Embedded Files
XP -6: Clean Your System Registry
The fastest and easiest way to speed-up your computer is
to allow a software program to do it for you! Although you will find
that all of the adjustments in this book will speed up your system,
the most effective and easiest way to give your computer blazing
speed is to clean up your system Registry.
Your computer is like your car: it needs periodic maintenance to
keep it running at optimum performance. Installing and un-installing
programs, surfing the Internet, emailing, and other everyday
activities create a sort of sludge that builds up in your computer
over time, much like an automobile engine. After a while, it doesn't
start-up like when it was new, it stalls unexpectedly, and performance
is sluggish on the (information) highway.
Run a free Registry Scan. You will find out how many errors you computer is hiding from you. Your computer will likely have hundreds of Registry errors that are dramatically slowing down the potential speed and performance
XP -7: Run Disk Clean-Up
Both Windows and application programs tend to leave temporary
files lying around on your hard drive, taking up space. A hard drive
that is close to being full can cause Windows to slow down or
interfere with efficient disk access and virtual memory operations.
If you surf the web a lot, your temporary internet files folder can
become quite large, causing Internet Explorer to slow down or
malfunction. Cleaning up unneeded files, scanning for disk errors
and defragmenting the hard drive can help to restore some zip to
your system. Try to run once a month for peak performance.
1. Double-click the My Computer icon.
2. Right-click on the C: drive
3. Select Properties
4. Click the Disk Cleanup button (to the bottom right of the Capacity pie graph)
5. Select / check Temporary Internet Files and Recycle Bin
6. Click OK
XP -8: Enable Direct Memory
Access (DMA)
1. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties
2. Select the Hardware tab
3. Click the Device Manager button
4. Double-click IDE/ATAPI controllers
5. Double-click on the Primary IDE Channel
6. Click on the Advanced Settings tab. The
tab may or may not be available for each option. It is only
available in Primary and Secondary Channels.
7. Set the Transfer Mode to "DMA if Available" both for Device 1 and 0
8. Click OK
9. Perform the same operation for other items in the list, if applicable.
XP -9: Disable File Indexing
Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts
of memory and can often make a computer endlessly loud and
noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files
that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search
for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the
index lists. If you don't search your computer often, this system
service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:
1. Click Start button
2. Select the Control Panel
3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
4. Click the Add/Remove Window Components icon on the left
side of the window
5. This may take a few seconds to load. Be patient.
6. Look for the Indexing Services component in the list
7. Uncheck the Indexing Services
8. Click Next
9. Click Finish
XP -10: Remove Un-Used Programs & Files
You may have a bunch of software packages on your hard drive that
are no longer needed, or they were gratuitously installed when you
downloaded some other package. Toolbars, file-sharing
programs, free email enhancers, online shopping "companions"
and download managers are notorious for this practice. These
uninvited guests can put a big drag on your start-up time, cause web
pages to load slowly, and generally bog down your computer.
1. Click Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs icon
4. See what programs are installed that you don't typically use
5. Select the Remove button for the ones you know you don't need
If you're unsure about some programs, do a web search to learn
about the ones that you need to keep.
XP -1: Disable Extra Start-up Programs
There are certain programs that Windows will start every time you boot up your system, and during the start-up phase,
they're all competing for a slice of your CPU speed. Extra or unwanted items in the start-up list will definitely increase your start-up time, perhaps by several minutes. Some common examples are things related to AOL, RealPlayer, Napster, instant messengers, and video managers. If you're not sure about an item, no big deal. You can turn it off, restart your PC, and see if everything seems to work. If not, you can always go back and re-enable an item in the Start-up list. This tip alone should speed up your start-up by 250%.
1. Click on Start button, Click Run
2. Type msconfig,
3. Hit enter key or click the OK button
4. The System Configuration Utility window will show up
5. Click the Start-up tab
6. In the Start-up tab you will see several boxes and some of them will selected (checked).
All you have to do is to uncheck extra items that are of no use. If you run an antivirus program it is not recommended to uncheck it.
7. After making you choices press the OK button, you will be prompted to restart computer to apply changes.
8. After restarting your computer a dialogue will be displayed. You can check the option for not showing this dialogue every time your PC reboots.
XP -2: Remove Spyware, Adware, and Malware
Have you
scanned your system for spyware, adware and other unwanted pests?
1 of 6 computers has some sort of Spyware or Malware! They dramatically slow down your computer because they use resources to generate popup ads, send spam, and often
interfere with the operation of good programs. there are some good anti spyware and malware programs out there but be weary. Using standalone programs are much far better than using all in one programs.
XP -3: Optimize Display Settings
Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources.
To optimize:
1. Click the
Start button
2. Select Control Panel
3. Double-click the System icon
4. Click the Advanced tab
5. In the Performance box click Settings
6. Leave only the following ticked:
a. Show shadows under menus
b. Show shadows under mouse pointer
c. Show translucent selection rectangle
d. Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
e. Use visual styles on windows and buttons
7. Finally, click Apply and OK
XP -4: Speed-Up File Browsing
You may have noticed that every time you open My Computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers
every time you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing speed significantly:
1. Double-click on My Computer.
2. Click the Tools Menu.
3. Select Folders options.
4. Click on the View Tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box.
6. Click Apply. Click OK.
7. Reboot your Computer.
XP -5: Reduce Page File Size
Page file size is not constant by default. Due to this, the operating system has to resize the file each time more space is required. This is a performance overhead. All you have to do is to set the file size to a reasonable limit. Follow the steps:
1. Right-click My Computer, Select Properties
2. Click the Advanced tab
3. Click the Settings button under the Performance section
4. Click the Advanced tab
5. Under the Virtual Memory section click the Change button
6. "Virtual Memory "dialogue box will appear.
7. Highlight the C: drive containing page file
8. Select the Custom Size radio button and give same values
in Initial size and Maximum size fields: 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.
9. Click Set, then OK buttons to apply the changes
Google Sites
Report abuse