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Speed Up Your Computer Running Windows XP Optimize It To Run Faster
KEEP YOUR COMPUTER SAFE AND GET RID OF VIRUSES AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF
MALWARE. All pcs need to be protected from Viruses, Trojans and Spyware and need
real-time protection running. Never have 2 virus protection or 2 firewalls on
one system, one of each only. You can however use a couple of different spyware
removers. Click here to
make sure comp is protected first before continuing to step 2
- WINDOWS DISK CLEANUP
To remove all the junk from these folders you can use the built in program
called Disk Cleanup. Disk Cleanup can be accessed in 2 ways. Accessing Disk
Cleanup - Start Menu, Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Cleanup, Select a drive then press OK. When Disk Cleanup starts it takes a
while to scan all the files that can be removed or compressed. Once it has
finished searching you will have a list of tick boxes of things that can be
removed. All of these should be ticked.
- USE THE BOOTVIS UTILITY
It's a little known fact that Microsoft actually produced its own
free utility to help speed up Windows XP boot times. Bootvis was its name,
and although they later removed it from their site and claimed it was simply
a design utility and would not help speed up the average PC, many XP users
thought differently, enough to keep the software alive on the net. The
Bootvis utility
is available here. Try it out and decide for yourself! To use Bootvis
download and install the program, then run it. Go to the 'trace' menu and
select 'next boot and driver delays.' Bootvis will prompt to reboot. Reboot
and wait for Bootvis to start again. Go to the 'trace' menu and select
'optimize.' Reboot again. Wait for Bootvis to complete its analysis. Your
boot times should now be optimized.
- REMOVE UNWANTED AUTO-START ENTRIES
If you have a lot of icons down at your system clock then these items are
auto-start entries, most can be safely un-checked and stopped except
anti-virus, firewall etc. Go to Start then run and type msconfig and
then click on the startup tab, un-check anything that is unnecessary.
- KEEP SOME FREE SPACE ON YOUR MAIN HARD DRIVE (C:)
Keep at least 25% of your (C:) free. Uninstall any unused program from
add/remove programs in your control panel. Transfer all the music, image and
video files to other drives or burn them to CD/DVD if they are taking up too
much space.
- CLEAN TEMPORARY FILES AND OLD REGISTRY ENTRIES
Your system stores many un-needed temporary files and unwanted registry keys
that can take up space on your hard drive and slow your system down. You can
download this free program called
CCleaner
and
EasyCleaner. One cleaning tool can miss some files so I recommend you
use the 2 together for best results.
- DEFRAGMENT YOUR HARD DRIVES
Run disk defragmenter once a week. System performance is maximized when
files are contiguous on the disk instead of fragmented into separate parts.
After running the defragmenter files will consecutively on the Hard Drives.
Windows has a built in defragmenter but there is a quicker free one
Defraggler.
- DE-CLUTTER YOUR DESKTOP
Do not have shortcuts to many programs on your desktop it might be quicker
for you but slower for the system running. Open applications from their real
shortcut by going to Start > Programs. A lot of people do not like this
suggestion but a blank wallpaper helps a faster startup and turn off
screensaver too. Also heavy gaming puts a huge strain on your pc.
- DISABLE WINDOWS XP SOUNDS
Having sound effects set for common Windows XP tasks slows your system down.
This affects startup and shutdown speeds the most. To disable Windows XP
task sounds go to "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "Sounds and Audio
Devices", select the "Sounds" tab, under "Sound Scheme" select "No Sounds".
You will still hear music etc. it will only disable the annoying system
beeps.
- DISABLE AVI PREVIEWING
Opening a folder containing a large number of AVI files can open quite
slowly because Windows has to open each AVI file and extract information
from them. If you have a large collection, you can speedup XP's folder
access by disabling it from automatically extracting this info. This can
also fix problems when trying to rename or move AVI files and you get an
error message: "it is being used by another person or program. Close any
programs that might be using the file and try again." Download, unzip and
run the "Disable
AVI Previewing" file and reboot.
- REDUCE RECYCLE BIN DRIVE SPACE USAGE
In Windows XP the Maximum size of the Recycle Bin is set by default to 10%
of your hard drive, when full, this can be a big waste of drive space.
Reducing the Maximum size prevents excess space from being wasted. To change
the Recycling Bin Size, right-click on the "Recycle Bin", left-click on
"Properties", select the "Global" tab, then "Use one setting for all
drives". Move the slider to "3%"
- IMPROVE WINDOWS XP DISPLAY
Default Windows XP visual settings may look nice but they slow down system
responsiveness. Here is how to keep the same look of Windows XP while losing
the sluggish feel. Right click "My Computer" icon, select properties, click
"Advanced" tab, in the "Performance" section hit the "Settings" button.
