July 29, 2008

Preventing Your Laptop from Cooking Itself

Its hard to believe that today in this age of electronics we are suffering still with overheating problems, specially with laptops. So I got tired of felling my legs burning to a crisp and decided to get myself a Belkin Cushtop for now to get me going. Since I didnt want more power cables around me for a laptop cooling pad I decided to get a special laptop cushion instead.

If you place it on a bed or couch it is not going to get the airflow it needs and will starting cooking itself. If it overheats then it will either shut off automatically or freeze depending on your laptop. If you notice it freeze when its really hot most likely your laptop reached a temperature higher than it's core temperature or a set threshold value and shut off to prevent damage to the hardware. Then you wait, power it back on and back in business. Maybe, however because this may happen again you are sometimes caught in a loop. A common reason for overheating in laptops is the dust build up clogging the vent portion where the heatsink and fan are. This means that if you clean the internal heatsink / fan periodically overheating may not be an issue. The only thing is, taking your laptop apart isnt always an option people may be comfortable in doing.

Alright, so let say you got the cooling pad or cushtop now what? Its still overheating and your not willing to clean the internal heatsink of dust. What are you doing that causes heavy processing such as video rendering, or using CPU intensive applications? Is your power management software's responding properly to these changes? You cant expect the laptop to get enough airflow to breath underneath all the time, so the next thing to do is optimize your power management settings at the least to ensure you have the optimum power settings and check your BIOS power options similarly.

If your using Windows XP
Go to Start, then Control Panel, and then click on Power Options and ensure the Portable/Laptop power scheme is the one selected. Also of your laptop manufacturer has a Power Manager, then you should access that an ensure that you have a proper setting to blend performance or battery optimized which is power saving. If you have it set to performance optimized then it will use up more energy for maximum processing speeds, thus heating up your laptop.
Similarly if you are using Windows Vista, go into the control panel and then power options to select a balanced power plan.
Next in Vista you want to go to the Advanced Power Settings menu which is actually the closest thing you'll see to the old XP power settings menu. Again you want a balanced setting, that doesnt using maximum performance settings.
If your using a new Mac running leopard
OS X 10.5 does not possess the ability for you to control the core system processing power/usage. The energy savings are designed to improve battery life from the perspective of how the machine responds when idle. The older G4 powerbook's have the option to regulate the processing speed, which you can lower if you find your mac is overheating frequently.
If your using a Linux distro like Ubuntu
Since Microsoft was the first vendor to implement ACPI, many BIOSs are configured to meet Microsoft ACPI standards but may not be as effective when the computer has Linux installed on it.
Recently with Ubuntu 8.04 things are improving, however you can try to forcibly scale down your CPU to its lowest setting, by trying the following in a Terminal Window.
echo -n "powersave" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

July 17, 2008

Windows Task Manager - Performance Explained

The best way to improve system performance is to make better use of your RAM. Understanding the Windows Task Manager's Performance graphs and indicators will help you determine what you should do.

The first rule of thumb is that you can never have enough RAM. More is better. So if you can afford to go out an buy a little bit more phisycal memory do so, otherwise follow my tips below.
PCWizKid's Video explains what to look for.


The Task Manager's Performance tab provides the best way to monitor memory use. To run the Task Manager, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete, then click on the Performance tab. With it, you can interpret the information as mentioned in the video above and make better use of your memory.

Video notes:
If the Total Commit Charge exceeds the Total Physical Memory, you probably need more RAM. When the Commit Charge is regularly higher than the Physical Memory available, it means that you have to regularly use a Page File, which may slow down your system down if its old. Buy more RAM in that case.


Crucial System Scanner

If the Peak Commit Charge is frequently at or near the Limit Commit Charge, you need to increase your memory. When this occurs, it means that your PC is frequently out of memory or close to being out of memory. Either add RAM or increase your Page File size.

Check the PF (PageFile Usage) make sure its not in the red, if so increase it as mentioned in my previous article here.

The Performance Tab has the following areas. (Important ones are highlighted)

Category

Subcategory

What the data means

Totals

Handles

Lets a program use system resources such as registry keys, fonts, and bitmaps. Sometimes, poorly written programs don't close their handles down when the program closes, leading to memory loss. As a practical matter, you won't need to monitor this number.

Threads

A discrete portion of a program executing a single task independently of other parts of a program. Again, as a practical matter, you won't need to monitor this number.

Processes

Reports on the number of programs and services (processes) currently running on your system. Monitor this to see whether you have too many programs and services running on your PC. To shut down unnecessary services, see [Hack #4].

Commit Charge (K)

Total

The total amount of physical memory (RAM) and virtual memory (page file) currently in use, in kilobytes. The more programs, files, and data you have open, the greater your commit charge will be. The greater the commit charge, the more demands will be put on your system. To reduce the commit charge, close programs and files, especially large files.

Limit

Reports on the total amount of physical and virtual memory that is currently available for your PC, measured in kilobytes. To increase the limit, you can increase the Page File size (see article 4.9 "Optimize Your Swap File Size") or add RAM to your system.

Peak

Reports on the highest total amount of memory, measured in kilobytes, that has been in use during your current session. Check this value each session to see whether the Peak value is frequently at or near the Limit value. If it is, you need to increase your memory, by either adding RAM or increasing your Page File size.

Physical Memory (K)

Total

Displays the total amount of RAM in your PC, in kilobytes. This number can be confusing; to find out the amount of RAM in megabytes, divide it by 1,024.

