First of all, it is sure that, at some point in time, an upgrade of the RAM modules, graphics card, or maybe even purchase a whole new computer package helps to speed up the computer. But here, we will discuss some very simple ways to speed up computers with paying any extra dollars.

1. Regularly scan the computer for viruses. We know that once the computer is infected by viruses, lots of system resources will be taken up, which greatly slow down the computer. What is more terrible is that it will sometimes steal users’ privacy. So to speed up your computer, what you need to do first is to install an reliable anti-virus program on your computer, and regularly scan your computer to make sure that it is always far away from viruses.

2）To speed up your computer, secondly you have to make sure that the system does not automatically load too many unnecessary programs at starting up. If too mane programs load at one time, you can image how slow it is just like running many programs / opening several websites at the same time. So it is necessary for you to go to Start -> Run ->type “msconfig” to access System Configuration Utility ->disable the programs that do not need to run at windows startup within the “Startup” tab.

By the way, when trying to speed up the computer, it is recommended to uninstall the unwanted programs, delete the unused files that you don’t need, and clean up the system junk files from your computer which is followed by a simple disk defragmentation—a good solution to regain a faster computer by rearranging the files on your computer. All of these rather simple steps help you easily release more available memory for the proper running of the programs on your computer.

3) Increase the startup /shutdown speed, which is an indispensable part when attempting to speed up your computer. When shutting down the computer, it will send messages to the running programs and the remote sever, telling them that the computer is going to shut down, and the system will begin to shut down after receiving response. So you can reset the Auto End Tasks to speed up the computer: please open Registry Editor ->locate “HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop” ->change the value data of “AutoEndTasks” to “1” ->change the value data of the sub-brand “HungAppTimeout” to “2000” or less than “2000”; then please go to find “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControl” and change the value data of “WaitToKillServiceTimeout” to “2000” or less than “2000”. After this setting, the computer will be much faster when starting up or shutting down.

4) Fourthly, to speed up your computer, you can simply increase the broadband speed. Normally, Windows XP will reserve 20% broadband, which has no meaningful significance for the users. In my opinion, it is much better to make full use of it rather than let it idle. You can go to “Start” -> Run ->type “gpedit.msc” to open “Group Policy Editor”->Computer Configuration ->Administrative Templates ->Network ->QoS Packet Scheduler ->right click “Limit reservable Bandwidth” to select “Properties” ->click “Enable” within the popping- up windows -> change the Bandwidth limit from the default 20 to 0. Hence, all bandwidth will be released and greatly speed up computers.

With the simple four steps above, you can easily speed up your computer and then enjoy a faster computer every day in 2010. If you are annoyed with your slow computer right now, please do not miss the tips above.

1) Remove some invalid plug-ins. When surfing the internet, some plug-ins will automatically install on the computer without letting us know. Seriously, some will be very easy to conflict with other applications, which indirectly results in system memory read/ write errors. In order to optimize PC performance, and provide a clean, stable working environment for the large applications and computer games, it is recommended that you can regularly run security software to check whether there are invalid plug-ins on the computer and timely remove them from the system.

2) Manually restore system services. If there is something wrong with the service “Windows Management Instrumentation”, a system memory read / write error will also occur. So you can manually restore this service in order to optimize PC performance. You can exactly follow the step below: go to Start ->run ->type “services.msc” to access “Services”. Here, please locate “Windows Management Instrumentation”->right click it to select “Properties” ->click “Stop” in the popping-up General tab to temporarily disable this service. Then please open system manager and then open the below folders one by one: Windows->System32->Wbem->Repository, and back　up all folders within “Repository”. Last, please reboot your computer and restart “Windows Management Instrumentation” service.

3) Repair corrupted system files. Once the computer is infected by viruses, some files will be removed incorrectly, which results in memory read / write errors. So a repair of the corrupted system files is needed. What you need to do is to run an anti-virus program to check whether the computer is infected by viruses or spyware and turn on the real-time safeguard to protect your computer at any time.

Then you can use the “sfc” demand to repair the corrupted system files: go to Run -> CMD to open the “Command Prompt” windows -> enter “sfc/scannow” and press Enter to proceed the scan process. Once there is a corrupted system file, you will be promoted to insert the Windows installation disc to replace the corrupted files.

