How good is your processor?

Sometimes you may think "how good is my processor?" or "which one shall I get for my new PC?".

It used to be very easy. Back in '90s or at the very beginning of this decade everything was clear. 486 was better than 386, Pentium 3 was better than Pentium 1, and any 800MHz CPU (central processor unit) was worse than a 1GHz.

Now CPU manufacturers use names that say literally nothing. How knows what AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core TK-55 or Intel Pentium Dual E2200 @ 2.20GHz actually mean? Which one is better? It's all because it's not only speed that matters, there's plenty of other factors like a size and spacing of the processor's transistors, bus speed, size of L1 cache and L2 cache etc.

Confusing, very much.

Fortunately you can compare your CPU against other types and models on http://www.cpubenchmark.net/.
Brilliant site collecting benchmark data from real users and a whole spectrum of CPUs. You can also compare your video card http://www.cpubenchmark.net/,
hard drives http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/
and whole systems http://www.passmark.com/baselines/index.php.

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Disk Cleanup Wizard

Windows XP includes a toll that helps users to get rid of unwanted files. It cleans up Temporary Internet Files, Temporary Windows Files, Temporary Program Files, Recycle Bin, Setup log files, Downloaded program files and also compresses files unused for a long time.

To Clean Up your disk:

1. Click Start
2. All Programs
3. Accessories
4. System Tools
5. Disk Cleanup

The program will ask you to choose a drive you want to clean. Pick one and press OK. It will start looking through the content of the hard drive, calculating how much space you can reclaim. After some time, usually a few minutes you will see a box from which you can choose what data you want to clean. Press OK. The program will ask you if it can proceed, press OK.

Optimizing your Hard Drive performance

Many of the functions in Windows XP rely on having enough disk space free to operate, including Windows’ virtual memory system and programs that need to create temporary files, to name just two of the most important. In addition, almost every function in windows relies on quick hard disk access. Windows includes a number of utilities that can help you optimize hard disk performance, including the following:

1. Disk Cleanup Wizard - Scans your hard disk, looking for files that can be safely removed, helping you to free up disk space.
2. Disk Defragmenter - Rearranges the data on your hard drive so that files are written to disk contiguously. During the defragmentation, it also places more frequently used files toward the front of the disk so that they load faster.
3. Chkdsk - Scans the files and directory structure of your disk to make sure that they are free of errors.

Cleaning your system - Hard Drive

Over time, your computer can become cluttered with unused programs, unknown data, and unwanted visitors. With a little effort, you can clean your system so that it runs at top form, and you can breeze through your work faster and easier than you can in an unclean system. In addition, clean systems are more reliable, less prone to failure, and easier to protect from attack by malicious programs.

Port Forwarding

If you use a router, sometimes you have to open (forward) a communication port to allow communication for programs and services like torrent clients, internet communicators, remote desktop.

Settings for every router are different. But here is a website where you can find a guide how to do it.

Check your broadband speed

You can check speed of your broadband with a single click.
www.speedtest.net is a free broadband speed test and in my opinion it is a one of the best facility of it’s kind.

Remote Assistance

If you need somebody to help you with your PC, you can invite that person using the Remote Assistance service.

Control over your PC will be taken by an invited person and he can sort out majority of software related problems on-line, without physically visiting your computer.

To send a Remote Assistance invitation:

1. From Start menu click Help and Support.
2. In the Help And Support Center, under Ask For Assistance, select Invite A Friend To Connect To Your Computer With Remote Assistance, and then select Invite Someone To Help You.
3. You have to select a method you want to use inviting your friend. You can send the invitation by using Windows Messenger (Live Messenger) or by email. If you prefer to send an email and you don’t use Outlook Express you can click on Save invitation as a file (Advanced) and send it as an attachment to your friend.
   
4. Next enter the requested information, including your name, a message, when the invitation should expire, and a password to be used to establish the connection.
5. Once your friend is connected you must accept the Take Control request.