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1. Stop the 'last access update' stamp
Every time a directory on an NTFS drive is accessed by Windows XP, it updates that directory and every subdirectory with a time stamp to indicate the date of access. In folders with a lot of subdirectories, this can add considerable overhead to whatever your PC happens to be doing.
This process can be disabled through the registry:
Open REGEDIT and Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Co ntrol\\FileSystem.
Create a new DWORD value called 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate' and set the value to '1'
2. Disable the 8.3 naming convention
Windows XP uses two different names for each and every file on your system. One is the name that you see in explorer and in the command prompt, and the other is an MSDOS compatible 8.3 (8 character title followed by a '.' Then three more characters to indicate the type of file) name. If you are intending to run DOS only software, or connect to pre-Windows 95 computers, you will need this second set of names. If not, you are simply wasting resources.
To disable the 8.3 naming convention:
Open REGEDIT
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Con trol\\FileSystem
Change the value of the NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation key to '1'
Note that some popular programs, including Norton Antivirus, use the 8.3 naming convention.
3. Keep Windows operating data in main memory
Windows XP contains several tweakable memory settings in the registry, one of which is the DisablePagingExecutive registry key. This controls whether the operating system will transfer its essential driver and kernel files to the 'virtual memory' (the page file on the hard disk). It defaults to allowing this.
Obviously, transferring portions of the system to hard drive memory can considerably slow things down, and it appears that Windows XP does this periodically, whether or not the system is actually low on physical memory (RAM). If you have 256MB of system memory or more, try this registry tweak to force Windows to keep its operating data in main memory:
Open Regedit.
Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\ControlSet001\\Control \\SessionManager\\MemoryManagement.
Select the DisablePagingExecutive value to '1'
4. Obtain the newest drivers for your hardware
This may seem a bit obvious, but keeping your system's drivers up to date can give both your performance and stability a boost. Video card manufacturers release updates especially often, and these can often give "significant boosts" to gaming performance as video card in question is "optimized."
Don't neglect the other components of your system either. Your motherboard manufacturer may have released newer versions of its Input/output drivers for your board, and sound cards and other peripherals can also benefit from newer software.
5. Move the page file from system drive
The page file is the area of a hard drive which Windows reserves for use as virtual memory when there is more data than can be stored in the actual physical memory of the system.
Page file access is extremely slow as compared to standard memory, since the hard disk, as a mechanical device, is slower to read and write information than the purely electronic memory. There are still some ways to optimize your page file use so it is a bit less of a burden on your system, however.
One of the best of these methods, provided you have two physical hard drives, is to move the page file off the disk which hosts the Windows system files. This ensures that Windows is not constantly accessing the disk for the system files as well as the page file.
To do this in Windows XP:
Right click on 'my computer' and select 'properties.'
Select the 'advanced' tab.
Under 'performance' choose the 'settings' button.
Select the 'advanced' tab again and under 'virtual memory' select 'change.'
The virtual memory window allows you to select and change the allocation of hard disk space to be used as virtual memory for your system. For best performance; if you have two physical hard disks of roughly equivalent speed, remove the page file from your system disk and place it on the other drive.
6. Create a 'permanent' page file
Make the minimum size of the page file the same as the maximum size. This saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file, and does not lose you any extra space, since the 'maximum' size the page file can reach is the amount of hard disk space that is reserved by the OS.
Right click on 'my computer' and select 'properties.'
Select the 'advanced' tab.
Under 'performance' choose the 'settings' button.
Select the 'advanced' tab again and under 'virtual memory' select 'change.'
Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the 'initial size' of the file the same as the 'maximum size' of the file.
7. Optimize your page file size
Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. As a simplified guideline. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.
8. Enable UDMA/66 mode on IDE Channels
Even if DMA is enabled on IDE channels, by default UDMA/66 mode is disabled. You can improved disc performance by enabling it.
Open registry by going to START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigating to:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Con trol\\Class\\ {4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\\0000].
In right pane look for a key by the name "EnableUDMA66". If it is there, set its value to 1 if it is not already set to 1. If not, add a dword entry by the name "EnableUDMA66" and set its value to 1.
10 How to improve on shutdown time ? Close apps automatically & quickly at shutdown
Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\CONTROL PANEL\\DESKTOP
and look for AutoEndTasks. On my computer default value is 0. Change it to 1. Thats all. Further more you can reduce the time it takes for Windows to issue kill directive to all active/hung applications. In doing this only constraint that you should make sure exists is that HungAppTimeout is greater than WaitToKillAppTimeout. Change the values of WaitToKillAppTimeout to say 3500 (since default value for HungAppTimeout 5000 and for WaitToKillAppTimeout is 20000)
11. Speedup boot up sequence by defragmenting all key boot files
Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Dfrg\\Boo tOptimizeFunction
In right hand panel look for Enable. Right click on it and set it 'Y' for enable. This is the way I have it set on my computer. This will help speedup boot time.
