When you’re browsing the web, you typically type in easy-to-remember domain names, such as google.com.

The internet is based on IP addresses, however, so each time you type in a domain name, the browser must ask your ISP’s DNS (domain name system) server for the IP address (Google.com is 209.85.227.105, for instance). This works well, but the DNS process takes time. Slow servers can add a 0.4 or 0.5 second delay before your browser can access the site, then a similar pause for every domain linked from the page.

This could extend your download time by several seconds for complex sites. Turning to a fast, free DNS server can cut DNS delays by 50 to 80 per cent and make a real difference to your browsing. Could this work for you, and which server is best? Let’s find out…

Step-by-step: Find the fastest DNS server

1 Download Namebench
Namebench (http://code.google.com/p/namebench) is a clever tool that pits all the best DNS servers against each other, and reports on which will deliver the fastest performance for you.

2 Choose your browser
Launch the program, then click Extract. Namebench tests its list of DNS servers against the files in your browser history, but you have to tell it which browser you use most often: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera or Chrome? Click the browser listed under Benchmark Data Source and select your preferred option.

3 Get started
Make sure other internet-related applications are closed, then click Start Benchmark. Namebench scans your chosen browser history, looks at your most commonly-accessed sites, and sees how long it takes various DNS servers to return an IP address for them. It may take a few minutes, so be patient.

4 Peak time tests
When finished, Namebench opens a report. If it tells you there’s a free DNS server that’s faster than the one you’re using now, make a note of its name, the primary and secondary server addresses, then repeat the same tests tomorrow at a different time (but one when you’d normally be browsing).

5 A second opinion
Hopefully Namebench recommends the same DNS server for both tests. Sometimes it picks different servers, though, which makes it hard to know how reliable its figures are. If that happens to you, get a second opinion by running a very similar tool, DNS Benchmark.

6 DNS Benchmark
GRC’s DNS Benchmark (www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm) is very easy to use. Once again, close down any other internet-related applications first (you shouldn’t run any resource-hungry programs in the background, either), then select the Nameservers tab, click Run Benchmark, and wait until the tests are completed. As with Namebench, this could take a few minutes, so go and make yourself a quick cup of tea.

7 Consider the conclusions
Click the Conclusions tab to find out what DNS Benchmark has to say. The report is longer than we’d like, but the program still lets you know how well your current DNS server has performed, and whether you’d be better off switching it for something else (and what the best ‘something else’ might be).

8 Pick a winner
If Namebench and DNS Benchmark say your current DNS server is best, stop here – there’s nothing else to do. But if they say you should make changes, it’s worth giving that a try. First make a note of the server addresses they recommend (the primary and secondary servers in Namebench).

9 Configure your router
Does your PC get online via a router? Try to configure that first. You need to access the settings for your router first, which is normally done by entering the appropriate web address into your browser: http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1, for instance. Check the manual for help.

10 Find the settings
Find your DNS settings. In this D-Link router, I entered a password, clicked Advanced and chose DNS Setup – your router may be different. It’s probably set to find DNS servers automatically. Change this to point to the primary (preferred) and secondary (alternate) servers you’ve recorded.

11 Tweaking TCP/IP
If you don’t have a router (or can’t find the setting), tweak your PC’s TCP/IP settings instead. Click Start, then Run if you’re using Windows XP, type NCPA.CPL and press Return to open the Network Connections window. Right-click the icon that shows your connection and select Properties.

12 Make the change
Select Internet Protocol TCP/IP (Version 4 in Windows Vista or Windows 7) from the list that appears, and then click Properties. In the lower half of the new window that opens, ensure that Use the following DNS server addresses is selected, and then enter your recommended primary server address that you previously made a note of in the Preferred DNS server box, and the secondary address in the Alternate DNS server box.

13 A quick test
Reboot your PC and router, and go online. If you can’t access websites, you’ve probably made a mistake. Reverse your router or PC changes above, reboot and your web access should be restored. Re-run Namebench, check you’ve noted the right DNS addresses, and try tweaking your settings again.

14 Faster web browsing
If your settings changes worked correctly, you now get data from the new DNS server. Some websites probably seem unchanged, but others may feel a lot faster, and overall you should find you have far fewer annoying hangs and pauses as you’re waiting for a page to load.

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We’ve all been there – thinking we’ve found the perfect little program for the job, only to discover it does nothing that it promises. Instead of helping you to complete your last-minute task, you’re left to finish it all by yourself in the small hours of the morning.

The problem is that the little (or, in some cases, very big) application you downloaded in a moment of pure hope is still sitting on your hard drive using up resources. It may be that it’s littered itself around your system and added all kinds of settings to Windows Explorer, but the end result is the same. You have an application on your machine that you don’t want any more. It’s time you uninstalled it, and we’re here to show you how to do just that.

Step-by-step: Uninstall redundant software

1 The simple option
If the application in question has been well designed, then you should find that it’s created its own program group on your Start menu, which contains a link to an uninstaller. To access it, click on the Start button, then select All Programs and scroll down until you can find the group in question.