Available

Reports on the total amount of RAM, in kilobytes, currently available. When available RAM is used up, your system begins to use its Page File.

System Cache

Reports on the total amount of RAM, in kilobytes, that is being used for the most recently accessed data and programs. Programs and data can be in the system cache even after they have been closed down; the PC looks to the system cache first when opening a program or file, since it can be opened from the cache faster than from the hard disk.

Kernel Memory (K)

Total

The total amount of memory, in kilobytes, in use by the primary components of the XP kernel. The kernel is the core programs and files that make up the operating system.

Paged

The total amount of memory in a Page File, in kilobytes, used by the primary components of XP.

Nonpaged

The total amount of memory of RAM, in kilobytes, used by the primary components of XP.


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July 9, 2008

Windows XP PowerToys - TweakUI v2.10

Tweak UI PowerToys for Windows XP have been around for many years now. The latest version is 2.10. Its still an oldie but a goodie. If you havent installed this Microsoft Freebie then your missing out in Windows XP.

TweakUI v2.10 is the latest release which ceased to be updated back in 2005 and has been allways been a nice complement to automating tweaks easily. It gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP's default control panel options for example or would require you to do registry tweaks.

If you´re a power user or not this makes it easy. Go ahead and try it, but be forewarned that PowerToys aren´t supported by Microsoft because they´re not part of the official Windows XP release. TweakUI lets you adjust your Windows user interface, including menu speed, window animation, and Microsoft Internet Explorer, mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Since TweakUI does not come installed by default you would be surprised how many people dont know anything about it. Watch PCWizKid's walktrough video on TweakUI and decide for yourself, what are you waiting for?


Download TweakUI from Microsoft here

Note: Tweak UI Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or above / Windows Server 2003. Since most Windows XP PC's have Service Pack 2 or 3 you will probably be ok.

If you have Windows Vista , try TweakVI instead. Click the image for details.
Tweak Vista with TweakVI for Vista

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July 4, 2008

Windows Vista Aero - The What and How to guide

What is the Vista Aero Experience? Does your PC have what it takes to support it? How do you enable it?

This is the intention of this article as we go through demystifying the details behind using the Aero features in Windows Vista.


First lets review the features that Aero has to offer.

Vista Aero enables the new a see through Glass look and feel in which the Start Menu, taskbar, and all onscreen windows and dialog boxes take on a new glass-like translucent sheen.

The Aero Glass effect provides a heightened sense of depth and a more professional looking user experience (something we have already seen in Linux Distro's and OSX as desktop effects).

With Aero, Windows Flip 3D creates a view of your open windows in a three-dimensional stack on your desktop. Use the Windows logo+TAB keys to cycle between these windows and find what you want.
To use Windows Flip, hold down the Alt key and tap the Tab key to cycle between all of the running applications and open windows.

Aero also enables dynamic window animations, so that when you minimize a window to the taskbar, it subtly animates to show you exactly where it went. Also Aero enables Live Taskbar Thumbnails, when you mouse over buttons in the taskbar, a small thumbnail preview will pop up, letting you see the window without having to actually activate it first
So what does it take to enable Aero?
First , the version of Vista that you need that supports Aero is either Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition. If you have other versions of Vista then they will not have Aero.

Windows Aero requires high system specifications in order to work, with the minimum requirements of at least 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor and 1 GB (gigabyte) of system memory.

Your video card must support DirectX 9.0 and up (preferably DirectX 10) with Pixel Shader 2 in hardware and be supported by a new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver. In addition, your video card must have must have enough dedicated memory (128 Meg of RAM is the minimum recommended) to drive your display for a particular screen resolution with Aero.

Use this chart as a starting point to guide you in determining the proper screen resolution.
64 MB video card - Uses less than 1280×1024 (fewer than 1,310,720 pixels) resolution
128 MB video card - Use 1280×1024 to 1920×1200 (1,310,720 to 2,304,000 pixels)
256 MB video card - You can use higher than 1920×1200 (more than 2,304,000 pixels)

Configuring Windows Vista Aero
Microsoft has nicely provided a handy configuration utility to Aero that enables you to fine-tune how it looks. This functionality is available via the Personalization section of the Control Panel. The quickest way to get there is to right-click a blank area of the desktop, choose Properties,
and then select Windows Color and Appearance from the Personalize appearance and sound effects control panel.
You can pick between preset color choices by selecting one of the color scheme swatches shown at the top of the window. You can also disable transparent glass (really translucency) or vary the intensity of the translucency to meet your liking.
Finally, you can expand the Show color mixer option and apply varying levels of color, saturation, and brightness to achieve just the look and feel you want.

If you are not able to access Aero you can try enabling it manually by doing the following:

  1. Click on the Start button and then click on “Control Panel”.
  2. Click on “Appearance and Personalization”.
  3. Click on “Personalization”.
  4. Click “Window Color and Appearance”.
  5. Click on “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”.
  6. Select the Windows Aero color scheme.
An alternative is to do a registry tweak to hack in and enable Aero through the backdoor
  1. Go to Start button, then click on Run.
  2. Run “regedit”.
  3. Browse and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\ registry branch.
  4. On the following registry subkeys, edit and change the default value:

    Composition to 1
    CompositionPolicy to 2

  5. Exit registry editor.
  6. Go to Start and click on Run again.
  7. Execute and run the following commands one by one:

    net stop uxsms
    net start uxsms


    Tweak Windows Vista even more with TweakVI, click the image below for the free edition
    Tweak Vista with TweakVI for Vista

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