Leave only the following checked:
√ Show translucent selection rectangle
√ Use common tasks in folders
√ Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
√ Use visual styles on windows and buttons
- DISABLE INDEXING SERVICE
The Indexing Service in Windows XP indexes your files presumably to shorten
the time needed to search your hard drive if you are searching for a
specific file. However, the constant indexing of files actually slows down
system performance. To disable the Indexing Service open "My Computer",
right-click your hard drive and select "Properties" uncheck "Allow Indexing
Service" then apply, Then select "Apply changes to subfolders and files". If
any files cannot be updated select "Ignore All". This may take some time but
will be worth the wait. Do the same for any other hard drives you may have.
- GENUINE WINDOWS KEEP IT UPDATED EVERY MONTH
Do not use automatic updating of software when you want to use the program
update it before use manually. Turn off Automatic Update feature and check
manually for Windows patches once or twice every month. To turn off
Automatic Updates, go to Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates > Turn
off Automatic Updates and then go to Start > Control Panel > Security Center
> Change the way Security Center alerts me. Untick the box next to Automatic
Updates.
- JAVA MACHINE REMOVAL AND SUN JAVA DOWNLOAD
Auto-installing Spyware infections (CoolWebSearch) occurs due to exploits in
Microsoft's discontinued Java Virtual Machine. Infection occurs by simply
browsing the wrong website. Java is used to play online games including
Yahoo, streaming videos and many other java applets. Java was originally
licensed from Sun Microsystems but later modified by Microsoft. Microsoft's
modifications to the Java code are the suspected reasons these exploits
exist. There are no patches from Microsoft to fix this. To protect yourself
uninstall Java using
this tool and uninstall MSJVM registry using
this tool. Once you have this then install the safe
Sun
Java Console.
- WINDOWS SHUTDOWN FASTER REGISTRY FIXES
Windows XP stores values in its registry which are responsible for
determining how long to wait before shutting down open applications and
services once the shutdown command has been given. By editing these settings
and changing them to lower values, you can considerably decrease the amount
of time that Windows XP needs to successfully shut itself down. Always be
careful when editing the registry.
Go to start then run and type in regedit and navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop - then double click the
'AutoEndTasks' value and set it to 1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop - then double click the
'HungAppTimeout' value and set it to 1000
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop - then double click the
'WaitToKillAppTimeout' value and set it to 1000
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop - then double click the
'HungAppTimeout' value and set it to 1000
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop - then double click the
'WaitToKillAppTimeout' value and set it to 1000
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control - then double
click 'WaitToKillAppTimeout' value and set it to 1000
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem -
then double click 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate' value and set it to 1
- DISK PERFORMANCE MONITOR
The performance monitor for hard drives is turned on by default. You can
disable disk monitoring by running this command. Go to start then run and
type in DISKPERF -N To turn it on again run this command DISKPERF -YD
- HOW MUCH RAM YOUR COMPUTER HAS/PAGEFILE DEFRAG/LOW VIRTUAL MEMORY ERRORS
AND RAM UPGRADES
Random access memory (RAM) is a general indication of performance that is
measured either in MB or GB the larger the number the more ram installed.
Right click you "My Computer" icon and select properties, in the general you
can view the amount of RAM your computer has. For WinXP computers connected
to the Internet you should preferably have 512MB or 1GB for gaming. For
upgrades try
Crucial Memory Scanner
to find the maximum ram and type for your motherboard. Do not use ram
optimizers that claim to free ram as they have a negative affect on your
system. Windows manages the size automatically, but you can manually change
the size of virtual memory if the default size is not enough for your needs.
Open System by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking
System and Maintenance, and then clicking System. Click on the Advanced tab,
under Performance, click Settings. Click the Advanced tab, and then, under
Virtual memory, click Change. Put a tick on Clear the Automatically manage
paging file size for all drives check box. Hi-light the drive you want to
set the page file on. Click custom size, in the Initial size (MB) put 1.5
times your installed ram (i.e. 256mb ram installed then put in the figure
384). In the Maximum size (MB) box put 3 times your installed ram (i.e.
256mb ram installed then put in the figure 768). Then hit "set". Follow the
same process for any other hard drives. It is also worth defragmenting the
paging file to prevent "out of virtual memory" errors. One of the
limitations of the WinXP's defragmenter is that it does not defrag or show
you how fragmented your paging files are. To defrag page files download
PageDefrag
and then run it and select "Defrag at next Reboot" then "Ok" and reboot.
Notes - this only needs to be run once unless you re-adjust the paging file
size again.
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