Squeeze out MORE on your XP setup? You can!

[System64]

Note: Before you start tweaking your system, do back up all your data and stuffs, and set a manual restore point in System Restore. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Restore and set it there. At least there is a before picture to fall back on.I will not] be liable for anything that happens .
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What can you do do to improve performance without buying more ram? Or getting the most performance out of your 4GB ram setup for your XP? Read on this guide!

Turn off unnecessary Windows XP services
In the background there are unneeded XP services that are constantly sucking up resources . Turning them off will free up resources.

(google for "unnecessary Windows XP services" for a wealth of information regarding this section. )

JasoN.com's list of services that are uneeded.

Windows Networking list of uneeded services.
http://www.blackviper.com/(Thanks to sanpabloguy!)

http://www.sanx.org/tipShow.asp?index=181 (A pretty sweet guide to tweak around for max performance.)

Using the least resource-sucking programs for Windows.
Programs are getting larger and larger with each incarnation, it’s footprint in the hard disk, memory etc. But fear not, there are alternative programs that have the same basic functionality but using less memory. For example, Norton Internet security can be replaced by AVG and Windows Firewall. And Windows Live messenger can be replaced by ebuddy web messenger at ebuddy.com. So if a program you installed seems to be making your computer slow down, time to look for an alternative.

Turning off more stuffs.

[B](OPTIONAL) Turn off System Restore[/b]. (Tip: Unless your computer's taking a major performance hit, do not turn off System restore as it will be useful when doing a recovery back to a stable snapshot. Or reduce the space that System restore occupies so that XP will do less snapshots.).

Unless your computer crashes once an hour (in fact that calls for a replacement), you do not need System Restore to eat up resources making restore points, and saving some hard disk space. Doing a regular backup

Look at your System tray and see how many icons you have there. Each icon represents a program using your memory. Click on each and ask yourself wether you need it. If it is merely a shortcut that gives you another way to open up a window, you can do without it. Right click and select exit on the application. This way you can trim down on the unnecessary tray programs loading on startup.

Accelerate your Windows startup process. I use Startup Inspector for Windows over msconfig because it has a neat consult service which allows you to know what that startup item is about.

There are 5 startup levels there in brief
- Unknown : The database do not have information on the item. If you can figure out what it does on startup, you can make a decision.

-Not Recommended: I haven't encountered any Not Recommended items yet, but my guess is it is not recommened to remove from the startup process.

-Not required : That item is not required for bootup.

-User's choice : Your choice. You want or you don't want.

-System required : It is recommended to leave this item checked.

Bootvis is a performance trace visualization tool for use with Windows XP systems. According to the developers, it will enable XP to
- Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds
· Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds
· Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds
(Thanks to DrewN)
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Shortcuts galore on the desktop. I admit they do provide an easy way for quick access to anything, but they do take up a bit of time for the OS to load. Unless you need that shortcut for the most frequently accessed documents/programs, you can do without it and speed up your system boot up and response.

Themes and skins. Pretty interfaces to jazz up your Windows experience. From the Luna theme in XP to Stardock's skinning utility, there are alot of choices to customise the look and feel of your environment. but they take up some precious memory. Anyway if you can do without all the jazz up from the skins, it should provide a slight boost in speed (think sleeper cars). If possible, switch to the classic theme, and turn off all the

*Note: If you have disabled Themes in the services earlier, you will already be in the classic theme.

Going to the system properties and kick it "hey fast" mode.Go to Control Panel/System Properties/Advanced/Performance and select "adjust for best performance". say hi to a slightly more responsive desktop!

*Note : After switching to "adjust for best performance mode", your fonts will look ugly and pixellated. This is because Cleartype will be disabled to speed up the system. I'd recommend turning it back on as Cleartype will improve the readbiltiy of your fonts and will not impact the system. In control panel, go to Display/Appearance/Effects and enable Cleartype.

You can read more of it in wikipedia article for Cleartype

[OPTIONAL] Get more speed?

XP have been around for roughly 5 years, and most systems running it are between the era of Pentium II/III /Athlon to Core2 /Athlon FX.

If your XP setup is still running slow even after those tweaks, check the specifications of your computer and ask yourself/ google/ consult friends etc wether if the component is more or less antique (say, Pentium III /Athlon XP 733 mhz, 256mb ram, 20gb hard disk, 16mb s3 graphics.). You might want to switch to a new computer instead as upgrading the components will be a hassle.

If your XP setup is resonably modern, (say Pentium 4 HT, Athlon 64 ,512mb ram, 120gb SATA hdd, Nvidia graphics) there is a potential to squeeze out even more after those tweaks.

