The Brass Tacks

Automate PC Maintenance

Here's a great little article for Windows XP Luddites, by technology writer Chris Tull:

Put your PC Maintenance Routine on Autopilot

How to Have a Lean, Mean Windows XP Machine!

Speed up your computer by running some basic maintenance procedures on a regular basis. I try to do the following at least once/month.

Defragment the Hard Disk

The Windows Disk Defragmenter utility speeds up your computer by moving files to adjacent locations. To run, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. It can be scheduled to run automatically via the Task Scheduler.

Clean Up the Hard Disk

Windows Disk Cleanup frees up space on your computer by deleting temporary files, emptying the Recycle Bin, compressing old files, and so on. Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. It can also be scheduled to run automatically via the Task Scheduler.

Check the Hard Disk for Errors

The Windows error-checking utility (formerly known as Scandisk) checks the file systems and clusters on your computer and repairs any errors found.

Go to My Computer, and right-click on Local Disk (probably C:). Select Properties > Tools, and under Error-checking select Check Now. If you want you can select the check boxes for "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors," then click Start. You might have to restart your computer, depending on the options chosen.

Run Windows Update

Windows Update updates the operating system and certain Microsoft software, patching security vulnerabilities that arise from time to time. You can choose between critical updates that should be performed ASAP, and optional software and hardware updates that might make your computer perform better, or might make it perform worse. I usually don't bother with the optional updates, unless there is a specific issue I am working on.

You can enable Windows Update to run automatically on a schedule of your choosing: visit Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates. If you are like me and prefer to update manually, just open up Internet Explorer, type windowsupdate in the address bar, and hit Ctrl + Enter.

Remove Unwanted Programs

It's a good idea to use the Windows Add or Remove Programs utility to uninstall any programs you aren't using any more. It lives in Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.

Take a Peek at the Start Up Folder

Go to Start > All Programs > Startup and see if there is anything scheduled to launch there that you don't want.

Run the System Configuration Utility

Go to Start > Run and type msconfig in the box. Click the Startup Tab, and you will see a list of the programs that feel the need to launch themselves whenever you start Windows. Many of these programs are essential to the operation of your computer, but others are simply using up resources.

You might have bloated programs installed on your system, normally slow to load, which want to "pre-launch" a little piece of themselves to try to distract you from their pokeyness. Microsoft Office, Open Office, and most Adobe products are likely culprits.

Other programs might launch features that they think you want available all the time, but some of these "helpful" programs are borderline Malware. Examples found on my computer were the Quicken Billminder Service, HP Toolbox, MSN Messenger, a utility for changing monitor resolution, and automatic update features of Real Player and Skype.

Be careful using the System Configuration Utility as it is possible to do real damage. However, if you recognize a program and know you don't want it to load, it is probably safe to disable it. It is a good idea to do this one program at a time, so you know what went wrong if something bad does happen.

If you don't recognize a program you can often figure out what it does by Googling the name of the exe file. Look under the Command list for something like "jusched.exe," type it into Google, and see what you can find out (but remember to take anything you read on Google with a big grain of salt).

For example, jusched.exe checks for updates to the Java environment on your computer and is generally harmless, but you can disable it if you want.

You probably won't have much luck disabling MSN Messenger through the System Configuration Utility. It can be disabled though by way of Add or Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components.

Check Task Manager Processes

Not everything that runs with Windows shows up in the System Configuration Utility. You can view other Services that are running by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete on your keyboard to bring up the Task Manager, then clicking on the Processes tab. I wouldn't necessarily recommend ending any Processes here (many of these are required for your computer to run), but you can Google as above, find out what they actually do, and perhaps come up with a way to nuke the bad ones.

For example, I was having a problem with my notebook computer. Every once in a while, for no apparent reason, the the fans would blast on in a desperate bid to cool down the computer. It would happen even when the machine was sitting idle, and sometimes it would shut itself off.

I finally figured out that the Windows Help and Support system was launching a piece of itself called "helpsvc.exe" on startup. It did this even though I rarely use Windows Help and Support. helpsvc.exe is famous for going insane and eating up 100% of a computer's resources. The Microsoft recommended solution was useless, but I solved the problem by going to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, right clicking on Help and Support, choosing Properties > General, and changing the Startup type to Manual.

