How To Speed Up Windows XP

Below I have mentioned a few tweaks that will give your system a boost in performance. Please note that these tweaks are for Windows XP.

• Format your hard drive using NTFS file system which is faster and more stable
• Defragment your disk drives twice a month for faster data access.Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter to launch the utility. Select a drive and click ‘Defragment’. This will start the defragmentation process.
• Disable Fast User Switching by going to Start > Run, and typing ‘control userpasswords’ and pressing [Enter]. In the User Accounts window, click on ‘Change the way users log on or off ‘ ; make sure the ‘Use the Welcome screen’ option is ticked, and uncheck ‘Use Fast User Switching’. Click on Apply Options and close the window.
• Turn-off all the effects

  One of the things Windows XP is famous for is the look. Unfortunately, the crisp menus, the fade-in and fade-out effects and the breathtaking wallpapers drain your system’s memory.

  The easiest way to turn these effects off is by pressing [Windows] + [Pause/Break] to launch the Systems Properties dialog box. Here, click on Advanced. You will see three ‘Settings’ buttons. Click the one related to ‘Performance’.The dialog box called Performance Options pops up. Under Visual Effects, select ‘Adjust for best performance’ and click Apply.
• Update Windows

  I recommend that you use Windows XP Service Pack 2, and update your computer using Windows Update to resolve known security and stability problems. This will give you a stable operating system that has been built to handle your system resources best. Also, make sure all your device drivers are up-to-date.

• Optimize Virtual memory

  The virtual memory is the amount of space on your hard disk allotted to Windows XP, which it uses as though it were RAM.Press [Windows] + [Pause Break], to get to the system properties dialog box. Go to Advanced, under Performance click on Settings, go to Advanced tab.

  Here make sure ‘programs’ is selected for both Processor scheduling and Memory usage. Now under Virtual memory, click on change.

  Select the drive where the page file is currently present, select ‘No Paging File’ and click on ‘Set’.

  Note: If you have two physically separate hard drives, set the virtual memory on the drive that doesn’t hold XP. If you have only one hard drive, set it to another partition that does not hold XP. This increases performance.Now select the drive where you wish to place your page file, and select ‘Custom size’. Enter a number that is twice the size of your installed RAM in the initial as well as maximum size dialog boxes and click on ‘Set’. Now click OK thrice and restart the computer for the settings to take effect.
  
• Remove unwanted programs from startup

  Go to Start > Run, type ‘msconfig’ and press [Enter]. Click on the Startup tab and uncheck any programs you dont want Windows to load at startup. Please be careful what you remove from here.If you don’t know what a particular program is do a Google search (you can use the Google search at the bottom of this page) on the name of the process and then decide whether to keep it or not.

• Turn-off System Restore

  System Restore uses gigabytes and reduces system performance. If you dont install and uninstall programs often, you can turn this feature off.Press [Windows] + [Pause Break], to open system properties. Click on System Restore, and select ‘Turnoff System Restore on all drives’ and click ‘Apply’.

  Note: All previously created restore points will be deleted.

• Disable sounds, wallpapers and screensavers

  Startup sounds and wallpapers consume system memory a lot.

  Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices, and click on Sounds. Disable all sounds you don’t want. To speed up booting of Windows disable the Windows Startup and Shutdown sounds.

  Also, right-click on the desktop, select ‘Properties’, under theme select ‘Windows Classic’. Disable the wallpaper and set a color of your choice. Disable your screen saver too.

• Disable compression and indexing

  Right-click on an NTFS drive and select properties. At the bottom of the dialog that pops up you will see two check boxes called ‘Compress drive to save disk space’ and ‘Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching’. Uncheck both check boxes and click ‘Apply’.

• Remove unwanted fonts and programs

  Extra fonts slow down your system and increases boot up time. Remove unwanted fonts and also uninstall all programs you dont want through ‘Add or remove programs’ in Control Panel.

• Disable Services

  Go to Start > Run, type in ’services.msc’. To turn off a service, double-click on it and select Disabled under Startup type.For normal use, disable the following services:

  • Alerter
  • Background Intelligent Transfer Service
  • ClipBook
  • Computer Browser
  • Error Reporting Service
  • Help and Support
  • Indexing Service
  • IPSEC Services
  • Messenger
  • NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
  • Network DDE
  • Network DDE DSDM
  • Performance Logs and Alerts
  • Portable Media Serial Number
  • QOS RSVP
  • Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
  • Remote Registry
  • Secondary Logon
  • Server
  • Smart Card
  • Smart Card Helper
  • SSDP Discovery Service
  • System restore Service
  • TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
  • Uninterruptible Power Supply
  • Universal Plug and Play Device Host
  • WebClient
  • Windows time
  • Wireless Zero Configuration
  • WMI Performance Adapter

Good Reads:

• Faster Windows
• Optimizing the Page File
• Improve Windows XP boot speed
• Speed up Windows XP Shutdown
  
• How to Speedup and Secure your PC