2 Click and go
If a group has been created, and it does contain an uninstaller, it should simply be a case of launching the uninstall routine by clicking on it. Sometimes programs can install several sub-groups, but as long as you uninstall them all, you should find that the program is removed without fuss.

3 The alternative
Not all programs create these useful program groups, though, and sometimes the link to the uninstaller may do nothing at all. However, there’s a backup, a utility that’s part of Windows and which you can use to remove such unwanted programs. You’ll find it in the Control Panel.

4 The uninstaller
Open the Control Panel from the Start menu and then click on the Programs and Features link. You’re presented with a long list of applications that have been installed on your machine. Now simply find the one that refers to your program and double-click it to uninstall it.

5 Search and destroy
This uninstall utility boasts a lot more information than you might guess. For instance, it keeps track of how big certain applications are, who the developer is and when you first installed it. Click on the More options icon in the top right-hand corner of the window and set the view to Details.

6 Add more information
By default, the Programs and Features utility shows you five columns for each application. Clicking the header at the top of each column lists the programs in descending order dependant on the criteria. For instance, if you want to see which programs take up the most space, click the Size column. You can change these columns, though – right-click the header bar and select More… from the drop-down list. Uncheck Version and then select Last Used On. Click OK.

7 Last used
Now you can list the applications based on when you last used them – a great way of spotting those programs that you really don’t need any more. Double-click the entry to begin uninstalling an application. If you’re trying to free up more space, you can easily see which programs are the biggest this way, too.

8 Spring cleaning
You now know how to remove unwanted programs, including those stubborn ones that don’t have their own uninstaller. You can also actively search for programs that you don’t often use and remove those as well. This helps to ensure that your machine is working in perfect order.

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With Windows Vista this is no longer the case, so start-up times are a lot faster. If you have a brand new computer or a fresh installation of Windows Vista, it will take no time at all for your PC to start up, so you can begin using your favourite programs at once. Unfortunately, after a while, with the more programs you install and the more files you have on your PC, you may begin to notice that your computer takes longer and longer to start up. Before you know it, you’ll be able to get up, make a cup of tea and drink it while waiting for Windows Vista to load. When things get this bad, you know you have to do something about it.

We recently asked visitors to the Windows Vista magazine website how long it took for their PCs to start. The results varied from less than a minute to over ten!

There are plenty of factors that could make your PC startup grind to a halt, so there are plenty of tweaks to try to get your PC starting up in a flash. It’s all very well listing these tweaks, but do they work?

We have a PC at home packed with so much stuff that it takes an age to load Windows Vista, so we decided to test the tweaks to find out how much time we could save.

First things first – Start-up slow-down

Original startup time

We knew that our PC was slow to start, but when we timed it and saw that it took nearly six and a half minutes from the moment we pressed the on button to when the computer had loaded all the start-up programs and was actually usable, we knew that something needed to be done.

Our first port of call was to check out the Startup folder by going to Start > All Programs > Startup. The Startup folder can be a really useful feature of Windows Vista because you can place shortcuts to your favourite programs in there and they will load up when Windows Vista starts.

CUT IT OUT: You can speed up the boot time by removing items from your Startup folder

The problem is, if there are too many programs in there, it will slow down your computer’s startup as your computer loads them all. Deleting the shortcuts from this folder (don’t worry, it won’t delete the actual programs) will certainly help speed things up. Not all programs that load themselves when your computer starts appear in the Startup folder, however.

Take a look at the Notification area of your Taskbar, which is on the bottom right-hand corner of your desktop next to the clock, to see if there are a lot of icons there. Most of these icons are for programs that run in background, and with all of them starting up when you turn on your computer, it will definitely slow it down.

Many of these programs can be safely prevented from starting up automatically, so you only load them as and when you need to. Most of the time you can right-click the icon and either open the program or go straight to the program’s options or preferences, and from there clear a box that says something like ‘Run this program when Windows starts’.

If there are any programs that you don’t need any more at all, go ahead and uninstall them to get an extra speed boost.

Result: After deleting four shortcuts from the Startup folder and cutting down the Notification icons from a massive 19 down to seven, we saw a huge improvement in the computer’s start-up speed.

New startup time

Going in deeper

Not all programs give the option to prevent them from automatically starting up. To disable more stubborn programs, we went in to the powerful Msconfig utility. Before using this you should create a Restore point so you can revert your PC back to its former settings should anything go wrong.

Click Start and type msconfig. Click the Startup tab and you’ll see a list of programs, the name of the manufacturer of each program, and the program’s path (where it’s kept on your hard drive). Using all this information you can tell whether these programs are essential to making your PC run properly.

As a general rule, don’t disable any programs from Microsoft because these are usually vital for Windows Vista. Any drivers or programs related to your graphics card and other hardware should be left alone as well. Once you’ve disabled the programs you want, exit Msconfig and restart your PC.

