Most people fail to realize how painful a complete system restore is until they're faced with the undeniable fact that their system is about to crash and burn and they have no current backup available. Don't wait until that catastrophic day arrives and leaves you scrambling to backup your precious data while praying it's not too late.

Create a backup your most important files at least once a week by using any of the methods outlined in Backup Your PC – You’ll be thankful you did.

If your computer has reached the point of no return and your only solution is a factory restore, there are a few things you can do beforehand to make the process as painless as possible.

Find any Driver CDs that arrived with your PC when you purchased it and keep them handy (you will probably need them). If you don't have the CDs available, go to the website of your PC maker (Dell, HP, etc) and find any driver downloads available for your PC model. Download and burn them onto CD/DVD so that they will be available should you need them.

Backup your most important files (My Documents folder, email, etc). I prefer to be safe rather than sorry so I backup my system three different ways before a “clean install”. I use Acronis True Image to create an image, then I use the Windows Settings and Transfer Wizard to backup all my settings and important files. Additionally I burn onto DVD my important folders and settings. For burning DVDs and CDs I use a fantastic freeware program called CDBurnerXP.

The following are some things you might want to backup:

• My Documents folder. Note: My Pictures and My Music are both located in your My Documents folder. If you have photos or music not located in your My Documents folder back those up as well.
• Outlook Express folder (located in C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{VERY LONG NUMBER}\Microsoft\).
• Outlook Express settings, including Accounts and Rules.
• Internet Explorer Security settings (if you have adjusted them), Favorites, Trusted Sites and Restricted Sites.
• Many programs save their configuration settings to your User Profile (located in C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Local Settings\Application Data\). Backup any folders for programs which you have modified settings.
• Any other important folders that you have created.

Although I prefer to do my backups manually, there a many who prefer not to tinker with the registry and Windows Explorer. The following freeware programs backup Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and Firebird settings:

• BackRex Internet Explorer Backup
• Amic Email Backup
• MozBackup

Keep track of what you are doing. I make a list of the folders/settings I need to backup and cross them out as they are completed.

Once you have everything backed up, you can begin the Full Restore process by following the instructions provided by your PC manufacturer. A complete factory restore usually entails booting-up with a specific Restore CD (also provided by your PC manufacturer) or running a special program via your Start Menu. Check the documentation that came with your PC or visit it's website and print or save the instructions for reference.

Restoring a PC will always involve time and effort but it no longer has to be a daunting task.

More “Juice”

The fastest route to seeing a noticeable difference is to add more RAM. To view how much "memory" your computer currently has installed, right-click the My Computer icon and click properties. In the general tab, toward the bottom of the window, you will see your computer processor, along with it's speed and amount of memory installed.

My PC has 2 GB of RAM. If you have Windows Vista you should have, at a minimum, 1 GB. For Windows XP, 512 MB or greater is recommended. The more RAM your PC has the faster it will be able to accomplish tasks and run programs. If you would like to add PC memory to your computer, a terrific place to shop is Crucial.com. They have a Memory Advisor Tool and a System Scanning Tool that can help you choose the proper memory module to purchase. Your shipment will include documentation that explains how to properly install the memory modules but there is also a How-To available at the website.

Curb Windows Animation

Another increase in performance, although small, can be achieved by adjusting Windows Visual Effects.

To reach the settings tab, right-click the My Computer icon and choose properties. Then click the Advanced Tab and finally the settings button in the Performance section.

Choose the visual effects tab and adjust the settings to your liking.
The following is a screenshot of my visual effects settings:

Squeeky Clean Windows

I use an excellent freeware program called Ccleaner to keep my computer free of unnecessary temporary files and optimized for peak performance. It is extremely customizable and can be set to run when windows starts for automatic cleaning.

PC Tweaking Is Fun

Don't be afraid to add memory, a new DVD drive or hard drive to your PC. They are all relatively simple yet extremely rewarding projects. All new Computer parts come with detailed instructions and toll-free numbers to call if you run into problems.

Modifying a few settings and running specialized software can lead to happier computing. Have fun tweaking and experimenting.

As always, a backup is recommended before tinkering with your PC.

To avoid having to re-install Windows you can use Imaging software to back it up. With drive imaging software you can take a snapshot of your hard drive before you install new software, for example, and save it to a different drive, partition or CDs/DVDs so that if the need arises, you can go back to the way things were. There are many different Drive Imaging programs for purchase. If you'd prefer not to pay, there is a freeware alternative called DriveImage XML DriveImage XML that seems to be popular and gets very good reviews. I use Acronis Drive Image. It's chock-full of options and at $49.99, very reasonably priced.

Imaging programs take time to create an image. If you don't want to create a drive image frequently, you can keep some PC headaches at bay by creating regular backups or synchronizing data in between image creation. There are many freeware programs to create file backups, Windows Backup is included in Windows XP and Vista. A very basic way of backing up your files or folders is to drag and drop them into another drive in your PC or a CD/DVD for safe-keeping. To avoid having copy all the folders or files every time you back-up, you can use synchronization software that will only backup folders or files that have changed. Again, there are many available for purchase, but if you're looking for freeware, you can take a look at the very capable Microsoft SyncToy or 2BrightSparks SyncBack.

