Optimising XP (2 Viewers)

[Forbidden.]

Make Your Windows Fast As Never Before!

DISABLE INDEXING SERVICES

Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don't search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next


OPTIMISE DISPLAY SETTINGS

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

1.Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click System
5. Click Advanced tab
6. In the Performance tab click Settings
7. Leave only the following ticked:
- Show shadows under menus
- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons


DISABLE PERFORMANCE COUNTERS

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC's performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

To disable:

1. download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
2.Then select each counter in turn in the 'Extensible performance counters' window and clear the 'performance counters enabled' checkbox at the bottom.button below.


SPEEDUP FOLDER BROWSING

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click Ok
8. Reboot your computer


IMPROVE MEMORY USAGE

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

Once Installed:

1.Go to Show Wizard and select All
2.Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.
3.Exit and Save Cacheman
4.Restart Windows


OPTIMISE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

1. Download and install
2. Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
3. Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
4. Check Optimal Settings then Apply
5. Reboot


OPTIMISE YOUR PAGEFILE

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Under Performance choose the Settings button
4. Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
5. Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

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. 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.


RUN BOOTVIS - IMPROVE BOOT TIMES

BootVis will significantly improve boot times

1. Download and Run
2. Select Trace
3. Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
4. A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
5. Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system's boot process. When it's done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
6. Reboot.
7. When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete


REMOVE THE DESKTOP PICTURE

Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.

1. Right click on Desktop and select Properties
2. Select the Desktop tab
3. In the Background window select None
4. Click Ok


REMOVE FONTS FOR SPEED

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Fonts folder
3. Move fonts you don't need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

 

[gtvwill]

Format HDD
Install Linux
Your windows XP has now been optimized for what its best at doing. AKA nothing.

Go free my children with this knowledge you shall prosper!

 

[AntiHyper]

Format HDD
Install Linux
Your windows XP has now been optimized for what its best at doing. AKA nothing.

Go free my children with this knowledge you shall prosper!

Sif.

I put my taskbar on the left side, Hide Desktop Items and install AllSnap that seems to optimise my usage of the desktop.

One annoying problem about winXP is when sometimes u uninstall a program, it does so without problems yet the program name still appears in "Add/Remove Programs". Anyone know how to fix this

 

[gtvwill]

Sif.

I put my taskbar on the left side, Hide Desktop Items and install AllSnap that seems to optimise my usage of the desktop.

One annoying problem about winXP is when sometimes u uninstall a program, it does so without problems yet the program name still appears in "Add/Remove Programs". Anyone know how to fix this

You obviously missed my joke. One way to optimize XP, buy more ram, regularily defrag,clean temp folders,run less processes,virus scan and malwhere/adware scan.

 

[AntiHyper]

Note to everyone (with apparently slowed down hard drives):

PIO mode is enabled by default in the following situations:
...
For repeated DMA errors. Windows XP will turn off DMA mode for a device after encountering certain errors during data transfer operations. If more that six DMA transfer timeouts occur, Windows will turn off DMA and use only PIO mode on that device.

In this case, the user cannot turn on DMA for this device. The only option for the user who wants to enable DMA mode is to uninstall and reinstall the device.

Windows XP downgrades the Ultra DMA transfer mode after receiving more than six CRC errors. Whenever possible, the operating system will step down one UDMA mode at a time (from UDMA mode 4 to UDMA mode 3, and so on).
...

Basically what it's saying is whenever winxp encountered hard disk errors it would downgrade the speed of the drive from DMA 5 all the way down to PIO 0.

To put in comparison: DMA 5 supports transfer rate of 100MB/s while PIO mode supports transfer rate of ONLY 3.3MB/s.

So that is the problem (that I encountered as well), here is the solution
Although written in a very jargonised language (that some may not understand), I'll explain deeply later on if anyone asks.

Re-enable DMA using the Registry Editor

My thanks go to my fellow MVP Alexander Grigoriev who taught me this method.

Run REGEDIT. Go to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

It has subkeys like 0000, 0001, 0002, etc. Normally 0001 is the primary IDE channel, 0002 the secondary, but other numbers can occur under certain circumstances. You have to go through these subkeys and check the DriverDesc value until you find the proper IDE channel.

Delete MasterIdDataChecksum or SlaveIdDataChecksum, depending on whether the device in question is attached as master or slave, but it can't actually hurt to delete both. Reboot. The drive DMA capabilities will be redetected.