If there are any problems or error messages, make a note and go back into Msconfig and check the boxes of the problem programs. You can also stop some services running on startup. Only stop them if you’re sure that you don’t need them. Again, no Microsoft services should be turned off.

If there are any services you want to stop, it’s a good idea to search for the service on the internet to make sure it’s okay to do so. Once again, if there are any problems, open Msconfig again and restart the services.

Use Msconfig to disable more programs at startup

1 LAUNCH MSCONFIG Msconfig is a powerful application that’s usually only used by advanced computer users. This is why it doesn’t have a snazzy name, and why you won’t find it in the Start Menu. To launch it click Start and type msconfig into the search box.

2 TICK THE BOXES Click the Startup tab and then in the Startup Item column clear the boxes of the programs you wish to prevent from loading on startup. Be careful which programs you deselect, however..

3 RESTART YOUR PC For these changes to take effect you’ll need to restart your PC. Make sure you have saved all your work, and then click Restart. This is a good opportunity to examine the improvements that your changes have made so far.

Result: We found a number of programs that didn’t need to load on startup, so we unchecked them. We also found a couple of services that ran on startup that were used by old programs we had long ago uninstalled, so we safely stopped them.

New startup time

Dual operating systems – Shave seconds off dual-boot options

If you have more than one operating system installed on your PC – for example, you may have both Windows Vista and Windows 7 beta installed – your computer displays a menu asking you which operating system you want to load. If you don’t select an operating system within 30 seconds, it automatically loads your default operating system.

You can cut the amount of time your computer waits for your input before loading Windows Vista by going back to Msconfig and selecting the Boot tab. Where it says Timeout, change the num
ber to a lower setting, but give yourself enough time to actually make your choice. If you only have Windows Vista installed on your machine, you don’t need to complete this step.

New startup time

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Scroll past the Microsoft section and you may find programs like Quicktime, Java and AcroTray (Adobe Acrobat). To stop one from loading, select it and click Disable. If the button is greyed out, try clicking Showfor all users first.

Your shutdown sequence will run more quickly if you ensure all programs are closed first. If you then hit Alt and F4, you’ll see the shutdown dialogue.

CLEAN COMPUTER Free tool CCleaner can help achieve a pristine machine (www.ccleaner.com)

It’s also a good idea to properly shut down any external hardware before you shut down your computer. This is especially true for external hard drives or printers, which may be transferring data. You’ll find an icon in your system tray called Safely Remove Hardware. Click it for a list of connected devices. If you see any SCSI devices listed, though, leave them running. They’re probably internal drives.

Sometimes programs develop faults, with corrupt configuration or driver errors, that can cause your PC to hang at shutdown. Use the Reliability Monitor to identify them. Type ‘Reliability’ into Start Search to find it, then click Reliability Monitor. There you can find a list of programs and hardware that have had issues running on your system, such as applications that hang when you switch off your machine. To fix troublesome programs, try the ‘Problem Reports and Solutions’ centre – it’s in the System and Maintenance section of the Control Panel – where you’ll find recent advice on fixing known program issues direct from Microsoft.

Faster shutdown

Close all your open programs with a just a few clicks

1 LAUNCH THE TASK MANAGER You can shut down running programs by right clicking their entries on the task bar and choosing Close – but here’s a power tip that comes in very handy. First, hit Ctrl and Shift and Esc to open the Task Manager.

2 SELECT ALL APPLICATIONS The Task Manager monitors running applications, processes and more. With the Applications tab active, click the top item in the list then Shift-click the bottom item in the list. This selects all running applications.

3 END TASKS Now all you have to do to shut down all running programs is click End Task. You may be prompted to save data if any of them have open documents. Once all programs are closed, you should be able to shut down in seconds.

Faster start-up

Rid your machine of superfl uous extras and cut vital seconds from your start-up time

1 CONTROL PANEL TWEAKS Deleting applications you don’t need can help accelerate boot times – especially those that load into memory when you log in. Go to the Control Panel and choose Uninstall a Program.

2 DELETING PROGRAMS To delete a program, select it from the list and click Uninstall. Some may prompt you to restart. Wait until you’ve removed all programs you want to delete before rebooting your PC.

3 BE FRUGAL WITH FONTS When Windows Vista starts up, it loads all your fonts into memory. The more you have, the longer this takes. It’s likely that you’ll only use a fraction of them – so you can safely remove those you don’t like.

4 IN THE BIN Go to Control Panel > Appearance and Personalisation. Click Install or Remove a Font. You’ll see a list of installed fonts in Windows Explorer. Double click on a font to preview it. To delete a font, just drag it to the Recycle Bin.

5 ADJUST VISUAL EFFECTS One last quick but rather drastic fix to speed up your system. Go to Performance Information and Tools in the System Maintenance section of the Control Panel and click Adjust Visual Effects. Tick Adjust for Best Performance to turn off animations and transparency.

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