The Ultimate Windows XP Optimization Tweak Guide

[kompressaur]

from-
The Ultimate Windows XP Optimization Tweak Guide



This is one of the most complete Windows XP Tweak guides on the net. This guide will show you how to do everything from disabling startup programs to defragging your page file in order to get the most performance out of your Windows XP machine. My previous post on speeding up Windows XP startup times was one of my most popular posts for awhile. I encourage you to check that post out for some easy tips on speeding up Windows XP startup times.
The Ultimate Windows XP Optimization/Tweak Guide is a comprehensive guide that will give you performance increases all across the board, perfect for a slower machine, and amazing for a fast machine. These XP tweaks will speed up XP dramatically along with improving Windows XP start times, shutdown times, file copying performance, playing games, installing and using programs.
The guide is organized into 3 different sections, because it includes over 20 different tweaks and optimizations: Easy XP Tweaks include quick and easy XP optimizations that you can do in a matter of seconds and work your way through easily, Intermediate Tweaks includes performance enhancements that take a little more time and moving around in Windows XP to implement, while last but not least, Advanced Tweaks include things like modifying the registry and using 3rd party programs to optimize Windows XP. Don’t let the section names fool you, just because one is labeled advanced and the other is labeled intermediate does not mean that you’ll have a hard time performing the advanced tweaks, it’s just these take a little long to implement, and they are all fairly easy to do. The Ultimate Windows XP Optimization Tweak Guide will take you through each tweak, step-by-step.
As with anytime you mess around with your OS, you should make backups of your important files and folders just as a precaution. I have been optimizing my Windows XP for a few years now, and have never had any problems with these tweaks as long as you follow the instructions.
Sections:
Easy Windows XP Tweaks
Intermediate Windows XP Tweaks
Advanced Windows XP Tweaks

Easy Windows XP Tweaks

1. Turn off Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop:
   Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> System -> Remote -> Uncheck ‘Allow Remote Assistance invitations to be sent from this computer’, and ‘Allow users to connect remotely to this computer’ -> Click ‘OK’
   
   This saves memory by disabling these services that you’re most likely never going to use, and it increases XP security by preventing unknown people from trying to remotely connect to your computer.
2. Turn off Windows Automatic Updates:
   Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> System -> Automatic Updates -> Select ‘Turn off Automatic Updates.’ -> Click ‘OK’
   
   This saves memory and increases performance because your computer doesn’t have to check Windows regularly for updates anymore, but since there won’t be anymore automatic updates you’ll need to make sure you check Windows Update Web site once a week so you don’t miss any important updates.
3. Disable System Restore:
   Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> System -> System Restore -> Check ‘Turn off System Restore’ -> Click ‘OK’
   
   System Restore is only good for if you end up breaking your computer a lot, having children that are on the computer, and love to download unknown files. However, if you somewhat know your way around the computer chances are you’ve probably never used it and probably never will. This will save you a ton of hard drive space (at least a couple gigs), and provide a decent performance boost.
4. Set Your Virtual Memory To 1.5-3.0 Times Your Computer’s Memory:
   Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> System -> Advanced Tab -> Performance Settings -> Advanced Tab -> Change -> Select Custom Size -> Set the Initial size to 1.5 x amount of memory installed in your computer (I have 1024mb, 1GB of RAM installed so I’d set it to 1.5 x 1024 = 1536 MB) -> Set the Maximum Size to 3 x amount of memory installed in your computer (I have 1024mb, 1GB of RAM installed so I’d set it to 3.0 x 1024 = 3072 MB). -> Click ‘Set’ -> Click ‘OK
   
   This makes sure the paging file stays put, by doing this it will perform better, and it is optimized for the amount of memory you have so Windows XP doesn’t have to keep adjusting the paging file automatically. It also helps prevent the paging file from becoming fragmented.
5. Disable Windows Error Reporting:
   Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> System -> Advanced Tab -> Error Reporting -> Select ‘Disable error reporting’ -> Check ‘But notify me when critical errors occur’ -> Click ‘OK’
   
