In this guide I will show you how to make windows xp run faster with out spending a

penny, The following tips can help improve your computer's performance and help make
your computer run faster. All the tips are related to Windows XP operating system

Contents - How to make windows xp run faster

-BIOS Update + Settings
-Disable GUI Options
-Clean Your Registry
-House Keep Your Hard-Disk
-Disable System Restore
-Configure The Paging File
-Disable Un-needed Services From Starting
-Disable Unwanted Programs From Startup
-Turn off application updates
-Check Task Manager For Top I/O Processes
-Check Task Scheduler
-Install OS On Dedicated Hard-Drive
-Speedup Folder Browsing
-Remove Your Desktop Picture
-Disable File Last Update Access Time
-Make Your Start Menu Faster
-Make Windows XP Shutdown Faster
-Make Sure Hard-Drives Are Using DMA Mode
-Memory Performance Tweaks


BIOS Upgrade + Settings


The BIOS is a bit of software that sits on your computers motherboard and controls how
each component talks to each other. It is a good idea to upgrade this if possible to the latest
version as you could see many benefits. A BIOS upgrade will help the motherboard to be
more efficient in the way that its components talk to each other.To upgrade your BIOS find
out what motherboard you have (You can do this by looking in the manual that came with
your computer, or you can look at the screen that first shows when you turn on your
computer, it should like the make and model on there) Then when you know what
motherboard you have go to the manufactures web site and search for the latest update.

Be aware that BIOS updates could possibly harm your system if not installed correctly, we
can not be held responsible should you cause harm to your computer. Once you have
upgraded your BIOS go in to your BIOS and make sure that all cache settings are enabled
especially on the CPU. Disable any devices you dont use, for example if you dont use
USB or Parallel port disable it. Devices will use up valuable memory when your system has
booted in to windows xp. You might also think of disabling, floppy drive, infer red, LPT /
COM ports, and so on

You can also speed up the boot process by enabling Rapid Bios Boot or Fast/Quick
boot. Also turn off auto detection of IDE devices and detect them manually. Set System
and Video BIOS Cacheable to OFF as well as Video RAM cacheable to off, as these are
legacy operating system DOS settings.


Disable GUI Options


1. Right-click on the desktop and click properties.
2. Click on the Appearance tab at the top.
3. Click the Effects button
4. Uncheck Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips
5. Uncheck Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts (unelss using an
LCD monitor, in which case, check this)
6. Uncheck show shadows under menus
7. The others dont really matter.
8. Click the OK button
9. Back at the Display Properties window, from the Windows and buttons select menu,
select Windows Classic Style.
10. Click the Apply button.
11. Click the OK button.


Clean Your Registry


The REGCLEAN utility from Microsoft cleans your system registry of unnecessary entries
that are created when you install or remove programs on your computer. Sometimes an
orphaned registry entry can confuse Windows during startup and cause a delay. And in
general, slimming down your registry will make Windows run faster. You can download
REGCLEAN here. Note: This program is no longer officially supported by Microsoft, but
many users report that it works fine on Windows XP systems. You can also try RegSeeker
which is a highly rated registry cleaner.


HouseKeep Your Hard-Disk


Over time your hard-disk will clutter up and you will need to clear this down and also run
some checks to make sure everything is running okay. The more data that is stored on a
hard-disk the slower it will take to access data as it has to search through more files. So
here are a few things to check, check them in the order belowClean Your System From
Viruss and Spyware

Make sure you have an updated virus scanner with the latest virus definitions database. Do
a full search of your system and make sure all visruss are cleared. Also get hold of a
program that will search and remove spyware, I recommend Adware by Lavasoft, take a
look here.

Delete Internet Related Files - For every website you visit your computer will download
files and store them on your computer (Cookies, Temp Internet Files, Form Cache, and so
on) To clear these down right click on the IE icon on your desktop and select properties,
Under browsing history click delete, then in the next window click delete all.Delete Temp
Files

Clear Temp Files - Most programs you use will leave *.tmp / *.temp files on your
computer, Over time these files will pile up and can consume alot of disk space. To clear
these files down click start > run and type in CMD then press enter, A black window will
pop up. In this window type
Code:
Del /a /f /q /s C:\*.tmp and then
Del /a /f /q /s C:\*.temp
Then press the enter key. If you have 2 partitions repeat this process for the other partitions,
Replace C: with the letter of your other drive, for example
Code:
Del /a /f /q /s D:\*.tmp
if you have a D: drive. Be careful when doing this, if you enter the wrong command it
could delete some system files and cause windows xp not to boot.