12. Create your own customized legal notice at Windows Startup
This tip won't make your computer any faster but may help personalize your computer experience. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and typing REGEDIT. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft NT\\CurrentVersion\\Winlogon.
In right hand panel look for two fields by the name legalnoticecaption and legalnoticetext. Modify legalnoticecaption to what you want popup window caption should read and change legalnoticetext to customize whatever message you want.
13. Disable Remote Registry
This service allows your registry to be edited from a remote computer. It is most likely the case that this service is not needed, not to mention a possible security risk for people concerned about their system security.
To turn it off, go to Start > Run and type services.msc.
Set the startup type tManual or Disabled for XP Remote Registry 2000 Remote Registry Service.
14. Visual Effects
Both Windows 2000 and XP have all sorts of fade and other fancy effects turned on as default. All right, so they look pretty, however, they can really bog down systems.
Under XP, in the Control Panel, go to System->Advanced tab and under Performance, click Settings. The two I suggest to uncheck here are Fade or slide menus into view and Fade menu items after clicking. You can turn off and on any effects you want in order to find a good balance between visual effects and performance Hit Apply and OK after you're done.
In 2000, Right click on the desktop, click Properties and go to the Effects tab.
15. Turn Off Terminal Services
If you are experiencing slow shutdowns, one tweak you can try is turning off Ternimal Services. If you do not use remote desktop, fast user switching, remote assistance or the terminal server, then proceed with this tweak.
Go to Start > Run and type services.msc /s.
Find "Terminal Services" on the list and double click on it (If its not there, it isnt installed). Change startup type to disabled or manual and click OK.
16.Winodws Sharing
It’’s fairly common nowadays to have more than one computer in the house on LAN so they can each connect to the Internet. It’s also common to share and transfer files between the computers. When you try to access one computer from another, there is often a significant delay while trying to connect. This is because your computer will check the remote computer you are accessing for any scheduled tasks. The more there are on the remote PC, the longer it takes to connect.
To avoid this delay, go into regedit, and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\ CurrentVersion\\Explorer
\\RemoteComputer\\NameSpace.
Delete the {D6277990-4C6A-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} key and reboot.
The next time you try to access the shared files on a remote computer, you will probably notice your computer gets there faster.
17. Disable Windows Messenger
To stop Windows Messenger from loading, there is a registry tweak you can try out. If you use MSN Messenger, it can be run without Windows Messenger. If you install MSN Messenger after applying this tweak, the tweak will be reset by the installation and it will need to be done again.
First, if you have it open, close MSN Messenger and make sure it is not open in the system tray. Open up regedit and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\ \Messenger\\Client.
Create/modify these to DWORD values: “PreventRun†set to the value of 1; and “PreventAutoRun†also set to the value of 1.
If you are experiencing a slow down opening OE as a result of the above tweak, try this:
Open regedit and go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\CLSID.
Find the key {FB7199AB-79BF-11d2-8D94-0000F875C541}
and under it select the folder IniProcServer32.
In the right panel of regedit double-click on the (Default) entry at the top and completely delete the value data it contains. Now do the same for the LocalServer32 folder as well.
18. Delay When Opening My Computer
It is a sure thing that you have sat in front of your monitor more than a few times and waited for My Computer to load. There is a simple fix to eliminate the wait time.
Open up My Computer, go to Tools > Folder Options and select the View tab. Uncheck Automatically search for network folders and printers and hit OK. Now try opening up My Computer. Notice a difference?
19 Disable anonymous NetBIOS connections
Some computers are vulnerable to a NetBIOS attack, where a hacker uses a rather simple method to connect to somebody's computer. From there, the hacker can essentially do more to that person's computer than that person can do. It is a good idea to do this tweak if you are not behind a firewall. Must be familiar with the Windows registry.
Open Regedit (go to start > run and type in regedit and press enter)
Navigate to the following folder:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControl/SetControl/LSA
Right-click a white area in the left pane.
Select New > DWORD Value.
For the name of the value, type "RestrictAnonymous".
Double-click the name of the value.
For the "Value Data" field, type 1.
Press OK.
Close regedit.
Note: The settings will change when your computer is restarted.
20. Disable the boot screen
This is a nice way to speed up your boot time.
Click on Start and right-click "My Computer".
Click "Properties".
Click on the "Advanced" tab.
In the "Startup and Recovery" box, click "Settings".
In the "System Startup" box, click "Edit".
On the end of the line with Windows XP in it, add "/sos".
Your line should like similar to the following (although it may not be quite the same):
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Micros oft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /sos
Go to File > Save (Click on Save).
