Thinkpads Forum

I have two indentically prepared T30's. The operating system is Windows XP Pro.

One has Hitachi 7200 rpm 92GB HDD that I have been using for the past two years.

The other has Hitachi 7200 rpm 92GB HDD that I just spent the last week reloading all of the software fresh from Recovery CD's and respective Install CD's.

Obviously, Windows startup (and shutdown) times are much faster with the HDD with fresh software install -- 45 seconds during startup and 15 seconds during shutdown.

I have verified that the number of programs listed in Windows MSConfig Startup, Taskmanager, and Services on both T30's are the same.

I have deleted MS IE temporary files. I have run AVG 8.5 scan. I have run Windows Defragmentation.

I will eventually run Acronis True Image to clone HDD with fresh software. However, I would like to learn (and experiment with) different ways to keep HDD running quickly for as long as possible.

Are there any other HDD utilities that I could be using?

robert213 wrote:I have two indentically prepared T30's. The operating system is Windows XP Pro.

One has Hitachi 7200 rpm 92GB HDD that I have been using for the past two years.

The other has Hitachi 7200 rpm 92GB HDD that I just spent the last week reloading all of the software fresh from Recovery CD's and respective Install CD's.

Obviously, Windows startup (and shutdown) times are much faster with the HDD with fresh software install -- 45 seconds during startup and 15 seconds during shutdown.

I have verified that the number of programs listed in Windows MSConfig Startup, Taskmanager, and Services on both T30's are the same.

I have deleted MS IE temporary files. I have run AVG 8.5 scan. I have run Windows Defragmentation.

I will eventually run Acronis True Image to clone HDD with fresh software. However, I would like to learn (and experiment with) different ways to keep HDD running quickly for as long as possible.

Are there any other HDD utilities that I could be using?

1: run Power Defragmenter instead of the awful XP native defrag program.

see info here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Har ... nter.shtml
Power Defragmenter description

This software will take the defragmentation process to a whole new level
Power Defragmenter is a very advanced GUI for the Sysinternals core application which takes defragmentation process to a whole new level.

Power Defragmenter is a GUI (Graphic User Interface) application for program Contig by Sysinternals.

Contig is a very powerful defragmentation application designed for Windows NT/2000/XP operating systems.

Contig created by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell.

(This is a legit and reliable program from known and honest computer people)
=================
2: use hibernate instead of shutdown. Much faster, and very safe.

Anyone familiar with???

http://www.filehippo.com/software/cleaning/

CCleaner 2.20.920
Piriform - 3.10MB (Freeware)
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and f...

Defraggler 1.10.143
Piriform - 809KB (Freeware)
From Piriform, the company that brought you CCleaner and Recuva... they now bring you a file defragmentation tool... Defraggler!

JkDefrag 3.36
J C Kessels - 467KB (Open Source)
JkDefrag is a disk defragmenter and optimizer for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008/X64. Completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, ...

O&O Defrag 2000 Freeware
O&O Software - 2.08MB (Freeware)
O&O Defrag 2000 is a freeware Windows defragmentation tool. It is completely integrated into the Microsoft Management Console as a snap-in and can be ...

I have both CCleaner and Defraggler on this T42. They are fine for the price, but nothing extraordinary.

On CCleaner, I don't use the tool to clean the Registry. I have other utilities that scan it as well, and I note it lists many more problems than them, so I'm leery of it (as I am of Registry cleaners in general, these days). And on the excess file cleaning I do use it for, I don't let it clean out my prefetch areas.

Defraggler is OK, but low on options for ways to defrag and optimize other than Defrag or Defrag empty space.

If you aren't already aware of them, you might want to review the XP tweaking suggestions at Tweakhound's and Black Viper's sites, though I admit most of us are familiar with a number of these tweaks:

TweakHound's Super XP Tweaking Guide - SP3 Final
A guide to Tweak & Optimize XP. Last updated: June, 2009
http://tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks1.htm

Black Viper's Top tweaks for a faster PC
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm

Mike Blake wrote: TweakHound's Super XP Tweaking Guide - SP3 Final
A guide to Tweak & Optimize XP. Last updated: June, 2009
http://tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks1.htm

Am I the only one that cannot see the text?

I can only see...
"TweakHound computer stuff..." near the top of the screen
and a list of "Popular Articles" along the right of the screen.

Clicking on links of "Popular Articles" does not reveal any text.

robert213 wrote:Am I the only one that cannot see the text?

I see the site just fine in Opera 10 beta 1. It's probably the browser you are using. Try a different internet browser.

It works fine for me using IE8.

I am using MS IE ver 6.0.29 that came with my recovery cd(s) -- plus SP2.

Thanks, I'll try another browser on another machine.

robert213 wrote:I am using MS IE ver 6.0.29 that came with my recovery cd(s) -- plus SP2.
Thanks, I'll try another browser on another machine.

I have MSIE 7 here as a backup to Firefox, and it sees the site OK as well.

But you might want to drop Eric "TweakHound" Vaughan a note mentioning your browser and your problem, as on the first page he says "Pardon my mess. I've created a new web template. This will only be applied to new or updated content." And the page I referred to IS new, dated June 2009. Perhaps the template is not compatible with older versions of IE.

In case you can't see the page with his contact info, his email is tweakblog@gmail.com.