www.jstechs.com > Tips &
Tweaks
Below are a handful of useful tips and tweaks for Windows XP that can help increase system performance and usability.
Cut Down on Startup Items
An exceptionally common computer problem occurs when Windows automatically loads a number of programs at startup. This causes the computer to set aside RAM and virtual memory for programs which you may never use. The effect – especially on systems with minimal RAM – is a significant slowdown at startup, and during use.
Only a few of these programs need to be started with the system – such as antivirus or firewall – almost all others can be started and stopped as needed. For more information on specific startup items look here, and here.
A tool included in Windows used to control these programs is the System Configuration Utility or Msconfig.
If you are comfortable editing the Windows Registry, simply delete the entree from the place specified in msconfig under Location. Otherwise, read on.
To use this tool go to Start > Run type msconfig > click OK > Navigate to the Startup tab and uncheck any programs you wish to disable > click OK.
After you reboot you may receive a message saying "you have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to your system....". When you get this message check the box Do not show me this message again > click OK.
Reduce the Number of Running Services
There are a number of unused Services that can be disabled to free-up system resources. For a complete list of which ones can be safely disabled look here. (That site is currently down, here is an archive.)
Cut back on Visual Effects
If you are comfortable with the plain "pre-XP" interface, you can disable the XP style interface and in doing so free-up some system resources and increase system speed.
To do this, go to Start > Control Panel > System. go to the Advanced tab and under Performance click Settings > select Adjust For Best Performance and click Apply > then recheck only the ones that you want.
TIP: for a quick way to bring up the System Properties dialog use the keyboard shortcut Winkey+Pause/Break.Disable Indexing Service
Indexing Service constantly scans and catalogs every file on the hard drive allowing you to search them quickly. For most users, however, this is completely unnecessary and uses large amounts of RAM.
To disable Indexing Service right click your main drive (usually C:) click Properties > uncheck Allow Indexing Service to Index this disk for fast file searching. Then go to Start > Control Panel > Add and Remove Programs > Add or remove Windows Components > uncheck Indexing Service > click Next.
Lower the System Restore disk usage
If you are low on disk space you can free-up some space while maintaning the ability to use System Restore. If you have plenty of disk space though, just leave it high.
To lower the amount of disk space System restore uses press Winkey+Pause/Break > click the System Restore tab > drag the slider down to around 5% > click OK.
