Thursday 19 December 2013

How to Reduce Windows Startup Time

How to Reduce Windows Startup Time

Most Windows users follow the same routine every day—they push the power button ontheir computer and head off to make a cup of coffee. If that’s as long as it takes to boot up your system and all of your programs, then something’s not right.

What causes boot delays?

Some of the programs you install assume that you’re using them on a daily basis and as a result, they automatically load every time you start Windows. In 9 out of 10 cases, these programs never ask if you would like to run them all of the time. Finding the switch to turn this so-called “startup program” off is hard and often forces the user to dig deep into submenus of the particular program.

Over the course of a typical computer’s lifespan, an average of 25 to 35 programs automatically starts after you log on to the system. Some of these are actually pretty important and should never be disabled, for example, an antivirus scanner or a third-party firewall. Others, like Windows Live Messenger or Skype, are pretty convenient. However, most of the time you don’t need half of these programs popping up and causing your computer to take forever to start. Here are two tools to deal with slow boot-up performance, one for the absolute Windows guru who wants to know and modify every nuance of the boot process. The other is for professionals and beginners alike, it tells you everything you need to know about startup programs and lets you disable unwanted programs.


Day 1: Windows has just been installed, and less 
than a handful of programs are running automatically



Day 3: As users install their usual set of programs, more and more useless applications find their way into the notification area. Keep in mind: Not all of the startup programs are visible here; some of them are hidden. Imagine how this situation looks after a year of installing and using programs



Method 1: “Autoruns” by Mark Russinovich (Recommended for tech-savvy users)

Mark Russinovich probably knows the Windows kernel better than some of the original NT developers. In a smart move, Microsoft hired this Windows guru who developed “Autoruns” for Windows, which is now available in version 9 over at Microsoft TechNet.

Warning: This powerful piece of software simply lists every single file that Windows loads during the boot-up process, and even some of the more important kernel drivers within your system once you’ve logged on. If you’re a professional user and know what you are doing, this tool should prove interesting for you.
This is how it works:
1. Download “Autoruns”, and unzip the file “Autoruns.zip”. To run it, simply double-click on “Autoruns.exe”.



2. All startup objects are located under “Logon”. Make sure not to disable the entries “explorer.exe” and
    “userinit.exe”, since they are responsible for the logon process and your desktop. Vista and Windows 7
     users can find regularly run tasks, such as Apple software and Google Updates, under “Scheduled
     Tasks”. Again, this tip is only recommended for advanced users, and even they should create a system
     restore point at the very least.

3. If you can’t recognize an entry here, consult Google or Bing. You will instantly find yourself looking at a
    process database or a forum entry where the autorun entry in question is discussed.


Method 2: TuneUp StartUp Manager (Recommended for both home users and professionals)

If you’re a bit scared about the hundreds of possible entries you can disable with “Autoruns” for Windows, you will find yourself very satisfied with the TuneUp StartUp Manager featured within TuneUp Utilities —grab a free 15-day trial over athttp://www.tune-up.com/download. This tool is much more visual and only shows those programs that run automatically and are safe to disable. It’s excellent for home users and professionals alike. Here are some simple steps to get it working:

1. Download and install TuneUp Utilities. Go to “Increase Performance”, and select TuneUp StartUp
    Manager.

2. In the next window, you will find a list of all of the programs that are loaded at every Windows start:


3. TuneUp StartUp Manager is able to identify thousands of common and popular startup items, and tells
    you whether they are unnecessary, as in the example of Adobe Reader Quick Launch, or necessary, such
    as the Windows Defender. In the left hand pane, you will see a description for most startup programs,
    telling you exactly why it’s there and what it does. Even if TuneUp StartUp Manager is not able to find
    anything, there’s still the option of asking Google or Bing for advice!

Final thoughts
Depending on how many startup programs are automatically loaded by your system, you are able to decrease the boot-up time immensely. In addition, without unnecessary garbage running in the background, your computer will perform significantly better. So, if you’re an admin and you know what you’re doing, we recommend you go through each and every entry of “Autoruns” for Windows as outlined above. For everyone else, we recommend TuneUp StartUp Manager. Based on its feedback and descriptions, it’s just so easy to get rid of all of the unnecessary startup items and boost your PC’s performance.


How to Remove Ads from Android Apps, Games & Browser

remove-ads-android

Earlier I have posted on how you can easily remove all the spammy advertisements, bulky popups and any other virus attacking stuff in your windows computer without using any software, well this post is part of that thing and we are going to use the same thing for getting rid of advertisements in Android free apps, games and browsers you use to browse the web. 
 Now if you really feel bad watching all those bad advertisements in your free apps and games and even browsing some websites online then we have a simple solution that will block all those advertisements for free using no software.

Removing Advertisements from Android :)

So now the steps are pretty simple, we will be using that HOSTS file blocking trick to get this thing working, so now just follow below steps and enjoy.
  1. Open this text file online and copy its contents in a new notepad file or download it to your PC.
  2. Now you have the file if you have downloaded the file just make sure to rename the file as "hosts" its really important.
  3. So now you have the "hosts" file that you need to place in your Android device in order to remove all those advertisements.
  4. Now just transfer this file to your android device and open your file explorer on your android device. (use a free file explorer like F-explorer)
  5. Now just copy the file on your android device and paste it in to /etc or /system/etc, now if there is already a hosts file present just rename it to hosts.bak (to create backup of older hosts file)
  6. Now just paste your new hosts file over here, make sure you have the administrative right's to paste the file.
  7. That's it guys now just reboot your android device and see this trick working.
Now after you reboot your device you will see how all the advertisements in your apps, games and browser are vanished away, now sometime if might feel awkward as every single ad will be gone but still if you want a clean screen then this is the way.


How to Obtain a Custom Username for Google+ URL

Google+ recently introduced custom URL for everyone who was eligible to get it for their personal profile, so earlier they gave the custom URL to all the big stars but now small newbies were in luck to avail this special feature to make their profile look much more short and simple.
Well now you might have received a email from Google+ regarding your profile username eligibility or you might have seen that notification bar if you are regular user of Google+ if you not we still have a simple way to avail this feature and get you a simple custom URL for your google+ profile page.


Now everyone is not able to get tis custom URL, well you need to have a proper userbase on Google+ in order to get this custom URL, well if you are a regular user then this feature would be surely available for you so let see how you can apply it.

  1. Visit Google+ and Sign-In.
  2. Now navigate to Profile > About, so now if you are eligible for this feature then you might be able to see a black bar sliding with text (your profile is eligible for custom URL) or scroll down to Links section and press Get URL.
  3. google  custom urlNow you will see some popup like on the right hand side.
  4. So now if your was available you you will see a green arrow on the right, else you need to enter some more number's or alphabets in order to get your available custom name.
  5. Now after you see the green mark just press Change URL option and it will ask for confirmation that if you really wanna make a change with the name chosen.
  6. So now choose Accept and enjoy your new Custom Google+ URL.

So guys that's it now you will have a nice custom URL for your Google+ profile, have fun sharing this with all your friends, Enjoy.