Windows XP Tricks, Tips and Tweaks
Change visual effects to speed up Windows XP performance
By default, Windows XP enables visual effects. These default visual effects consume system resources and slow down computer. Windows XP uses processor time to handle system performance according to default settings, which can be adjusted for your computing needs. Also, settings that govern visual effects enhance the appearance of the Windows XP interface, but slow down performance. Read more.
Customize Windows XP themes and display properties
You can speed up Windows XP performance by optimizing display properties. It is safe to improve Windows speed by disabling the Windows XP default theme back to Windows Classic style and turn off the visual effects. Read more.
Optimize Windows XP performance options for high performance windows
Windows allocates system resources according to its settings and manages devices accordingly. You can use the System tool in Control Panel to change performance options on the Advanced tab of the Performance Options dialog box that control how programs use processor time, Windows memory and virtual memory including paging file size, or environment variables. Read more.
Disable indexing service
Turn off indexing service to speed up Windows XP. Windows XP keeps a record of all the files on the hard disk so when you do a search on the hard drive it is faster. Read more.
Clean Windows prefetch files to improve system performance
Prefetch is a new and useful technique in Windows XP. Windows XP can prefetch portions of data and applications that are used frequently in which the OS gathers information about each program launched, then stores that information in the WindowsPrefetch folder. Read more.
Disable Windows XP hibernation to save disk space
If you do not use hibernation, make sure that you do not have it enabled, which reserves disk space equal to your RAM. Read more.
Enable Direct Memory Access (DMA) on IDE hard drive
Windows XP still sometimes fails to set the Direct Memory Access (DMA) mode correctly for the IDE devices designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE channels. Read more.
Disable Windows XP error reporting notification tool
Windows XP has a built-in error reporting feature that displays error reporting message when the system crashes. You may want to disable the Windows XP's error reporting notifications if you do not want to see this notification message or not want to share diagnostic information with Microsoft. Read more.
Speed up file folder browsing in Windows Explorer
Every time you open My Computer to use Windows Explorer to browse folders and files there is a slight delay that slows down the file folder browsing. Read more.
Disable boot logo or splash screen in Windows XP slow startup
How to remove the Windows logo during boot up and speed up Windows XP slow startup ? Disable the boot up splash screen which will speed up the Windows XP’s overall boot process. Read more.
Disable Windows Prefetch files on low RAM systems
If you have an old computer with less than 256 MB of RAM you may speed up Windows XP boot up time by disabling completely the Windows Prefetch. Read more.
Optimize Windows XP system cache (LargeSystemCache)
You may speed up Windows XP if you optimize windows XP system cache settings at LargeSystemCache in Windows registry. According to the Microsoft you can determine whether the system maintains a standard size or a large size file system cache and how often the system writes changed pages to disk. Read more.
Optimize Windows XP RAM speed (DisablePagingExecutive)
If you have a large amount of ram (at least 1 GB or more physical memory) you can improve Windows memory performance by preventing the hard drive being used for caching. By keeping data in memory instead of paging sections of RAM to hard disk improves system performance and also reduces the hard drive swappage. Read more.
Use Disk Cleanup to clean up disk space and computer
How to free up wasted hard disk space and manage computer clean up ? Windows XP has a built in Disk Cleanup tool to clear unnecessary files from your computer's hard disk. You can easily clean up temporary internet files of Internet Explorer, Recycle Bin files and many other unnecessary system files. Read more.
Turn off user tracking and personalized menus to improve performance
Windows XP has a user tracking system that tracks user actions. This user tracking feature keeps track of every activity of logged on users and this information is available to the administrators. Disable this setting to prevent the system from tracking the programs users run, the paths they navigate, and the documents they open. The system uses this information to customize Windows features, such as personalized menus. Read more.
Disable performance counters to tune-up Windows XP
Windows XP has a Performance Library (perflib) tool that continously monitoring the performance information of the system and this data is continously is being written to the Windows registry. This performance information is used by the performance monitoring tools like Performance or third party third-party desktop widgets and gadgets. Read more.