4) Last, to avoid this problem, what you need to do vitally is to release more available memory. So when running large application, you can first turn off other running program expect the one that you do need. Besides, please do remember to timely uninstall the unwanted programs that you do not need to release more available memory. Moreover, you should run a Disc Cleanup to regularly clear the useless system junk files from your computer, which followed by a simple disk defragmentation. In this way, all files will be arranged coherently on the hard disk and easier to be accessed to, which will not only fix the memory read or write errors but also optimize PC performance.

In conclusion, with the simple steps above, you can easily fix the read / write errors and then optimize  PC performance greatly. But please note that no matter how brand-new your computer is right now, if it lacks proper daily maintenance, it will not work properly for you.

To speed up Vista, what you need to do first is to increase the Window popup speed. We all know that Vista uses animation effect when opening windows. For computers which have less memory, this will greatly affect the speed to open windows, slowing down the computer. So you can turn off the animation effect to get faster computer speed. Here is what you should go: open Registry Editor -> locate“HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Window Metrics” brand -> Find “MinAniMate” and change its value data from “1” to “0”. In this way, when starting up the Vista computer, it won’t automatically load the animation effect, which greatly speeds up Windows Vista.

Secondly, to greatly speed up Vista, you should shorten the shutdown time. When shutting down Vista computer, the system itself will automatically close the programs / services which are still running. If there is a program which does not stop working within the system default time, the system will force to close it. So it is necessary to do some preparations before to avoid a waste of time when shutting down the computer. You can follow the steps here to do some modification: Open Registry Editor -> find “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control” -> find and change the value data of “WaitToKillServiceTimeout” to 2000 or less than 2000.

Thirdly, optimize memory. We know that Vista operating system provides us a very gorgeous desktop when compared with XP, but it comes at the expense of large amount of memory. So to speed up Vista, what we need to do is to cancel some unnecessary functions to release more available memory.

1) Cancel Automatic Updates: My Computer ->Properties ->Automatic Updates ->tick “Turn off Automatic Updates” -> click “Ok” to save the settings.
2) Turn off System Restore within System Properties, which operates the same as what you have done to turn off automatic updates.
3) Turn off some unnecessary effects within Visual Effects: My Computer ->Properties ->Advanced -> Settings within “Performance” -> click “Custom” within the appearing “Visual Effects” window. Here, you can cancel the unnecessary items and just leave the three options below: Show shadows under mouse pointer、Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop and Use visual styles on windows and buttons. With the three steps above, it will maximally release at lease 3MB available memory.

Last but not the lease, to get a faster Vista, what you need to do is to disable some unnecessary services. When booting up the computer, some unneeded services will load automatically at background. Though a single service will not take large amount of memory, if accumulated, it will be numerous. So do remember to disable the services that you do not need to start at Windows startup: log in your computer as an administrator ->go to “Start” ->Run ->type “services.msc” and press Enter to access “Services”. Here, you can easily close the services that you do not need.

As what you can see above that, you can greatly speed up Vista with some very simple steps. But to always enjoy a faster windows Vista on low-configuration computers, you still need to take some daily maintenances to always optimize your computer, for example, regularly run a virus scan, Disk Cleanup to delete the unused files and Disk Defragmenter to arrange the files in order.

To make your computer faster at startup, first of all, please open System Properties ( right click My Computer to select Properties), and then click “Advanced” tab, go to “Settings” within “Startup and Recovery” option, and then cancel the default checking of the two options within “System Startup”. But if you are using multiple-systems, please do not uncheck the option “Time to display list of operating system”.

After the above settings, please return to “Hardware” and then “Device Manager” to open “IDE ATA/ ATAPI Controller”. Here, please double click to open “Secondary IDE Channel”->go to Advanced Settings -> change the transfer mode of Device 1 and 2 to “DMA if available” ->change the Device Type to None if you can ->click OK to save your settings. Then, please set the Primary IDE channel with the above methods.

