Here are a few useful tips I've found in various magazines and websites about optimising Windows XP and some are quite useful... take a look:
1.
Assign a Keyboard Shortcut
Find the application/shortcut icon of which you will assign a shortcut to. Right click on the icon and under the "Shortcut" tab for a Windows application or "Program" tab for a MS-DOS application. With the cursor in the Shortcut key box, select the keyboard key you want to use in combination with CTRL+ALT. Shortcut keys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcut you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus. Shortcutkeys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcut you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus.
2.
Securing the Paging File
If you're truly concerned about the possibility of your computer falling into the wrong hands, you should be sure that you don't leave any tracks in the paging file. By default, when you shut down your system, the paging file remains intact. People who have access to your computer could conceivably look through the unencrypted paging file to find information they shouldn't have.
You can foil such snooping by changing a registry entry. Use a registry editor to navigate to the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management key and set the value of CleraPageFileAtShutdown to 1. After you do that, Windows fills inactive pages in the paging file with zeros whenever you shut down. Because this could slow down your system, don't make this change unless your security needs demand it.
3.
Sending Faxes the Easy Way
Good news: you no longer need to spend money on a free-standing fax machine to send and receive faxes! You can now use the Microsoft Fax service to send and receive faxes using a fax/modem or a fax board installed in your computer, or via your corporate large area network (LAN). You can fax a document from any application, send a cover fax page, and track and monitor your fax activity. New wizards make configuring and sending faxes simple. To configure the Fax service:
- on the Start menu, click Control Panel, and then click Printers And Other Hardware.
- In the Printers and Other Hardware window, click the Printers And Faxes icon.
- In the Printers and Faxes window, click Set Up Faxing.
you'll need your Windows XP CD with this task
4.
Windows XP Quick Keys
Windows Key + E - Windows Explorer
Windows Key + F - Launch Find tool
Windows Key + M - Minimize all windows
Windows Key + R - Launch Run Tool
Windows Key + U - Launch the Utility Manager
Windows Key + Pause/Break - System Properties
Windows Key + D - Minimize all windows - Press again to Maximise all Windows
Windows Key + L - Quick Log Off
5.
Get more processing power
In the Run box, type "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks". This frees up any idle tasks running in the background so that Windows XP can devote its full attention to what you want it to do. For example playing graphic intensive games.
6.
Speed up menu display
When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly.
i. Start Regedit.
ii. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
iii. Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
iv. Right on it and select Modify.
v. Change the value to 0.
vi. Reboot your computer.
7.
Modify application timeout
The operating system has a set amount of time that a program must be frozen for before it is timed out. Often this number is set too high. But in some circumstances it is set too low. Depending on if the program is doing a lot of calculations in the background the computer may think that it is timed out. To prevent this increase the value of the timeout in the registry.
i. Start Regedit
ii. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
iii. Select HungAppTimeout from the list on the right.
iv. Right on it and select Modify.
v. Change the value to the new timeout value.
vi. Reboot your computer.
8.
Disable Indexing Services
Indexing services is a small program that hogs HUGE amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexing and updates lists of the files on your system, so you can search for them quickly, but it's completely unnecessary.
To disable it, go to the Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs. Click the Add/Remove Window Components. Simply unclick the Indexing services and click next.
9.
Increase speed by tweaking prefetcher settings
This is an unique technique for XP, which could improve the performance significantly by tweaking the prefetcher. Recommended hardware: PIII 800 or higher, 512M RAM or more.
i. Start Regedit
ii. go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher
iii. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended).
iv. reboot.
It will decrease the boot time but double and increase the performance of your XP.
10.
Speed up browsing with DNS cache
When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth, this is obvious. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that tcp/ip really deals with, not words. This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although WinXP and win2000 has a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size.
You can do this with the registry entries below:
************begin copy and paste***********
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Dnscache\Parameters]
"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001
"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180
"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00
"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d
************end copy and paste***********
Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. The copy and paste the above into it and save it. Then merge it into the registry.
11.
Unload .dll's to Free Memory
Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of time after the application using them has been closed. This can be an inefficient use of memory.
i. Find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer.
ii. Create a new DWORD sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory.
iii. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.
12.
Close multiple folders quickly
All versions of Windows: Hold down the Shift key as you click the Close box in the upper-right corner of the folder window. Doing so closes the current folder and any open folders above it in the folder hierarchy.
And.. the following are some other things you can do which I haven't mentioned (copied/typed) above:
13.
Configure Services
Start > Run and type services.msc . You will see a list of services and their status. For some services such as Messenger (this is not your MSN messenger) you can disable it altogether if you don't have a network. The following is a list I've found on a website and they recommand to set these services to manual for hard-core gamers:
Routing and Remote Access
Alerter
Application Layer Gateway Service** (only if firewall is not used)
Application Management
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
ClipBook
COM+ System Application
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Help and Support
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service** (only if do you not use the cd-rw xp record support)
IPSEC Services
Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service
MS Software Shadow Copy Provider
Net Logon
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Network Location Awareness (NLA)
NT LM Security Support Provider
Performance Logs and Alerts
Portable Media Serial Number
QoS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator
Remote Registry
Removable Storage
Server
Smart Card
Smart Card Helper
SSDP Discovery Service
System Restore Service
Telnet
Themes
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Volume Shadow Copy
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
Windows Installer
Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions
Wireless Zero Configuration
WMI Performance Adapter
Fast User Switching Compatibility ** (only if fast user switching is not used or the machine have one user only)
Protected Storage
Windows Time
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Task Scheduler
Secondary Logon
Print Spooler ** (only if the pc do not have or use a printer)
Indexing Service
Error Reporting Service
Computer Browser
Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
14.
msconfig
Start > Run and type msconfig. This is one of my favourites
You can disable/enable yuor services here or inspect their status. Also, under the startup tab, you can choose what to run on startup
If you have never run msconfig before, you might be surprised how many programs are actually running at startup which you don't know about. (I don't recommand you to disable your firewall and antivirus softwares here.. also, if you have other security-related softwares which are on the list, you probably don't want to disable them.. make sure you know what they are before you disable them, too)
*warning* if you are not familiar/confident with the registry, do not risk damaging it my changing it. Even if you are, I suggest you to creat a backup copy before you do so: In the registry window, click on File > Export and choose a location and file name to save your backup copy. I've tested most of the tips and tricks listed here and my computer is still alive, but if you feel that these are not reliable or you don't want risk damaging your system, please don't do any of them and I'm not responsible for any misuse or damage caused.
18 Nov 2006, 12:25 PM