Examples.
-Upgrade CPU to the max speed the socket of your motherboard can support
-Upgrade to a bigger Hard drive to 10,000rpm with SATA (motherboard dependent)
-Upgrade to the fastest graphics card
-Upgrade your RAM/ Add more RAM
-Overclocking (Be VERY CAREFUL. Unless you know what you are doing, do not attempt this. One wrong overclocking may fry your system)

(thanks to madroxinide)

64bit VS 32bit?
Using a 64bit OS will help in boosting the speed slightly. although in most cases you won't really notice much of a difference unless you are using a native 64bit program.

Currently there are 2 64bit OS for consumers from Microsoft, XP professional x64 and Vista (all editions except starter) x64.With the release of Windows Vista, the lack of driver support from XP x64 has improved. And most modern processors now supports 64bit. If you happen to have a x64 system with the x86 Windows, give x64 XP /Vista a try!

Feel free to drop by and give tips on how to further boost XP's speed! There are more ways then in this guide to speed up your system as there are infinte possible configurations for your computer. Also the NBR forums is a good place to consult and search for tips!

Enjoy.


Further Tweaks hidden in this forum
Bootleg2go's "How to Optmize a Notebook Computer" (Thanks to LFC)
Windows XP Installation Guide (Thanks to E.B.E)
and more coming.

(Author's note : it's my first time writing something like this, please give me advice. im a noobie at writing such stuffs Hope you've enjoyed the guide.)

Updated May 11th 2007, May 13th 2007

[madroxinide]

Decent guide, I like it, but at the end you should mention that the best speed tweak/upgrade one can do is get the most Ram their motherboard can hold.

[ttupa]

Nice job on the guide. I know for a fact there is one on this forum from a long time ago. However, sometimes it's good to take a fresh look.

[Evolution]

Great guide, I already have most of those tweaks in place as I am all about efficiency and low memory usage ! As I often tell people "I am running the show here not windoze !"

Personally IMHO system restore should never be disabled, it has saved me so many times in the past now I have lost count. I always like tweaking windows and drivers and what not and sometimes system restore is all I have between getting my system back to the way it was before it became unstable and having to reload windows all together (which takes far more time than restoring from a restore point). I have never noticed any slow downs with system restore on versus it being off (yes I tested all these things through the years) therefore I never recommend turning it off. So my advice don't turn system restore off just turn it down from the default space it uses which is 12% of the drive, to something like 5-6% and you should be fine...

[DrewN]

Great guide. Don't forget about Bootvis! It is the one program that will most significantly speed up your boot times.

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Great Guide & Links ... Especially for computer noobs.

BUT .. I do not recommend turning off System Restore, A very simple problem can be fixed using System Restore that would take much more time or become a headache fixing it any other way.

[Elminst]

I second the recommendation of BootVis. Good for optimizing your boot-up resource allocation and speed.

I also concur on NOT turning off system restore. The benefit of being able to restore instead of reinstall greatly outweighs the extra hard drive space. It has also saved me on multiple occasions.
But you definitely want to reduce how much space it uses. 12% is a huge waste of hard drive. I usually go down to under 5%, or around 2-3 Gig used.

[sanpabloguy]

Good guide and good idea to mention it from time to time. Rep for that. A couple of things you might add:

1. As folks above have said, do not turn off system restore. It can save your bacon and is quicker than doing a clean install or restoring from a backup set - especially if drivers get hosed. You can reduce the amount of space restore points take up in the Properties tab.

2. A lot of things can be done quickly by going to System Propeties | Advanced | Performance. Click the settings button. You'll have several options (adjust for performance [looks pretty much like Win98], adjust for appearance, or you can pick and choose from the list). Setting it to "adjust for performance" actually speeds things up quite a bit.

3. Another good source for services that may or may not be necessary (for WinXP service pack 2) is Black Viper's Site.

[R4000]

I'd agree on everything with the exception of leaving System Restore enabled. I can't speak for anyone else, but XP's System Restore has failed as an option on all but one occassion when I tried to use it in the last 5 years. Either there was no reasonably current restore point to go back to, or the target was unusable (for whatever reason). I have not had much luck with it, so I now always turn it off.

If I ever run into any serious problems due to file corruption and/or malware, I just end up reformatting now. I do, however, make monthly file backups (so all is not lost).

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Originally Posted by R4000

I'd agree on everything with the exception of leaving System Restore enabled. I can't speak for anyone else, but XP's System Restore has failed as an option on all but one occassion when I tried to use it in the last 5 years. Either there was no reasonably current restore point to go back to, or the target was unusable (for whatever reason). I have not had much luck with it, so I now always turn it off.

If I ever run into any serious problems due to file corruption and/or malware, I just end up reformatting now. I do, however, make monthly file backups (so all is not lost).

When installing some thing huge or making any Major change to my system. I manually create a restore point.

If I get hit with Malware or any other seroius problem. I system restore, then I turn off system restore, delete all the system restore files (which will still have the malware or problem) , and last I turn system restore back on and manualy create a new restore point.

Of course system restore can't fix everything, so I too make backups.