10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Your Windows XP
1. To speed up data access, defrag disk
Disk fragmentation is one of the main factors that slow down the performance of your computer. Disk fragmentation can slow down the performance of your computer. The computer will search your hard drive when you open a file to find it. Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates and defragmentates fragmented files to speed up computer response times.
* Follow Start > All Programmes > Accessories > System Tool > Disk Defragmenter
* Click on the drives that you wish to defragment and then click Analyze
* Click Defragment
2. Disk errors can be detected and repaired
Over time, your hard disk develops bad sectors. Bad sectors can slow down your hard disk’s performance, sometimes making data writing difficult, or even impossible. Windows comes with an integrated tool called the Error Checking utility that can detect and fix disk errors. It will scan your hard drive for system errors or bad sectors, and then repair them to speed up performance.
* Follow Start > My Computer
* Click on the hard drive you wish to scan in My Computer and click Properties
* Click on the Tools tab
* Click Here to Check Now
* Check the Scan for and try recovery of bad sector checkbox
* Click Start
3. Disable Indexing Services
Indexing Services is an application that consumes a lot CPU. It indexes and updates all files on your computer to make it easier for you to search for what you are looking for faster. This service can be disabled if you are certain about the location of your files. It will not cause any damage to your computer, no matter how often you search.
* Click here to go to Start
* Click on Settings
* Click Control Panel
* Double-click to Add/Remove Programms
* Click on the Add/Remove window components
* Uncheck Indexing services
* Next
4. Optimize Display Settings
Windows XP is a great looking program. It does however consume system resources, which are required to display all visual effects and items. Windows will look fine if you leave most settings off and allow the following to be set:
* Show shadows below menus
* Show shadows below mouse pointer
* Show translucent selection rectangle
Drop shadows are used to add icons labels to the desktop
* Use visual styles for buttons and windows
5. Speedup Folder Browsing
It may be that you notice a slight delay when you use My Computer to browse folders. Windows XP searches automatically for network files and printers when you open Windows Explorer. This can be fixed and you can increase your browsing speed by disabling the “Automatically Search for Network Folders and Printers” option.
6. Disable performance counters
Windows XP comes with a performance monitor utility that monitors various aspects of your computer’s performance. Disabling these utilities is a smart move.
* Download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List(http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/tools/existing/exctrlst-o.asp)
* Next, select each counter individually in the “Extensible Performance Counters” window. Clear the checkbox below for “Performance counters enabled”.
7. Optimize Your Pagefile
Optimize your pagefile. The operating system will not need to resize your pagefile if you set a fixed pagefile size.
* Right-click on My Computer to select Properties
* Click the Advanced tab
* Click on Performance to select the Settings button
* Click the Advanced tab and select Change under Virtual Memory
* Highlight the drive that contains your page file, and set the Initial Size and Maximum Size to the same.
Windows XP automatically reduces the page file size to 1.5X the actual physical memory. This is fine for systems with less memory (under 512MB), but it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop computer will ever require 1.5 X 512MB of virtual memory. You can leave the page file as is if you have less memory than 512MB. If you have more than 512MB of memory, increase the page file size by 1 to reflect your physical memory size.
8. For speed, remove fonts
Fonts, particularly TrueType fonts use a lot of system resources. To optimize performance, reduce the number of fonts you use daily and any fonts required by applications.
* Open Control Panel
* Open Fonts Folder
* Move fonts that you don’t use to a temporary directory. C:\FONTBKUP?) Just in case you want or need to bring some of them back. You will get more system resources the more fonts that you remove.
9. To boost performance, use flash memory
You can increase your performance by installing additional RAM memory. This will make it easier to boot your OS faster, run multiple applications, and access data much quicker. There is no easiest and more technically elegant way to do it than use eBoostr (http://www.eboostr.com).
eBoostr, a small program that improves the performance of any computer powered by Windows XP, works in the same manner as Vista’s ReadyBoost. eBoostr can be used to improve the performance of your computer if you have a flash memory, such as a USB flash thumb or SD card. Just plug the flash drive into a USB socket. Windows XP will then use eBoostr for faster performance.
It provides the best results for commonly used applications and data. This is a huge advantage for those who use office programs, graphics apps, or developer tools. This product will be a hit with laptop owners because laptop upgrades are often more difficult and laptop hard drives perform slower than desktops.
10. Perform a Boot Defragment
A simple way to speed up XP startup is to do a boot-defragment. This will place all your boot files on your hard drive next to each other. Your system will start quicker if the boot files are close to each other.
Boot defragment is a feature that should be enabled on all systems. However, it may not be enabled on your system or have been accidentally disabled. You can verify that boot defragment has been enabled by following these steps:
* Start the Registry Editor
* Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
* If the Enable string value is not set, it should be.
* Leave the Registry
* Reboot
These 10 tips are helpful, I hope. Have a great day!