Boosting Windows XP Performance
Tip 4: Disconnect Unused Network Connections
While sharing network drives is a quick way to add capacity to PC, unused connections can cause serious performance problems on startup when remote computers or network drives don’t respond immediately.
At startup, or whenever a network drive is accessed, WinXP will wait patiently for the drive to come online, even if the drive is disconnected. This can slow a PC, even if the file the user is opening is directly on the local computer. If a system has unused network connections, you can shave time off the startup wait-time and generally improve performance by removing these connections.
To get rid of unused network connections, disconnect any unused drives by following these three steps:
1. Open My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Disconnect Network Drive.
3. Select the network drives that you no longer need. Then click OK.
Without these unused network connections, startup and file access should be faster.
Tip 5: Remove Unnecessary Autostart Programs
Software providers that want their programs to appear to load quickly when needed configure autostart programs to run in the background. Some of these programs show an icon on your taskbar to let you know that they’re running, but others are completely hidden. All are stealing trace amounts of memory and processing time as the computer runs.
WinXP comes with the System Configuration tool (Msconfig.exe), an excellent way to manage the startup process, as well as to identify any unnecessary programs that start automatically. To start it and make the changes, follow these four steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type Msconfig, and then press Enter.
2. On the Startup tab, you’ll see a list of all the programs and processes that are set to run when WinXP loads.
3. Clear the checkbox next to any item the user doesn’t need.
4. Click Apply, and then restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
If you need help figuring out which startups do what, look up the entries at Paul Collins’ Startup Applications List. It’s a very handy resource.
Tip 6: Rejuvenate Prefetch
WinXP loads applications much faster than its predecessors. To accomplish this, XP uses what’s known as the Prefetch technique, in which the OS gathers information about each program launched, then stores that information in the \Windows\Prefetch folder. On subsequent restarts, WinXP uses the information stored in the Prefetch folder to essentially preload parts of those programs at boot time. The result: When the user launches an application, it appears to load really fast.
But there’s one problem: Over time, the Prefetch folder can accumulate too much information. This makes the OS so busy loading bits and pieces of lots of applications into memory, the boot process gets slowed down. Fortunately, you can clean out the Prefetch folder at any time by following these four easy steps:
1. Access the Run dialog box by clicking Start, then Run.
2. Type “Prefetch” (without the quote marks) in the Open text box. Then click OK.
3. Press Control A to select all the files.
4. Press Delete.
Over time, WinXP will rebuild the contents of the Prefetch folder. By the way, an excellent time to create a disk image for your clients is after a couple of weeks of use, after Prefetch has “learned” about applications to preload, but before it becomes bulky.
Tip 7: Remove Remnants of Old SP2 Installs
Upgrading XP with SP2 leaves a lot of unused files on the disk that the user will need only if they were to uninstall XP. Personally, I’ve never had to back-out of SP2, but if you did, chances are it would have be shortly after you installed it. So, assuming the user is happy with their SP2 installation, remove these old files by following these steps:
1. A very big System Restore point will have been made by the SP2 installation. To be sure you have a good regular size restore point, create a new one by going to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. In the System Restore dialog box, click Create a restore point. Then click Next. Type a description for your restore point, such as “After SP2″ and click Create. Then do a clean-up by going to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. Under “More Options,” click the bottom button to remove all but the most recent restore point.
2. Delete the hidden folder of files that would be restored by an uninstall: C:\Windows\$NTServicePackUninstall. After this step, if you try to use the “Remove” for Service Pack 2 in Add/Remove Programs, it will fail and offer to delete the entry.
3. There may also be a large folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download, depending on how the installation was done. This can be deleted, too.
4. Check that the installation’s temporary folder was properly removed. The directory will be in the root directory of the drive where you downloaded the setup files (probably on C:) and will have a long name of random letters. If you can find this folder, remove it.
Tags: backup, boost, defragment, Performance, remove, space, tweak, Windows, windows xp
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B.Fogg on 17 Feb 2008 at 4:05 am #
ALWAYS – ALWAYS –
ALWAYS DO A DISK CHECK BEFORE A DEFRAG,
Method Below:
Error checking your Hard Disk (Thorough Check)
(use this Method a minimum of once per month
or straight after a unscheduled re-boot or system crash)
a. Open “My Computer”
b. Right Click over “Local Drive C:” or its Icon
(or the Hard Disk you’re checking, e.g. “Local Drive E:”)
c. Left Click on “Properties” at the bottom of the pop-up menu when the “Properties” window opens
d. Left Click on the “Tools” tab near the top
e. Then Left Click “Check now…” in the Error-checking section when the small new window opens
f. Put a “tick” in both boxes:
“tick” (Automatically fix file system errors)
“tick” (Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors)
(Only “tick” Automatically fix file system errors to run the Standard Check, this will only take about 5-20 minutes)
g. and Left Click on “Start” on the small window
h. Another message will appear, Left Click on “Yes”
(the message says you can only do a thorough Hard Disk check
when Windows is not full running, because it needs exclusive access to the Hard Disk been checked, blah blah blah)
i. then Left Click the “Start” Button in the corner of your screen
j. Left Click “Turn off Computer…”
k. Left Click on “Restart”
As your computer re-starts, before starting full Windows Xp
a blue screen should appear, giving a Ten (10) second countdown
please don’t press any keys at this stage,
wait for the Hard Disk check to begin
(then go make a tea or something,
average checking times for a 20Gb Hard Disk: 15 – 80 mins)
Once the Hard Disk check has finished the computer may:
a) Re-boot / re-start then load Windows
b) immediately load Windows
Both these are normal, any errors should have been repaired,
unless serious errors have occurred on your Hard Disk Drive,in that case, back-up your personal data (photos, favorites, etc),
to CD / DVD or Removable Storage Device and have the Hard Disk Drive replaced by qualified service personnel as soon as possible. ;0)
Kind Regards
Bob
Crippo on 17 Mar 2008 at 5:47 pm #
Here we go again, the tips we’ve seen like 37.549.628.127 times before……………………….
*roll*
sheppy on 10 May 2008 at 1:50 am #
omg 37.549.628.127 + 1 at least lol
good advice anyway though
xp speed up tips on 02 Jun 2008 at 5:06 am #
[...] issues, and how to battle the demons like …. Most Read Tips. How to Double Firefox speed …http://www.pctipsbox.com/boosting-windows-xp-performance/Hacking Windows XP: Speed Up Your Boot – ExtremeTech … [...]
Larry Miller on 12 Oct 2008 at 9:30 pm #
Tip #6, Rejuvinate Prefetch is 100% wrong.
This tip is based on a complete misunderstanding of how prefetch works. Prefetch does NOT preload applications or any portion of them at boot time. Prefetch files are referenced only after application launch has been initiated. Unused or rarely used entries will have virtually no impact on performance. Manual deletion of these files will impair performance and has no benefits. In any event the prefetch folder is self cleaning after 128 entries. This has been extensively tested.
References:
http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/XPMyths.html
Larry Miller
Microsoft MCSA
Sidatajudi on 07 Jan 2009 at 11:16 am #
I’ve not done Tip #6 yet but I know that Larry’s claim that “prefetch folder is self cleaning after 128 entries” is definitely wrong. My prefetch folder has 130 entries in it and that does not look good to me.
Rene Bendali on 22 Oct 2009 at 1:31 am #
Hello My Name is Rene Bendali
im an I.T Technical Support im working on enhancing Windows XP performance on the users computers but its seems that after doing all the mantiance on all the computers im my company im still having calls from my users saying that there performance is still poor is there any solution on how to really improve the performance and all my users have 1 GB of Ram