Once you have your PC image saved you can install new software and also go to Windows Update without worrying that if something goes wrong you will be up a creek without a paddle. I always make an image backup with Acronis True Image before visiting Windows Update for my monthly updates and before installing new software, just in case. The many times that I've had a problem, restoring my PC to an earlier image was fast and painless.

First run a Virus Scan to make sure there are no hidden viruses (or worse) sneaking about. When finished, perform some Basic PC Maintenance and check to see what programs are starting up when the PC boots. You can disable the programs that you don't need running constantly in the background.

Many programs set themselves to start up when the PC does so that they can startup faster when you click them, but all those unnecessary programs running in the background can sometimes have a negative impact on your computer's performance. To check what's lurking in my startup and disable what's not needed, I like to use a freeware program called Starter. It is very easy to choose what you want to disable (just uncheck the box next to the name). You will get an alert asking if you want to disable it, click yes and it'll no longer be running automatically on start up. This program is great because there is no need to delete an entry in order to disable it. If you change your mind later on or a program doesn't work as it should, all you just have to do is go back into Starter and add a checkmark to the start up item to re-enable it again. Although it's tempting, please do not uncheck everything that starts up, this program makes it relatively easy to see what program the start up entry belongs to so that you can decide if it's necessary at startup (leave your Antivirus and Firewall enabled). If you're not sure whether the startup item is necessary, you can check the name against a startup list such as Bleeping Computer’s Startup Program Database to see if you should disable or not. Because Starter is a full featured, very powerful program, I recommend you only modify entries in the Start up tab, not the Processes or Services Tab since those changes (processes and services) can affect your programs if you don't know what you're changing.

Additionally, if you use Internet Explorer you can set it to delete your temporary internet files after you finish surfing online. Just click Tools, Internet Options, from within Internet Explorer and go to the Advanced Tab to see the setting:

In Firefox you will get the same options by going to Tools, Options, Privacy:

Another great way to make your PC more responsive is to disable indexing. The indexing service is supposed to make searching for files on your computer faster by creating indexes from your files and folders, but having it running in the background can sometimes slow down your PC. You can safely disable the service in by right-clicking your drive and choosing properties. From the general tab you can disable (uncheck) the option to Index files. It will ask for a confirmation, click OK. Repeat the procedure for all your hard drives.

Your computer should now be speedier and more responsive.

Get rid of clutter by running Disk Cleanup. You will find Disk Cleanup in your System Tools folder which you can reach by going to your Start menu, All Programs, Accessories, System tools. Once you click the Disk Cleanup tool, you will need to select the drive you want to clean up. Choose C and wait while the program scans your drive. Once it finishes scanning, a window will come up that shows you how much space you can recover by deleting certain files. I usually put a check mark on everything except Compress Old Files. There is no longer a need to Compress Old Files because newer hard drives are much larger and don't usually run out of space. If your hard drive is almost full you can put a check-mark on that option but next time you need those older files it may take a little longer to access them since Windows will need to decompress them. Once you're done choosing the files you'd liked deleted, just click OK and the cleanup will begin.

If you'd like in-depth information about Disk cleanup and it's options, you can see the Disk Cleanup entry at The Elder Geek (an awesome Windows resource).

Run Chkdsk. The simplest way to run Chkdsk is to go to My Computer (you can get to it from your start menu). Choose your main drive if you have more than one (it's the one with the letter: “C”) and right-click it. Choose properties (at the bottom), and you will be presented with the properties for that drive. Click on the Tools tab (top of window) and click Check Now for the first one: Error Checking (see screenshot below).

A smaller window will appear with two checkboxes and you will add a check-mark to automatically fix file system errors (If you want a thorough check, also choose put a check-mark on Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors (adding this option will make chkdsk take longer).

When you click start you will get a warning that the disk check could not be performed because the drive is in use, just click yes to schedule the disk check when Windows starts up and restart (reboot) your computer. Once your computer reboots, you will see a message similar to the following on your screen:

Let the Chkdsk run through. Once finished your computer will reboot and you will be taken back to your desktop. It might take a little longer for your desktop to appear right after you run Chkdsk, don't be alarmed, that is normal and will only happen right after Chkdsk runs not at every boot up.

Defragment your hard drive. Windows Defrag is started by going to My Computer, right-clicking your hard drive, clicking Properties and then clicking the Tool tab at the top of the window. From there you will choose Defragmentation (see screenshot above). After clicking Analyze, you will see a summary with the suggestion to Defragment or the message that you do not need to defragment at this time. Click Defragment. Once the tool finishes defragmenting your drive you can close it. note: In Windows Vista, defrag runs on a regular schedule, therefore this tip can be ignored by those running Vista.

For most people Windows Defrag works just fine, but Windows Defrag is a limited (basic) version of the Defragmentation Software Diskeeper. Aside from Diskeeper, there are other paid defragmenting programs and all of them offer more options than the Windows (free) version. The defragmenting program that I use on all my PCs is called PerfectDisk by Raxco and I feel it's a great value at $39.99.

I recommend running Chkdsk, Defrag and Cleanup at least every few weeks. I like to run mine once a week before I create a backup of my system.