   By disabling error reporting you will no longer get those annoying messages that your program has encountered an error, and asks to send information to Microsoft, this saves memory by getting rid of the feature. I think it’s a good trade-off to get rid of those critical error messages. You’ll still be notified when a bad error occurs.
6. Turn off Indexing Service:
   Start Menu -> My Computer -> Right Click Local Disk (C (or available hard drives) -> Properties -> Uncheck ‘Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching’ -> Check ‘Apply To All Files And Folders’ -> Click ‘OK’
   
   The indexing service hogs a huge amount of system resources. It keeps certain files in memory to allow your Windows File Folder Search to run faster, so unless you’re using the Windows Search multiple times per day you don’t need Indexing, the search will still work, but just not as fast as it would if indexing is enabled.
7. Change maximum size of the Recycle Bin to something more manageable, and get rid of the display delete confirmation dialog:
   Desktop -> Right click Recycle Bin -> Properties -> Set ‘Maximum size of Recycle Bin’ to a smaller, more manageable percentage like 3-5% -> Uncheck ‘Display delete confirmation dialog’ -> Click ‘OK’
   
   Lowering the maximum size of the recycle bin makes sure that it doesn’t use up more than a gig or few, because it’s normally set to 10% of each drive you have, and 10% of 250GB is 25GB, that’s a lot of space to be dedicated to your recycle bin. Unchecking the display delete confirmation dialog stops Windows from asking you every time if you’re sure you want to delete the file that you want to delete, which of course we always say yes. If you accidentally delete something it’ll still be in your recycle so you don’t have to worry.
8. Disable Hibernation:
   Start Menu -> Control Panel -> Power Options -> Hibernate Tab -> Uncheck ‘Enable Hibernation’ -> Click ‘OK’
   
   Hibernation is one of those things that you’re just never going to use, unless you have a [COLOR=#345F7B ! important][COLOR=#345F7B ! important]laptop[/color][/color], it makes it so that when you put your computer into hibernation mode it saves everything that was in your memory onto your hard disk. It sounds handy, but they don’t make it to put it into hibernation and it just mostly wastes space and processing power. Just put your computer in stand by if you don’t want to use it for awhile.
9. Disable automatic search for network folders and printers:
   Start Menu -> My Computer -> Tools Menu -> Click ‘Folder Options’ -> View Tab -> Uncheck ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers’
   
   By disabling automatic search for network folders and printers when you open up Windows explorer your computer will not automatically search for network folders and printers that may or may not be there. Chances are you have no network printers or folders, and if you do Windows wouldn’t need to search for them every time you want to get into My Computer. This speeds up file browsing, access and Windows responsiveness.
10. Defragment your hard drive:
    Start Menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Click ‘Disk Defragmenter’ -> Click ‘Defragment’
    
    Defragmenting your hard drive is very important to the performance health of your computer, it can speed up Windows XP significantly if you never have defragmented your computer before. It takes your folders and files and moves them around on the hard drive so Windows XP can have better and faster access to them, the more files you have the more they need to be organized on the hard drive.
11. Check your hard drive for errors with Disk Check:
    Start Menu -> My Computer -> Right Click ‘Local Disk (C’ -> Click ‘Properties’ -> Tools Tab -> Click ‘Check Now’ -> Check ‘Automatically fix file system errors’, and ‘Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors’ -> Click ‘Start’
    
    The Disk Check will require a reboot, and it certainly takes some time to check the disk (1-2 hours). Disk check allows Windows to scan your hard drive for any errors, and automatically fix any errors if they are found. If you hard drive contains errors it can slow down your computer and your overall Windows XP experience.
    Intermediate Windows XP Tweaks
    
    
12. Turn off Windows Visual Effects:
    Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> System -> Advanced Tab -> Performance Settings -> Click ‘Custom’ Uncheck:
    Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
    Fade of slide menus into view
    Fade or slide ToolTips into view
    Fade out menu items after click
    Show window contents while dragging
    Slide open combo boxes
    Slide taskbar buttons
    Use a background image for each folder type
    Use common tasks in folder
    
    This gets rid of certain visual effects. You won’t hardly notice any of the visual effects that have disappeared, but this saves lots of memory and processing power by disabling these visual effects. The only one that you’ll most likely notice missing is the Common Tasks in folder, if you want to you can go back and enable that one, but you don’t need it for anything.
    
