Do you often get frustrated while you wait around for your slow Windows XP computer to startup? Windows XP will automatically load and startup all the programs that are in the startup folder whether you intend to use them or not. This article will show you how you can speed up the bootup process of your XP PC by removing the programs that usually bog it down.
Speed Up Booting Windows XP
If you feel that Windows Explorer takes too long to start, there is a way to speed it up. Windows automatically looks for network files, shared folders, and devices every time you open Explorer. Disabling this option will speed up access to Windows Explorer. To do it:
To gain an even better speed improvement, you should consider using third-party programs, like Auslogics BoostSpeed. The program allows you to easily tweak hundreds of hidden Windows setting, as well as perform crucial system maintenance tasks to speed up your computer.
One of the great things about XP is the the shear amount of configuration options and performance enhancing tweaks you can easily apply to it, with the ability to alter almost every part of the operation system if you want to. A well maintained XP installation can still boot pretty quick from a standard hard drive, even on lower spec machines, but users are always looking for ways to eek out those extra seconds to make it desktop usable even quicker. Highly used systems on the other hand, over time start to slow down and booting starts to take longer and longer.
Alternatively, you can pick and choose which visual effects your system displays (and know that XP has slightly different effects than does Vista). Every one of the effects uses up a certain amount of processing power. The more you leave enabled, the slower your system will run. So to speed up your system incrementally, check only those visual effects that you think are necessary to enhance your computing experience. The more effects you disable, the faster your computer will run.
In Windows XP, the Performance Options Advanced tab includes an additional Memory Usage section that determines how Windows XP uses system memory. To devote more memory to currently running applications, check the Programs option. On a system without a lot of RAM, this will make your programs run faster. If your system has plenty of memory, however, check the System Cache option, which can speed up your entire system.
1. Defrag Disk to Speed Up Access to DataOne of the factors that slow the performance of the computer is disk fragmentation. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. To speed up the response time, you should monthly run Disk Defragmenter, a Windows utility that defrags and consolidates fragmented files for quicker computer response. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle []).push();Follow Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
Click the drives you want to defrag and click Analyze
Click Defragment
2. Detect and Repair Disk ErrorsOver time, your hard disk develops bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing difficult or even impossible. To detect and repair disk errors, Windows has a built-in tool called the Error Checking utility. It'll search the hard disk for bad sectors and system errors and repair them for faster performance.Follow Start > My Computer
In My Computer right-click the hard disk you want to scan and click Properties
Click the Tools tab
Click Check Now
Select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box
Click Start
3. Disable Indexing ServicesIndexing Services is a little application that uses a lot of CPU. By indexing and updating lists of all the files on the computer, it helps you to do a search for something faster as it scans the index list. But if you know where your files are, you can disable this system service. It won't do any harm to you machine, whether you search often or not very often.Go to Start
Click Settings
Click Control Panel
Double-click Add/Remove Programs
Click the Add/Remove Window Components
Uncheck the Indexing services
Click Next
4. Optimize Display SettingsWindows XP is a looker. But it costs you system resources that are used to display all the visual items and effects. Windows looks fine if you disable most of the settings and leave the following: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
5. Speedup Folder BrowsingYou may have noticed that everytime you open My Computer to browse folders that there is a little 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 speed, you can disable the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" option.6. Disable Performance CountersWindows 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.Download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
Then select each counter in turn in the 'Extensible performance counters' window and clear the 'performance counters enabled' checkbox at the bottom button below
7. Optimize Your PagefileYou can optimize your pagefile. Setting a fixed size to your pagefile saves the operating system from the need to resize the pagefile.Right click on My Computer and select Properties
Select the Advanced tab
Under Performance choose the Settings button
Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
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.8. Remove Fonts for SpeedFonts, 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.Open Control Panel
Open Fonts folder
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.
9. Use a Flash Memory to Boost PerformanceTo improve performance, you need to install additional RAM memory. It'll let you boot your OS much quicker and run many applications and access data quicker. There is no easiest and more technically elegant way to do it than use eBoostr.eBoostr is a little program that lets you improve a performance of any computer, powered by Windows XP in much the same way as Vista's ReadyBoost. With eBoostr, if you have a flash drive, such as a USB flash thumb drive or an SD card, you can use it to make your computer run better. Simply plug in a flash drive through a USB socket and Windows XP will use eBoostr to utilize the flash memory to improve performance.The product shows the best results for frequently used applications and data, which becomes a great feature for people who are using office programs, graphics applications or developer tools. It'll surely attract a special attention of laptop owners as laptop upgrade is usually more complicated and laptop hard drives are by definition slower than those of desktops.10. Perform a Boot DefragmentThere's a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not be on yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently. To make sure that boot defragment is enabled:Run the Registry Editor
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftDfrgBootOptimizeFunction
Set the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y.
Exit the Registry
Reboot
Hope you find these 10 tips useful. Have a nice day! 2ff7e9595c
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