23 ways to speed up windows XP
Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance,
here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the performance and
reliability of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of them will cost you
nothing.
1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the
money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows
defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an
Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.
2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively
inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.
3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not
sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon,
right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File
System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click
Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C:
/FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's
important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system
used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend
NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk
drives.
4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from
documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword
index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.
The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a
document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the
file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search
functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing
service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the
request to help find what the user is looking for.
Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a
large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at
least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients
are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this
search feature, I recommend disabling it.
Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the
C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index
this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and
files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access
is denied"), click the Ignore All button.
5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and
configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS
properly, see this article on my site.
6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can
"prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This
makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's
fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references
to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is
wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing
critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.
7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer
icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk
Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and
delete all temporary files.
8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to
the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary
IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is
set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this
process with the Secondary IDE Channel.
9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling
requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent.
Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the
connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets.
A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to
the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With
Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from
performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently
support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important.
For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly
clear.
10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware
by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be
sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search.
Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that
requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has
been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it
contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing
Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.
11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine
using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type
MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you
don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the
WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as
well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by
searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.
12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs
section of the Control Panel.
13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop.
In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers
many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the
System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the
Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the
options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of
the computer -- only its responsiveness.
14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their
registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.
15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates
labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.
16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis.
Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing
anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and
reliability.
17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their
computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While
Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions
of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably
tax the system.
18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more
efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate
partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system.
The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder
instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it
in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits
that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system
performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the
partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive.
This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be
time-consuming and also can result in lost data.
19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend
using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or
diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory
automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run
until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program
encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of
memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember,
bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.
20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web
site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the
recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.
21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that
your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can
disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP
configurations.
22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then
taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My
Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab.
Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this
option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.
23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust
and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning
properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For
more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous
articles on my site.
Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to
the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still
want to defrag a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your
data more retrievable in the event of a crashed drive.