13. Delete unused fonts in the fonts folder:
    Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> Fonts Folder
    
    Delete any unnecessary or fonts that you will never ever use. As a precaution first move the unused fonts to a different folder so you make sure there are no side-effects, because you could move a system font that’s needed for Windows by accident. Feel free to delete Wingdings and Symbol and all those Eastern/Western fonts that you’re never going to use. Windows checks this folder each time it loads, and then it loads the fonts into Windows memory so they’re easily accessible with the click of a button, by deleting these fonts you save system memory and increase start up time.
14. Disable unused Windows sounds:
    Start Menu -> Classic Control Panel -> Sound and Audio Devices -> Sounds Tab
    
    Set all the unused Windows/Application sounds to ‘None’. I just go through each sound and listen to it, and if I don’t need it’s disabled, some sounds you hear all the time, those are the ones I don’t disable, but the ones that are for Net meetings or Windows startup I disable, the more you disable the greater the performance boost. Here’s a list of the sounds I didn’t disable:
    Critical Stop
    Default Beep
    Exclamation
    
15. Uninstall unused Windows Components/Programs
    Start Menu -> Add/Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components
    
    Uncheck the Windows Components that you don’t use. I uncheck Fax Services, Indexing Service, Internet Information Services, Management and Monitoring Tools, Message Queuing, Other Network File and Printer Services, Windows Messenger, Outlook Express, and MSN Explorer. They’re probably handy tools and services for businesses, but I will never need Message Queuing and Fax services. Also while you’re in the Add/Remove Programs menu look for any programs that you don’t use and uninstall them as well, it’ll save disk space and increase performance.
16. Set all of your ATAPI drives to DMA:
    Start Menu -> Right Click ‘My Computer’ -> Click ‘Manage’ -> Click ‘Device Manager’ -> Click ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers’ -> Right Click on each individual IDE Channel -> Click ‘Properties’ -> Advanced Settings Tab -> Select ‘DMA if available’ for ‘Transfer Mode’
    
    This setting changes your IDE device’s transfer mode to DMA. Switching all of your IDE devices over to DMA provides a significant performance boost compared to PIO only transfer mode, DMA is much faster.
17. Disable unused devices in Device Manager:
    Start Menu -> Right Click ‘My Computer -> Click ‘Manage’ -> Click ‘Device Manager’ -> Right Click unused devices -> Click ‘Disable’
    
    Be careful when disabling unused devices that you don’t disable something that may be important to the necessary functions of your computer. Only disable something if you have an onboard sound card, or an onboard ethernet adapter that you’re not using because you have [COLOR=#345F7B ! important][COLOR=#345F7B ! important]PCI [COLOR=#345F7B ! important]slots[/color][/color][/color] filled with a sound card or network adapter.
18. Defragment your page file:
    Download PageDefrag at Microsoft TechNet -> Open the .zip and run PageDefrag -> Click ‘Accept’ -> Select ‘Defragment at next boot’ -> Click ‘OK’
    
    Just like the Microsoft TechNet website said one of the problems of Windows XP/2000/NT is that files that are in use cannot be defragged, and that includes the pagefile. This program will defrag your pagefile at the next boot to ensure it’s working to it’s maximum efficiency.
    Advanced Windows XP Tweaks
    
    
19. Use MSConfig to disable any unnecessary startup items:
    Start Menu -> Run -> Type ‘MsConfig’ -> Startup Tab -> Uncheck unnecessary startup items
    
