shadenights

Here is a WAY to get XP go faster :


Code:

There are quite a few services you can disable from starting
automatically.
This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources.
They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read the description
of each one when you run Services
and that you turn them off one at a time.

Some possibilities are:
Alerter
Application Management
Clipbook
Fast UserSwitching
Human Interface Devices
Indexing Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeeting
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routing & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client



Cleaning the Prefetch Directory :

WindowsXP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut
to recently used programs.
However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.

To clean this periodically go to:

Star / Run / Prefetch
Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the shorcuts
Delete them

Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages

To turn these off:

Start Regedit
Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\policies\system

If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named
DisableStatusMessages
Give it a value of 1

Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages

To turn these off:

Start Regedit
Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\policies\system

If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named
DisableStatusMessages
Give it a value of 1



Clearing the Page File on Shutdown :

Click on the Start button
Go to the Control Panel
Administrative Tools
Local Security Policy
Local Policies
Click on Security Options
Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory
Pagefile"
Select "Enable"
Reboot

For regedit users.....
If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session
Manager\Memory Management\ClearPageFileAtShutdown
Set the value to 1



No GUI Boot :


If you don't need to see the XP boot logo,

Run MSCONFIG
Click on the BOOT.INI tab
Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT



Speeding the Startup of Some CD Burner Programs :


If you use program other than the native WindowsXP CD Burner
software,
you might be able to increase the speed that it loads.

Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
For the Startup Type, select Disabled
Click on the OK button and then close the Services window
If you dont You should notice




Getting Rid of Unread Email Messages :


To remove the Unread Email message by user's login names:

Start Regedit
For a single user: Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\UnreadMail

For all users: Go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\UnreadMail

Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays
Give it a value of 0



Decreasing Boot Time :


Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the
time it takes to boot to WindowsXP
The program is called BootVis

Uncompress the file.
Run BOOTVIS.EXE
For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs
of your system startup.
Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the
red vertical line)
Then run Trace / Optimize System
Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays
Note how much the time has decreased
Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.




Increasing Graphics Performance :


By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc
to menu items.
Most simply slow down their display.

To turn these off selectively:

Right click on the My Computer icon
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced tab
Under Performance, click on the Settings button
To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under
mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging




Increasing System Performance :



If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system
performance
by having the core system kept in memory.

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session
Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1
Reboot the computer



Increasing File System Caching :


To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O
operations:

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session
Manager\Memory Management
Edit the key IoPageLockLimit


ENJOY THE XP FASTER:

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