Remove Unnecessary Software - You may have a bunch of software packages on your
hard drive that are no longer needed, or they were gratuitously installed when you
downloaded some other package. Toolbars, file-sharing programs, free email enhancers,
online shopping companions and download managers are notorious for this practice.
These uninvited guests can put a big drag on your startup time, cause web pages to load
slowly, and generally slow down your computer. Go to Control Panel, then Add/Remove
Software to see what packages are installed. Remove the ones you know you dont need,
and do a web search to learn about the ones youre not sure about.

Empty The Recycle Bin - Double click on the recycle bin icon on your desktop, Delete all
the files you dont require, be aware if you delete files from here you can not get them back.

Run A Check Disk - Now its time to check if there are errors on your hard-disk. Double
click on the my computer icon on your desktop, right click on the disk that says C: and then
select properties. Click tools tab > Check now then tick the 2 boxes and hit start, You will
get a message pop up, asking to perform the check disk on next reboot, click yes. Now
reboot your system and let the check disk run. The checkdisk will tell you if it finds any
errors on the disk and it will also attempt to repair them. Perform this action for any other
hard-drives you might have.

Run A Defrag - A defrag will re-arrange where the files are located on your system, it will
move the files to make sure you get the best performance when accessing files. For
example it will move all the system files to one part of the disk, so when the system needs
to access system files they are all in the same location and the hard-drive does not need to
jump around the disk as much to access what it needs.To run defrag double click on the my
computer icon on your desktop, right click on the disk that says C: and then select
properties.Click tools tab > Degragment now. Then select each partition you have in turn
and click the defragement button. You will get a report of what has been done when it has
finished.


Disable System Restore


System restore will take up resoruces such as memory and hard-disk IO. Personally I have
never used system restore. If you are going to disable the system restore make sure you
backup important files to anther disk such as USB stick / CD-ROM / Tape drive and so on.
To disable system restore in windows xp do the following

1. Right-click my computer and click properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab at the top.
3. Check the box Turn off system restore on all drives


Configure The Paging File


When your system runs out of physical memory windows xp will use something called a
paging file. A paging file is basically a file that sits on your hard-drive and will be used as
memory should your system run out of memory. Ideally you dont want to run out of
physical memory because your system will slow down if it uses the paging file. So we need
to make sure we configure the paging file correctly incase it is needed.To configure a
windows xp paging file right click on the my computer icon on your desktop, click
advanced tab, then under the performance section click on the settings button. in the next
window click on the advanced tab then change button. You dont want windows to
automatically handle the size of the paging file so select custom size and then enter 2048
for the initial size and also maximum size.


Disable Un-needed Services From Starting


When your system starts it loads certain services which eats up valuable memory which
your system might need. The more services we stop from starting the more memory we can
make available to the system. To disable a service do the following, Right click on the my
computer icon on your desktop and click on manage, Double click on services and
applications, then services.

To disable a service double click on it and where it says startup type simply select disable,
The service will then get disabled on the next system reboot. Be careful if you disable a
service that the system requires you could cause your system not to boot, we can not be
held responsible if you damage your system (If you are unsure if you can disable a service
post about it in our forum). I recommend that you disable the following services

-Alerter, used to send popup administrative alerts, These alerts can also be viewed from the
eventlog if this service is disabled.

-Clipbook, If you disable this service you will not be able to copy and paste text / pictures
and so on. Its up to you if you want to disable this.

-Computer Browser, This is used to keep a list of other computers on the network.

-Error Reporting Service, Turn this off if you dont want errors to be reported.

-Event Log, All errors are written to an event log, if you disable this service nothing will be
written to the log.

-IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service, If you disable this service you will not be able to burn
CD-ROMs.

-Indexing Service, This service should speed up access to frequently used files. In my
experience it is not worth using it as it uses a lot of memory and slows down your whole
system as a result.

-Messenger, If you disable this you will not receive any windows popup messages.

-Net Logon, This service is required if your computer is in a domain, If the computer is not
in a domain disable this service.

-NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing, Disable this if you dont want to share your desktop
with remote users (Support for example)

-Performance Logs and Alerts, This service logs the performance of your computer.

-Print Spooler, If you dont print from your computer disable this service.

-Remote Registry, If this service is disabled the computers registry can not be changed
remotely.

-Server, If this service is stopped you can not share the files / printers on your system with
others.

-System Event Notification, Logs events such as windows log on and off.

-System Restore Service, If this is disabled you will not be able to restore your system
should it encounter a critical failure.

-Task Scheduler, It is possible to schedule your system to perform tasks automatically, If
this service is disabled the automatic tasks will not run.

-Telephony, If this is disabled you will not be able to use voice network connections such
as modems and VOIP Voice Over IP.

-Windows Audio, If this is disabled your system will be unable to play back sound.


