This tutorial is meant for increasing the performance of Windows XP, either it can be a fresh installation or an older one.
1. Following is a registry file containing a few registry modifications, which are completely safe and can increase the performance of Windows. Just download the attached ZIP file, extract it and then run the file:
Restore Default Settings (Use this file if you want to restore default Windows settings)
2. Right-click on Desktop and select Properties, Now in the new window goto Appearance tab and click on Effects button. Now in the new opened window uncheck the following options:
- Use the following transition effect for menus & tooltips.
- Show shadows under menus.
3. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Properties (or press <WIN> key + <Pause/Break> key), now goto Advanced tab in new window and click on Settings button in Performance section.
Now disable all unnecessary options in Visual Effects tab, you can remain following options enabled according to your requirements:
- Show window contents while dragging.
- Smooth edges of screen fonts.
- Use common tasks in folders (If you use the left side pane in My computer)
- Use drop shadows on icon labels on the desktop. (to make the desktop icons label transparent.)
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons. (If you use XP themes.)
4. Open Windows Explorer and click on Tools -> Folder Options. Now go to View tab:
Now uncheck following options:
- Automatically search for network folders & printers.
- Display file size information in folder tips.
- Display simple folder view in Explorer's Folders list.
- Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.
- Show pop-up description for folder and desktop icons.
- Use simple file sharing.
Other options don't affect the system performance. You can enable/disable them according to your requirements.
5. Right-click on My Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage (You can also open it by typing services.msc in RUN and press Enter). Now goto Services & Applications -> Services. Here you can set a few unnecessary services to Manual, which will not start with windows and will decrease the boot time and will increase system performance. Please follow the following tutorial to know about which services can be safely set to MANUAL:
Windows XP Services Configuration: Turn Off / Disable Unnecessary Services to Optimize Performance
6. Type msconfig in RUN and press Enter. Now goto Startup tab and deselect the unnecessary entries, which you don't want to start automatically with Windows, e.g. you can disable VGA driver utility, Sound Card utility, etc to speed up the startup time and to increase system performance.
7. Open Sound & Audio Devices in Control Panel (or type mmsys.cpl in RUN), goto Sounds tab and select No Sounds in Sound Scheme section. Or you can remain some of your favorite sounds but set Exit Windows, Start Windows, Windows Logoff, Windows Logon to (None).
8. Also don't forget to:
- Defrag the hard disk regularly
- Install only necessary software
- Use the latest device drivers
- Keep your Windows up-to-date
After following all the above mentioned points, you'll definitely notice major improvements in your Windows XP performance.
This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows XP.
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Beeray
Hi ! Vg,
U was right, I took that Rising Pc Doctor out.. and no more "redirect issue"
Another thing...Do you any suggestion on the following.." I am sometime having this message about unresponsive / busy script when I am watching a movie online or when I am on internet for a certain amount of time."
Do you have any idea on what causes that?
VG
^^ Are you using IE? Try some other browser and check whether the problem still persists?
Aristocrat
Hi dude,
all ur stuff is cool as mentioned ,bt i want some help other than this, hope u may help me!
My pendrive cannot be accessed via my pc ,it says access denied . I have tried all d stuff advance users do ,bt for no gud, i had d write protect registry key removd ,which i thot to be d problem ,bt it didnt do any good ,since mine is a network based domain pc ,is it d storage policies of the admin which is restricting me ? bt even though im also d admin with full control ,so cant i disable the policy applied to my pc ?(came to this policy conclusion via googling) .i even used cacls command and even replaced the usbstor.sys files and oder usb files bt didnt prove any gud ,and every effort seems to say d same thing "ACCESS DENIED" . I posted this issue in many forums bt none of them helped ,so i tried urs ,hope u cud help me ,coz i dont wnt to go to reloading my OS!
Thanx in advance!!
VG
^^ Did you check for "autorun.inf" and "desktop.ini" files present in the root of drive? Make sure you enable "show hidden files" option and disable "Hide protected system files" option in Folder Options.
If you find any such file, delete it. Then remove the drive from system and re-attach it.
btiii
On my XP SP3 '02 version, there is no 'right-click on Desktop and select properties' this is either vague or doesn't fit my system. Can you show me how to do this?
VG
^^ It might be disabled. Check following topic:
http://www.askvg.com/all-kinds-of-restrictions-for-windows-2000-xp-2003-and-vista/
Arpit
Nice ! seperb mind yar. Keep going.
Assasin
HEY,
This may work on systems which have Small viruses but my system is infected with a mega superkiller ugly virus pls mail me how to remove it withowt formatting
RAC
I love this... Thanxxx.
Uewd
Why gpedit.msc is not available in xp home?