Go to File > Exit (Click on Exit).
Click OK.
Click OK.
21. Check your hard
drives with scandisk
With time and heavy use, a myriad of
data problems and physical problems can
develop and mar the performance of your
hard drive, not to mention cost you
precious space. While defragmenting the
drive can help restore much of the
performance you might have lost, there
are other issues such as lost clusters
and bad sectors which the
defragmentation utility cannot touch.
Because of this, it is a good idea to
run XP's built in error checking utility
on your drives once in a while. This
utility will scan your disks for errors
and optionally attempt to correct them.
Open 'my computer.'
Right click the hard disk you wish to
check and select 'properties.'
Choose the 'tools' tab and under 'error
checking' select the 'check now' button.
Check both options. You will need to
restart the computer to do the full disk
check.
Your disk will be fully checked for
errors upon reboot, but be aware that
this can take quite a while.
22. Force XP to unload DLL files
after closing a program
Dynamic Link Libraries, or DLLs, are
files containing data or functions that
Windows programs can call when needed by
linking to them. Every piece of windows
software will include instructions to
the operating system as to which DLLs it
will need to access, and XP will cache
these particular files in memory for
faster access.
The trouble is, Windows XP keeps these
DLLs cached after the relevant program
has closed, wasting memory space. While
DLLs are generally tiny, enough of them
can make a dent, so it's worthwhile to
implement this registry tweak, which
will force Windows XP to unload DLLs
used by a specific program when that
program halts.
To do this, first run REGEDIT. Navigate
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\
CurrentVersion\\Explorer
Create a new key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL'
and set the default value to equal '1.'
23. Disable the themes service
If you are not a fan of the appearance
of Windows XP, there is an easy way to
turn it off and go back to the more
traditional Windows style. Simply
disable the 'themes' service to restore
a classic windows desktop appearance.
To do this, right click on 'my computer'
and select 'manage.'
In the computer management windows,
expand 'services and applications' and
select 'services.'
In the right hand window, highlight the
'themes' service. Right click it and
select 'properties.'
In the 'startup type' dropdown box,
select 'disabled.'
24. Remove the desktop picture
Your desktop background consumes a fair
amount of memory and can slow the
loading time of your system. If you are
more concerned with performance than
looks, remove your picture and go with a
blank, colored background.
Right click on an open area of the
desktop and select 'properties.'
Select the 'desktop' tab and in the
'background' window, highlight 'none.'
Press 'ok.'
25. Reduce recycling bin reserved
space
By default, Windows XP reserves 10
percent of each hard drive to store
deleted files in the recycling bin. This
is a bit excessive. Actually it's a lot
excessive, unless you habitually delete
files a gigabyte in size or more.
Fortunately, there is an easy way to
reduce the amount of hard disk space
that is reserved for the recycling bins
on each drive.
Right click on the recycling bin and
select 'properties.'
Choose the 'global' tab.
The slider shows the percentage of each
drive that is reserved by the recycling
bin. Reduce this to a more appropriate
amount, like 2-3% or more depending on
the size of your drives. The larger the
drives, the smaller the number you
should use. If you wish to configure
each drive independently, check the
'configure drives independently' button
and adjust the slider to the desired
amount in each of your hard disk's tabs.
The advantage to doing things this way
instead of using the 'global' setting is
that you can see the actual amount of
space on each drive that is being
reserved.
Note that files larger than the
recycling bin's capacity on a given
drive are deleted for good. Windows XP
will warn you when this condition
occurs.
26. Enable write caching on hard
disks
If it is not already selected, enabling
the hard drive write-back cache setting
on each of your hard drives can improve
their performance by making the
transferring of data between the drive
and the memory more efficient. The only
reasons not to enable this setting would
be if the drive in question is in a
hot-swappable drive rack, or if you
expect your PC to be shut down
incorrectly (I.E. not through the
windows shutdown procedure) often.
To enable write caching right click on
my computer and select 'properties.'
Select the hardware tab, then 'device
manager.' From the device manager
window, expand 'disk drives' and
highlight your hard disk. Select
'properties' then the 'policies' tab.
Check the 'enable write caching on the
disk' box.
Repeat the above steps for all hard
drives in your system.
27. Defragment your hard disk(s)
When an operating system writes data
onto a hard drive, it will generally
attempt to place the data on the drive
as sequentially as possible, in order to
facilitate faster retrieval of the
information. Over the operational life
of the drive, various factors can cause
data to become scattered, or fragmented,
over the surface of the drive.
This does not mean it cannot be read,
since the file system retains a table
which links each cluster (the smallest
unit of storage available on a hard
drive) of data with the other clusters
on the disk that contain data for a
particular file.