Secondly, it is necessary for you to slightly modify your Windows registry to speed up your computer. Please open Registry Editor ->click “Edit” on the top ->go to “Find” and type “AutoEndTasks” and click “Find Next. Once you have found it out, please click it to set its value data to “1”. Then, go to find and change the value data of “HungAppTimeout” and “WaitToKillAppTimeout” to 2000 or less than 2000. In this way, the computer will run much faster when starting up or shutting down the computer for it will automatically turn off the programs that have no response or reduce the waiting time for a non-responsible application.

After the above settings, you can reboot your computer to experience a completely faster startup speed. But to make your computer much faster, please do not miss the tips below: go to System Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery -> click “Edit” within System Startup to add “/noguiboot”next to “fastdetect”. In this way, when starting up the computer, the annoying scroll bar will not display, which speeds up your computer. But if you really like the scroll bar, there is no need for you to take this step.

Last, to speed up a computer at startup, it is necessary for you to use a fixed IP address. Hence, there is no need for the system to search and get a randomly appointed IP address. You can right click My Network Places to select “Properties” -> click “Local Connection” to go to “Properties” -> Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to enter a fixed IP address.

In conclusion, you can easily make your computer faster. But to my own experience, a regular virus scan, disk cleanup and disk defragmentation can not be missed when trying to speed up your computer. Only with this simple maintenance in daily life, can you always enjoy a faster computer.

First of all, to get a faster computer, you have to ensure that it is not infected by viruses / spyware. So a powerful and reliable anti-virus program becomes a must for the stable running of your computer. Moreover, you have to regularly update your virus database when available to make sure that you are always enjoying the latest one.

Secondly, defragment your computer to make all files on the hard disk always stay close together and contiguously. Normally, this becomes the physical reason for why the computer slows down with time. As we delete/ create/ update files, they will become more and more chaotic. Seriously, some individual files may be broken into many small parts and then located over the entire hard drive, resulting in fragmentation. Though it is still possible for us to read these scattered files, the outcome will slow down the computer as it will take some time for the hard disk head to read and then merge these separate parts together every time when you open a file. So to speed up your computer, please do remember to regularly defragment your computer. But it is recommended to first run the built-in Disk Cleanup before to clear the useless system junk files and free up more available hard disk space.

Thirdly, to speed up your computer quickly, what you need to do is to cancel some unnecessary startup entries. Under normal circumstances, Microsoft will automatically enable some services (do not need by lots of PC users) to load at Windows startup, which takes up a large amount of system resources when booting up the computer. Apart of this, when installing programs, some will also automatically add entries to run along with the Windows. All of these will greatly slow down the computer at startup. Therefore, an optimization of the startup items is vital. You can go to Start -> run -> type “msconfig”and press“Enter”to System Configuration Utility -> select “Startup”tab at the top. Here, you can simply cancel the unnecessary startup entries.

Last but not the least, to get a faster computer, you have to modify the Windows registry to increase startup and shutdown speed. You can directly open Registry Editor, and then find the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop, change the value of [HungAppTimeout] to 200 and the value of [WaitToKillAppTimeout] to 1000. Then, please return to the below key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control, and change the value of the two string values mentioned above to 200 and 1000.

The tips above are what I always do in my daily life to get a faster computer with remarkable success. If you are annoying with your slow computer and trying to experience again the feeling when you bought the computer, please do not miss the tips above to speed up your computer. Believe me, they are really worth having a try!

Now, what people used most is Windows XP operating system, which is much better and advanced than Win 98. Actually, whether a computer can properly run or not, or whether it can always make full use of the internal or external resources to always work at peak performance, is greatly depended on whether it is well maintained. Under normal circumstances, one problem will also result in another follow-up chain-reaction problem, that is, once you can not timely correct the existing, it will cause more serious problem such as system crash. So it is a must for you to know how to properly maintain PC performance.

We know that there are many aspects that you can do to maintain your computer healthily, but once you have done the below tips, I believe it will return you a healthy and faster computer all the time.

1) Regularly clean up the Windows registry. When browsing the websites, there will be some junk files or empty registry keys left behind, or the download files will also make the windows registry bloated. So it is suggested that you should weekly clean up Windows registry and the system junk files. Only in this way, will the computer run properly.