Note that many CD and DVD drives only use UDMA-2, because their data rate is much lower than that of a hard disk. This is normal and no reason to worry.

2006-01-19 – Horst Schülke wrote that it is sufficient to empty the content of these values. But you can also delete the values entirely. Windows will automatically recreate them anyway, with new content.

Open Device Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA mode. If so, congratulations, you've made it (at least until the next time Windows disables DMA).

2005-10-24 – Tomáš Souček wrote, if this doesn't work, check also the dword value MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed, whose default value is hex 0xFFFFFFFF. If you have a much smaller value, you can try to set it back to its default and reboot for a test.

I didn't posted this at 3:41 am for fun

source: http://winhlp.com/WxDMA.htm

 

[Sefi]

I find that a good tool for getting things going a little quicker is Auslogic speedboost. Most of the things in it can be done manually, but it's best use is the ram monitor/defragger it has.

 

[Punctuation M]

One annoying problem about winXP is when sometimes u uninstall a program, it does so without problems yet the program name still appears in "Add/Remove Programs". Anyone know how to fix this

Are you talking about Nortan programs here? Because you may need a specially designed tool to remove all of Nortan's software. If not, you can key word the program in search computer and delete any related files to the uni-installed program. In addition, you can go into the C: drive, then program files and delete the program folder specific to the one you see in add and remove files.

 

[bringbackshred]

I have the perfect solution to fix and make XP better:

Uninstall it.

 

[mr_brightside]

oh lol. lol. lol man!

 

[bringbackshred]

Yes, I seem to be quite the funny one.

That said, I'm posting from Windows at the moment. Damn iTunes, damn intrusive AntiVirus, damn firewall, damn everything.

 

[Triple777ER]

Use quality software like Tune-up utilities 2007. Make sure u have Windows XP pro Service pack 2 installed

 

[chicky_pie]

Here are a few useful tips I've found in various magazines and websites about optimising Windows XP and some are quite useful... take a look:

1.Assign a Keyboard Shortcut
Find the application/shortcut icon of which you will assign a shortcut to. Right click on the icon and under the "Shortcut" tab for a Windows application or "Program" tab for a MS-DOS application. With the cursor in the Shortcut key box, select the keyboard key you want to use in combination with CTRL+ALT. Shortcut keys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcut you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus. Shortcutkeys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcut you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus.


2.Securing the Paging File
If you're truly concerned about the possibility of your computer falling into the wrong hands, you should be sure that you don't leave any tracks in the paging file. By default, when you shut down your system, the paging file remains intact. People who have access to your computer could conceivably look through the unencrypted paging file to find information they shouldn't have.

You can foil such snooping by changing a registry entry. Use a registry editor to navigate to the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management key and set the value of CleraPageFileAtShutdown to 1. After you do that, Windows fills inactive pages in the paging file with zeros whenever you shut down. Because this could slow down your system, don't make this change unless your security needs demand it.


3.Sending Faxes the Easy Way
Good news: you no longer need to spend money on a free-standing fax machine to send and receive faxes! You can now use the Microsoft Fax service to send and receive faxes using a fax/modem or a fax board installed in your computer, or via your corporate large area network (LAN). You can fax a document from any application, send a cover fax page, and track and monitor your fax activity. New wizards make configuring and sending faxes simple. To configure the Fax service:
- on the Start menu, click Control Panel, and then click Printers And Other Hardware.
- In the Printers and Other Hardware window, click the Printers And Faxes icon.
- In the Printers and Faxes window, click Set Up Faxing.

you'll need your Windows XP CD with this task


4.Windows XP Quick Keys
Windows Key + E - Windows Explorer
Windows Key + F - Launch Find tool
Windows Key + M - Minimize all windows
Windows Key + R - Launch Run Tool
Windows Key + U - Launch the Utility Manager
Windows Key + Pause/Break - System Properties
Windows Key + D - Minimize all windows - Press again to Maximise all Windows
Windows Key + L - Quick Log Off


5.Get more processing power
In the Run box, type "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks". This frees up any idle tasks running in the background so that Windows XP can devote its full attention to what you want it to do. For example playing graphic intensive games.


6.Speed up menu display
When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly.

i. Start Regedit.
ii. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
iii. Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
iv. Right on it and select Modify.
v. Change the value to 0.
vi. Reboot your computer.


