Improve your XP’s performance

1. While defragmenting won’t improve the performance of your Windows XP, here are a few tips that will. Each one is safe and most cost you nothing more than a few minutes.

    

2. To decrease a system’s boot time and increase system performance equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer. Don’t use other defragging software, the Windows’ defragmentation tool works just fine.

    

3. If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

    

4. Make shure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you’re not sure, here’s how to check: double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it’s important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

    

    

5. Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a “searchable keyword index”. As you can imagine, this process can slow down any system.

    

6. The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP’s built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for. Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you’re a typical user, you don’t really need it, so I recommend disabling it.

   Here’s how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching.” Next, apply changes to “C: subfolders and files,” and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as “Access is denied”), click the Ignore All button.

 

1. Update the PC’s video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS (be carefull with this one).

    

2. Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can “prefetch” portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That’s fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them (maybe you noticed when it’s idle, it starts “thinking” for no reason). Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete. The location is at C:\Windows\Prefetch.

    

3. Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Just double-click the My Computer icon, then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button.

    

4. In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to “DMA if available” for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

    

5. Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Follow my previous tutorial to find out how here.

    

6. Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

    

7. Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer — only its responsiveness.

    

8. If you are comfortable with editing registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP – iit’s free.

 

1. Visit Microsoft’s Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

    

2. Try to have fewer than 500 type fonts installed on your computer. The more fonts you have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts — that is, anything over 500 — will noticeably tax the system.

    

3. You might try not to partition the hard drive. Windows XP’s NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called “D drive.” You’ll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won’t be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won’t need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

    

4. At least once a year, open the computer’s case and blow out all the dust and debris. While you’re in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. If your PC is in waranty period, go to the company you bought it from, and ask them to clean it up.

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