2) Periodically defragment the computer. When we are writing files to the hard disk, it will allocate the files on the available hard disk space. As we always delete and store files, as times by, a same content will be scattered and then put in different corners of the hard disk, which results in defragments. Thought disk defragments will not do any harm to the computer, it will delay the disk visiting time and cause in system slowdown and sluggishness. So to maintain healthy PC performance, please do remember to weekly defragment your computer.

Here we go: go to “Start”, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then Disk defragmenter. Please click “Disk Defragmenter” and then click the volume to be defragmented. It is recommended that you first click “Analyze” to see whether it is needed to defragment or not. Once the defragmented present is more than 10%, please immediately click “Defragment” to begin the defragment process. If you have never run a disk defragmenter before, you can skip the analysis step and directly click “Defragment” option to begin the defragment process. Moreover, do remember to defragment your computer when installing large applications / windows updates on your computer, or when storing large amount of files /folders on the computer, when there is only 10% available hard disk space.

3) Install anti-virus program to protect the computer, which can not be missed when trying to maintain a healthy computer. Once a computer is infected by viruses or spyware, it will cause system crashes or the loss of private data. So please do remember to install a powerful and reliable anti-virus program on your computer to protect your computer at any time. Besides, a frequent update of the virus database is needed, too!

4) To maintain healthy computer performance, what you also need to do is to ensure a good operating / running environment. This seems do not belong to the scope of system maintenance, but it plays very important role in the proper running of computers. Therefore, to ensure your computer always run at top performance, please make sure that the computer should be dampproof and dustproof.

In conclusion, as what you can see above, it is not difficult to maintain a healthy computer. With the simple steps above, I believe you can properly maintain computer performance and enjoy a healthy computer every day.

1. Let the system automatically shut down the programs that stop responding. In windows XP, this setting helps to automatically turn off the programs that stop working, which release available memory for other running programs and reduce the inconvenience of a manual shutdown. You can go to Start -> Run ->type “Regedit” and press “Enter” to open registry editor -> locate “HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop” branch -> reset the value of “AutoEndTasks” to “1”. Hence, when detecting any program has stopped working, the system will automatically turn it off, removing obstacles for a faster computer.

2. To increase computer startup speed, what you need to do secondly is to reduce the failure recovery time: go to run -> type “msconfig” to open “System configuration utility”-> “BOOT.INI”, and change the timeout as you want. If you are a faithful Windows XP user, I suggest you should set it to 5 seconds. Or you can right-click “My Computer” -> “Properties” ->”Advanced” –> click “Settings” in “Startup and Recovery”. Here, you can set the time to display list of operating systems, and click “Edit” to manually edit the boot option, change timeout = 30 to timeout = 5.

3. Another way is to delete the unused files from the hard disk so as to release more available memory for a faster computer. Once you have looked at the files on the hard disk, you will find some suffix names with tmp、bak、log、old、txt, which generated unavoidably when browsing the websites or downloading programs. So it is recommended that you should regularly delete them from your computer by using the built-in Disk Cleanup.

4. Optimize page files. We know that, Windows XP will dynamically allocate the page files, so it will continuously take up large amount of hard disk space to meet the requirement of the running programs. This will result in lower system efficiency and delay system response. So it is necessary to reasonably set the virtual memory page files. You can go to “Advanced” within System Properties -> Performance ->and then “Advanced” within the appearing windows -> Virtual Memory -> click “Change” to reset the initial and maximum size of Virtual memory.

5. Last, you should insist on daily computer maintenance which helps your hardware, computer to survive longer and increase you computer speed. Normally, it includes: regularly scan the PC for viruses/spyware; uninstall the unwanted programs from your computer (monthly); frequently remove the useless system junk files from your computer; make a routine to run a disk defragmenter or error-checking on a weekly basic; do a good cleaning work and so on.

Hopefully, with the above steps, you will easily get a faster computer by increasing computer speed at startup. Only with a faster computer, will you happily enjoy every computer experience.

1. If there are still too many programs running, sometime it will consume a very longer time to shut down or unable to shut down. So the safest thing that you need to do is to make sure that all programs have been closed before shutting down. This alone may help you solve the problem. But please do not just look at the processes in the system tray. You can open “Tasks Manager” or “Msconfig” from Start to turn off some running programs.