    Extra startup items are one of the main things that slows down a computer. The startup items are the programs that are loaded into memory when a computer starts up, like AIM, Antivirus programs, all of the little programs sitting in your task bar, and some programs you can’t see. Go through the list and look for any familiar programs and disable those first, then go back and look at the unfamiliar programs and try to find out what application they belong to, google the process name like ctfmon.exe and it should come up with a detailed use for the program in the listings and if it’s harmful or just a system program.
20. Download TCP/IP Optimizer to enhance the internet connection:
    Download TCP/IP Optimizer at SpeedGuide.net -> Open TCPOptimizer -> Click ‘Optimal Settings’ -> Click ‘Apply changes’ -> Check ‘Backup’ -> Click ‘OK’
    
    TCP/IP Optimizer is a program that changes your Windows XP Network settings to optimize your network and internet performance, it change the amount of bytes it transfers among other things for your network by modifying some registry keys. It gives you a nice boost with your internet connection that Windows XP otherwise limits, and it makes backups that you can restore just in case something goes awry.
21. Download and Install Cacheman to maximize performance of the caches:
    Download ‘Cacheman’, not CachemanXP -> Install Cacheman -> Run Cacheman -> Click ‘Show wizard’ Menu -> Click ‘All’ -> Go through the wizard and leave everything at the default settings, Cacheman will optimize everything -> Go to ‘Options’ -> Uncheck ‘Load Cacheman on Windows startup’
    
    Cache man goes through your cache and optimizes them for maximum performance. It also changes a few other settings that help with memory throughput, performance, and lower the time it takes for Windows to shutdown an application, speeds up the start menu and speeds up Windows XP shutdown.
22. Disable unused Windows XP services:
    Start Menu -> Run -> Type ‘Services.msc’
    
    It’s important to always save the best for last. This last tweak is going to provide the most performance out of all other tweaks, and it takes the longest to implement. After you’ve opened up the Services windows you’re going to go down the list and look for services that you don’t need, then right click on them, go to ‘Properties’, pull down the ‘Startup type:’ menu and click ‘Disabled, then click ‘OK’. It’s not hard but you have to go through the list of services and figure out what’s needed and what’s not. Actually, someone else has already done that. Head over to Black Viper’s Windows XP Service Configurations. He has a table built that tells you what safe to disable and what you should leave alone, but if you don’t want to take time deciphering his table I’ll just tell you which ones you can go ahead and disable with no problems. Disable These Services:
    Application Management
    Clipbook
    Computer Browser
    Error Reporting Service
    HID Input Service
    Indexing Service
    Net Logon
    NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
    Network Location Awareness (NLA)
    Network Provisioning Service
    Portable Media Serial Number Service
    QoS RSVP
    Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
    Remote Registry
    Secondary Logon (If you only have one user on your computer)
    TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service
    Telnet
    Uninterruptable Power Supply
    WebClient
    Windows Time
    WMI Performance Adapter

There you have it, the Ultimate Windows XP Optimization Tweak Guide has come to an end. These tweaks have been hand-tested, hand-proven, and took the contributions of many people over the years to discover all of these optimizations to Windows XP. I’d like to thank you all for making this OS faster than ever. If any reader has a major tweak that I may have missed somewhere that offers signicant performance boosts please be sure to drop me a comment or send me an email about it, and I’d be glad to add it to the guide if it is worth it.

[Doc]

nice post!

[kompressaur]

always handy Doc and thanks. I turned off my file indexing and it took my computer about an hour to do the full drive. I havent tried the rest as im posting about like a mddie again. Aye its good to share what we find

[kompressaur]

Doc youll like this if you havent got it already. Its the bollocks. I just havent had a chance to look at it proper

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[Doc]

Cheers

I used it years ago, but was actually thinking of getting it again - spooky eh!

[mrmuzeman]

I did basically everything on that list over the last few hours. Its definitely a wee bit quicker so fair play. Everythings all blue now though, like blue backgrounds and blue menu bars and tabs etc. Its cool though cos being an Everton fan I can dig that