7.Modify application timeout
The operating system has a set amount of time that a program must be frozen for before it is timed out. Often this number is set too high. But in some circumstances it is set too low. Depending on if the program is doing a lot of calculations in the background the computer may think that it is timed out. To prevent this increase the value of the timeout in the registry.

i. Start Regedit
ii. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
iii. Select HungAppTimeout from the list on the right.
iv. Right on it and select Modify.
v. Change the value to the new timeout value.
vi. Reboot your computer.


8.Disable Indexing Services
Indexing services is a small program that hogs HUGE amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexing and updates lists of the files on your system, so you can search for them quickly, but it's completely unnecessary.

To disable it, go to the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs. Click the Add/Remove Window Components. Simply unclick the Indexing services and click next.


9.Increase speed by tweaking prefetcher settings
This is an unique technique for XP, which could improve the performance significantly by tweaking the prefetcher. Recommended hardware: PIII 800 or higher, 512M RAM or more.

i. Start Regedit
ii. go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher
iii. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended).
iv. reboot.

It will decrease the boot time but double and increase the performance of your XP.


10.Speed up browsing with DNS cache
When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth, this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that tcp/ip really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although WinXP and win2000 has a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size.

You can do this with the registry entries below:

************begin copy and paste***********
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

************end copy and paste***********

Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. The copy and paste the above into it and save it. Then merge it into the registry.


11.Unload .dll's to Free Memory
Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of time after the application using them has been closed. This can be an inefficient use of memory.

i. Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.
ii. Create a new DWORD sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory.
iii. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.


12.Close multiple folders quickly
All versions of Windows: Hold down the Shift key as you click the Close box in the upper-right corner of the folder window. Doing so closes the current folder and any open folders above it in the folder hierarchy.


And.. the following are some other things you can do which I haven't mentioned (copied/typed) above:

13.Configure Services
Start > Run and type services.msc . You will see a list of services and their status. For some services such as Messenger (this is not your MSN messenger) you can disable it altogether if you don't have a network. The following is a list I've found on a website and they recommand to set these services to manual for hard-core gamers:
Routing and Remote Access
Alerter
Application Layer Gateway Service** (only if firewall is not used)
Application Management
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
ClipBook
COM+ System Application
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Help and Support
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service** (only if do you not use the cd-rw xp record support)
IPSEC Services
Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service
MS Software Shadow Copy Provider
Net Logon
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Network Location Awareness (NLA)
NT LM Security Support Provider
Performance Logs and Alerts
Portable Media Serial Number
QoS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator
Remote Registry
Removable Storage
Server
Smart Card
Smart Card Helper
SSDP Discovery Service
System Restore Service
Telnet
Themes
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Volume Shadow Copy
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Windows Installer
Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions
Wireless Zero Configuration
WMI Performance Adapter
Fast User Switching Compatibility ** (only if fast user switching is not used or the machine have one user only)
Protected Storage
Windows Time
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Task Scheduler
Secondary Logon
Print Spooler ** (only if the pc do not have or use a printer)
Indexing Service
Error Reporting Service
Computer Browser
Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)


14.msconfig
Start > Run and type msconfig. This is one of my favourites You can disable/enable yuor services here or inspect their status. Also, under the startup tab, you can choose what to run on startup If you have never run msconfig before, you might be surprised how many programs are actually running at startup which you don't know about. (I don't recommand you to disable your firewall and antivirus softwares here.. also, if you have other security-related softwares which are on the list, you probably don't want to disable them.. make sure you know what they are before you disable them, too)


*warning* if you are not familiar/confident with the registry, do not risk damaging it my changing it. Even if you are, I suggest you to creat a backup copy before you do so: In the registry window, click on File > Export and choose a location and file name to save your backup copy. I've tested most of the tips and tricks listed here and my computer is still alive, but if you feel that these are not reliable or you don't want risk damaging your system, please don't do any of them and I'm not responsible for any misuse or damage caused.

i did some of these and got some pop up after i reboot my computer, any help on that?

 

[Triple777ER]

^ undo all the changes

 

[chicky_pie]

^ undo all the changes

4 Oct 2007.

A bit too late to tell me that.

 

[Triple777ER]

oops sorry man, didn't notice the date. I suppose you got it all worked out?

 

[*Jezzza]

Quite a few os these tweaks you can get using TuneXP.

www.driverheaven.net/dforce/

 

[chicky_pie]

http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=184297

 

[moleskine]

if you're going to format, using tinyxp instead of normal xp is awesome. about 1/3 the system resources.

 

[bigboyjames]

anything for vista?/

 

[roar84eighty]

Thanks for the tips