2. Sometimes, the APM will also cause “unable to shut down” problem. You can check it by following the steps here: Start ->Control Panel-> Power Options -> click the “APM” tab and try unchecking the option “Enable Advanced Power Management Support” -> shut down the computer. Once you can successfully turn off the computer after this simple change, you can make sure that the problem probably lies in APM, optimizing PC performance.

3. I believe that some of you have ever received the below tip when just starting up the computer: “It is now safe to turn off your computer”, or the computer just closes down immediately when starting up the computer. Generally speaking, this problem occurs when the Wininit.exe orVmm32.vxd file is corrupted. So you can solve it by re-evoking these two files from Windows installer and locate them under the directory: Windows\\system.

4. Last, what you need to check is your CMOS settings. Normally, an incorrect CMOS setting will also cause “unable to shut down” shutdown issue. So you can press “DEL” tab to access CMOS setting wizard when starting up the computer and then specially check the whether the boot sequence of CPU, Power Management, Virus Detection is correct or not. You can reference the Motherboard Manual to correctly set it. IF you are not so sure, you can directly use the factory default settings to optimize PC performance.

With the about troubleshooting solutions, you can easily solve the shutdown issue. But to my own experience, it is necessary for you to do some things to avoid such kind of problem such as regularly scan the computer for viruses / spyware, or frequently clear the Windows registry or system junk files and defragment the computer. Believe me, it will return you a smooth computer life easily.

As what you can see above, you can fix some shutdown issues relaxingly with some simple solution. But it is recommended that you can pay attention to optimize PC performance in daily life to avoid such problem. That will be much valuable, in my opinion!

1) Give priority to boot from hard disk
Some PC users will always ignore the boot sequence of the devices on the computer and set it to boot from CD-ROM by default, which consumes longer time to read the disk when starting up the Windows XP. Even though there is no disk, it will also automatically read the CD-ROM, which wastes the time and shortens the lifespan of the CD-ROM. So you can set it to boot from hard disk: press “DEL” key to access BIOS settings wizard when starting up the compute -> select “BIOS Features Setup” and press “Enter” -> select “Boot Sequence” and then “CD-ROM”.

2) Enable Quick Boot
There is a tab named “Quick Boot” in majority computers, which located under “Advanced BIOS Features”. Please enable it so when booting up the computer, there will be no detection towards the hardware and then speed up Windows XP.

3) Mark out unnecessary equipments
Currently, even though parallel and serial ports are not popular any more, there are still some interfaces on the motherboard. At this point, we can surely mark them out from BIOS to make Windows XP startup faster. After accessing BIOS wizard, select “PNP，PCI&ONBOARD I/O”, select “Onboard Serial Port1” and then set it to “Disable”. Adopt this idea, you can also disable the IDE2, parallel ports, USB and floppy drives. In this way, there is no need for the system to load more useless drives when booting up the computer and then speed it up from startup.

4) Disable some unnecessary services and startup items
In windows XP, the system will automatically enable some services that do not needed by lots of PC users, normally as more as 30. But actually, what we need is only 6 of them. So we can disable some unnecessary services to save some memory and speed up the computer. Here is what you should go: Start -> Run -> type “services.msc” and press “Enter” to start the system configuration utility. In the “Startup” tab, you will see a list of all the startup programs that load automatically when you boot up your computer. The more items you have checked here, the longer it takes for your computer to startup. So please check the list here and uncheck the programs that you don’t want to start up and click “OK”.

5) Regularly “lose weight” of system junk files
We know that when using the computer, there is no doubt some system junk generated on the hard disk. So it is necessary for us to run the Disk Cleanup utility to regular get rid of some unneeded junk files. Hence, it will not only free up the hard disk space, but also release more available memory for the programs that you do need, speeding up Windows XP. But do not forget to run a disk defragment after that to ensure compact and contiguous hard disk files all the time.

As what you can see above, to speed up Windows XP, it is easy for you to first optimize the bootup process of your PC with very simple methods. If you are annoying with your slower computer right now, do remember to take them immediately.