Clean Up the Registry and Perform Other Essential Tasks with CCleaner

CCleaner is a nifty little utility, kind of like Disk Cleanup on steroids. Not only does it do a better job of cleaning up your hard drive, but it also cleans the gunk out of your Windows registry. You can use it to tame programs that try to run when your computer starts, or to uninstall unwanted programs. The first time I ran CCleaner my computer sped up considerably. And it's free!

Easier File Access in Windows

I was looking for a quick and easy way to find files on my computer, without having to open up Explorer and search through a bunch of folders. I tried both Google and Yahoo desktop search, but found that I didn't like the way they consumed resources on my machine and made some programs run poorly.

A blog I subscribe to (Simplehelp) showed me an easy solution, which is to (simply) add cascading toolbars to the Windows XP Taskbar.

A little experimenting, and here's what I came up with (click thumbnail for larger image):

To achieve a similar result, pull the Taskbar up so it occupies two rows at the bottom of the screen, then right-click on it and go to Toolbars. Make sure there is a check mark beside Address and Quick Launch. To add a cascading menu for easier file access, right-click the Taskbar and go to Toolbars - New Toolbar, browse to any folder on your computer, select it and click OK.

I love these Toolbars because I can easily get to any file with one click on the little double arrowhead on the Taskbar. However, one drawback is that you can't see the "Details" view of your files in a cascading menu. If you need to know when a file was created, or how big it is, simply click on the Toolbar, cascade your way to the file's containing folder, right-click on the folder and choose Open. You can also right-click on any Toolbar's Taskbar icon and choose Open Folder.

You might need to drag your Toolbars around a bit to get them just the way you like them. Once they are perfect, right-click the Taskbar again and choose "Lock the Taskbar" to keep it from changing.

...Brad Howland

What Windows Needs - An Address Registry

There are a lot of Microsoft-bashers out there, so I'm hesitant to make this confession: I like Windows! I think that, with the introduction of XP, Windows became an excellent operating system, stable and quite secure as long as a few basic precautions are taken.

However, there is one thing that still bothers me about Windows: the need to enter and maintain the same contact information (names, addresses, etc.) in different programs.

I use a database program to maintain, sort, and filter my client's data, an accounting program for invoicing those clients and keeping track of payables and receivables, and several income tax programs that all require contact information to be entered. I use the Windows Address Book for access to names and emails from my email program, and a basic .csv database for personalized client emails from my mass email program. Even my graphic design software requires a separate address book for merging data into publications such as newsletters.

I am well aware that data can be exported and imported from one program to another, but the process is always cumbersome and prone to duplicate entries or other errors. I know how to merge data from a data source into a publication, which is even more of a pain. I also know that there is expensive contact manager software available that promises to keep information up-to-date across different programs in real time. Unfortunately, the software I have looked at only integrates one or two programs, and I'm loathe to spend huge amounts of money on a partial solution.

What Windows needs is an Address Registry! The Address Registry would be a single area where contact information could be entered and made available to all programs. In fact, it should be a requirement for any program running under Windows to be able to access the Address Registry. When the information in the Registry is updated, it would automatically transfer to any and all Windows programs.

I hereby bequeath this idea to Microsoft. You don't have to pay me for it, but please make our lives a little easier and try it out!

...Brad Howland

Why I Love Finale

Today I had the idea that Bach's Two Part Inventions would sound nice played by flute and euphonium, so I fired up my trusty Finale music notation software and did a quick arrangement of #2. Here's how long it took me:

• Entering the notes - 14 minutes
• Checking for errors and adding some slurs and articulations - 5 minutes
• Adjusting page format to fit on two pages, creating titles, and printing to pdf - 6 minutes
• Creating a few playback trills - 6 minutes
• Recording to mp3 and normalizing the playback file - 3 minutes
• Grand total - 34 minutes

Have a look at the printed score here, and if you like click here to listen to the arrangement played by Finale.

I could have done the arrangement a lot faster with a MIDI keyboard but I don't have room for one in my office. Instead, all the notes were entered using Finale's Speedy Entry tool and the number pad of the computer keyboard.

Call me crazy, but I think that is stunningly realistic playback for a computer program! Finale made huge strides in the 2007 release towards imitating human playback and instrument sounds. If I wanted though, instead of recording to mp3, I could have saved the file to MIDI in a couple of seconds, resulting in a much smaller download but variable results playing the file back on computers with different soundcards.

The latest release of Finale includes the ability to import live audio into your music arrangements. Wow!