Fragmentation does slow down drive
access considerably though, since the
drive has to constantly seek for a new
disk location to piece a file it is
reading together from the fragmented
clusters, rather than just being able to
grab it off the disk in one continuous
stream of data. Factors that can cause
fragmentation include incomplete
uninstalls of software, system crashes
while the disk is in use, improper
shutdown of the operating system, etc.
Defragmentation is the process of
reassembling the data on the disk into
coherent and sequential order, making
disk access easier and faster. If your
drive has gone a long while without
being defragmented, you may find that
this process restores a lot of zip to
your Windows install. All recent
versions of Windows include a built-in
defragmentation utility.
To access this utility in Windows XP, go
to 'start\\programs\\accessories\\system
tools\\disk defragmenter.'
To begin with, you need to analyze your
hard disk(s) to see if defragmentation
is needed. Select a drive and hit the
'analyze' button. This could take a
little while depending on the amount of
data on the drive.
Once the analysis is finished, you will
have a graphical representation of your
disk's level of fragmentation. See the
pic below for an example of a highly
fragmented drive (red indicates
fragmented files).
Windows will also inform you if it
recommends defragmenting the drive. You
must have 15% of the drive free in order
to fully defragment it. Anything less
will result in only a partial
re-ordering of the files. You may need
to delete a few things to obtain this
free space.
To defragment the drive, select it and
hit the 'defragment' button. Note that
depending on the size of the drive and
the level of fragmentation, this can
take a long time. It's a good thing to
leave overnight, since you should not
run anything else while doing the
defrag.
28- Turn off the indexing service
Windows XP includes a new feature called
'indexing' which constantly creates and
updates an index of files in your PC.
This index is mainly used for speeding
up file searches. The indexing feature
is largely useless unless you find
yourself using file search a lot, and it
sucks up system resources, so it is
recommended that you disable it for
performance purposes.
To turn off file indexing go to Control
Panel\\Add/Remove Programs\\Windows
Components. and uncheck 'Indexing
Service.'
29- Increasing Options In
Add/Remove Menu
by default none of Windows XP's 'built
in' programs are visible. it's fairly
easy to change, though... just open the
file X:\\Windows\\inf\\sysoc.inf (where
X: is the drive letter where Windows XP
is installed) in Notepad. You should see
a section of the file something like
this:
[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System =
setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc,
TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp4
0ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7
This is a list of all components
installed at the moment. I've taken the
example of MSN Messenger - the program
entry called 'msmsgs', third-last line.
You can see the word 'hide' highlighted
- this is the string which tells Windows
not to display the component in the
Add/Remove Programs list. Fix this up by
simply deleting the word 'hide' like so:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
To this:
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7
Now, after restarting, you should be
able to see MSN Messenger in the
Add/Remove Programs list. If you want to
be able to quickly view and remove all
components, simply open the sysoc.inf
file and do a global find and replace
for the word ",hide" and replace it with
a single comma ",".
30 - Accelerate Your WinXP by
Speeding Diskcache
Diskcache plays a very important role in
WinXP. However, the default I/O pagefile
setting of XP is conservative, which
limits the performance. Some better
values for different RAM are given
below.
1. run "regedit";
2. goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Con
trol\\Session Manager\\Memory
Management\\IoPageLockLimit];
3. modify the value in Hex depending on
the size of your RAM:
RAM: modified value(Hex)
64M: 1000;
128M: 4000;
256M: 10000;
512M or more: 40000.
4. reboot.
Though some good tools (such as "Cacheman")
can do this, it is an interesting
experience for you to work it out by
yourself and let your XP fly.
31 - Clean your prefetch to
improve performance
This is an unique technique for WinXP.
We know that it is necessary to wash
registry and TEMP files for
Win9X/ME/2000 periodly. Prefetch is a
new and very useful technique in Windows
XP. However, after using XP some time,
the prefetch directory can get full of
junk and obsolete links in the Prefetch
catalog, which can slow down your
computer notably. My suggestion is: open
C(system drive):/windows/prefetch,
delete those junk and obsolete
files,reboot. It is recommended that you
do this every month.
32 - Improve NTFS Performance
Reserve appropriate space for the master
file table.
Add the "NtfsMftZoneReservation" entry
to the registry as a REG_DWORD in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Con
trol\\FileSystem. When you add this
entry to the registry, the system
reserves space on the volume for the
master file table. Reserving space in
this manner allows the master file table
to grow optimally. If your NTFS volumes
generally contain relatively few files
that are typically large, set value of
this registry entry to 1 (the default).
Typically you can use a value of 2 or 3
for moderate numbers of files, and 4
(the maximum) if your volumes tend to
contain a relatively large number of
files. However, be sure to test any
settings greater than 2 because these
higher values cause the system to
reserve a much larger portion of the
disk for the master file table.
Reboot after making changes.