Disable Unwanted Programs From Startup


Disable Unwanted Programs From Startup. Click start then type in msconfig and hit enter.
Now click on the startup tab and untick anything that you do not need windows to run once
it has started. If you are unsure what to disable please post here before disabling it.

You can also delay processes from starting when windows xp boots, this will help your
computer to become responsive quicker when it has booted to the desktop. Take a look at
Startup Delayer


Turn off application updates


Turn off application updates With certain programs such as adobe reader and java they
can be configured to automatically check if newer versions are available, if newer versions
are available they will also automatically download the update and store it on your
computer, then it will keep prompting you to install it. This update will take up valuable
disk space and also will use a bit of disk i/o when its downloading it


Check Task Manager For Top I/O Processes


Open task manager by pressing CTRL + Shift + ESC Click on Show processes from all
users click on the processes tab, then sort the I/O Reads by max to min. Now take a look
at the top processes of I/O Reads and is there funny processes there?? It is possible that
there is a process that takes up a lot of I/O that you could stop. If you are unsure about a
process post about it in our forum. Repeat the above process for the I/O Write column


Check Task Scheduler


Go in to the control panel and click on scheduled tasks. Disable tasks in there that you do
not need. There might be a task in here to do a full virus scan on your PC or something
similar. If your not to sure what you can disable post about it in our forum.


Install OS On Dedicated Hard-Drive


If possible install windows xp on a dedicated hard-drive and install your applications / data
on a second seperate hard-drive. This will then mean that the disk i/o will be spread across
two drives.


Speedup Folder Browsing


You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is
a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and
printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing
significantly:

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click Ok
8. Reboot your computer


Remove Your Desktop Picture


Your desktop background picture consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the
loading time of your system and when you switch between screens. Removing it will
improve performance.


1. Right click on Desktop and select Properties
2. Select the Desktop tab
3. In the Background window select None
4. Click Ok


Disable File Last Update Access Time

If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer, when you access a
directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the last access time for
that directory and for ALL sub directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the
registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not attempt.


1. Go to Start and then Run and type regedit
2. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Cur rentControlSet\Control\FileSys
tem
3. Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select DWORD Value
4. Create a new DWORD Value called NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate
5. Then Right click on the new value and select Modify
6. Change the Value Data to 1
7. Click OK


Make Your Start Menu Faster


This will make you feel your startmenu will run much faster. What this tweak does is
remove the slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.


1. Go to Start then Run
2. Type Regedit then click Ok
3. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\
4. Select MenuShowDelay
5. Right click and select Modify
5. Reduce the number to around 100

This is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to 0 but it can make
windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look at them well move your
mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for anywhere between 50-150


Make Windows XP Shutdown Faster

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs
when you shutdown your machine.


1. Go to Start then select Run
2. Type Regedit and click ok, then

Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\
Select WaitToKillAppTimeout
Right click and select Modify
Change the value to 1000
Click OK

Now select HungAppTimeout
Right click and select Modify
Change the value to 1000
Click OK

Now find HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop
Select WaitToKillAppTimeout
Right click and select Modify
Change the value to 1000
Click OK

Now find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Cur rentControlSet\Control\
Select WaitToKillServiceTimeout
Right click and select Modify
Change the value to 1000
Click OK


Next make sure your system is not clearing the page file at shutdown. If your system is
clearing the page file at shutdown your system will take a long time to shutdown.

1. Go to Start then select Run
2. Type Regedit and click ok
3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session
Manager\Memory Management
4. If there is a key called "ClearPageFileAtShutdown" make sure the key is set to 0 and not
1


Make Sure Hard-Drives Are Using DMA Mode


XP enables DMA for Hard-Drives and CD-Roms by default on most ATA or ATAPI (IDE)
devices. However, sometimes computers switch to PIO mode which is slower for data
transfer a typical reason is because of a virus. To ensure that your machine is using DMA:

1. Open Device Manager
2. Double-click IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
3. Right-click Primary Channel and select Properties and then Advanced Settings
4. In the Current Transfer Mode drop-down box, select DMA if Available if the current
setting is PIO Only


Memory Performance Tweaks


If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance by having
the core system kept in memory.

1. Go to Start then select Run
2. Type Regedit and click ok
3. Browse to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlS ession
ManagerMemory"
4. On the key ManagementDisablePagingExecutive set the value to 1

Increasing File System Caching To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked
for I/O operations:

1. Go to Start then select Run
2. Type Regedit and click ok
3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSe ssion
ManagerMemory Management
4. Increase the value for the key IoPageLockLimit




These are all the tips I can think of to make your windows xp system run faster, If you can
think of anything more please post them in this post and I will add them to the article.
Thanks