by 1 person |
Ways to speed up XP with tweaks and tricks
So you sit and wait, and wait, and wait for Windows XP to load. Well wait no more, because I have searched around the net and have created this Lens to alleviate your frustration with a number of xp tweaks and tricks listed below to speed up Windows XP.
Warning: Before you make any changes, always do the smart thing and perform a back up - and if you are not comfortable with making any of these changes then leave well alone or seek professional advise.
That being said, I personally am not an IT specialist and have made a number of these xp tweaks without experiencing any problems. Enjoy and may the speed be with you.
Warning: Before you make any changes, always do the smart thing and perform a back up - and if you are not comfortable with making any of these changes then leave well alone or seek professional advise.
That being said, I personally am not an IT specialist and have made a number of these xp tweaks without experiencing any problems. Enjoy and may the speed be with you.
New Table of Contents
- XP tweak 1 - Disable Indexing Services
- XP tweak 2 - Optimize Display Settings
- XP tweak 3 - Speedup Folder Browsing
- XP tweak 4 - Optimize Your Pagefile
- XP tweak 5 - Remove the Desktop Picture
- XP tweak 6 - Remove Fonts for Speed
- Great Windows XP Stuff on Amazon
- Great Stuff on eBay
- Your Feedback on XP Tweaks and Tricks
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XP tweak 1 - Disable Indexing Services
Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM 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, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:
- Go to Start
- Click Settings
- Click Control Panel
- Double-click Add/Remove Programs
- Click the Add/Remove Window Components
- Uncheck the Indexing services
- Click Next
Xp Repair Pro
Cnet Recently Rated Xp Repair Pro 'one Of The Top 10 Must Have Programs For Windows Users'.
XP tweak 2 - Optimize Display Settings
Windows XP can look good but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimize:
- Go to Start
- Click Settings
- Click Control Panel
- Click System
- Click Advanced tab
- In the Performance tab click Settings
- Leave only the following ticked:
- Show shadows under menus
- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons
XP tweak 3 - Speedup Folder 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 automatically searches for network files and printers every time you open Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:
- Open My Computer
- Click on Tools menu
- Click on Folder Options
- Click on the View tab
- Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
- Click Apply
- Click OK
- Reboot your computer
Xp Repair Pro
Cnet Recently Rated Xp Repair Pro 'one Of The Top 10 Must Have Programs For Windows Users'.
XP tweak 4 - Optimize Your Pagefile
If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.
- Right click on My Computer and select Properties
- Select the Advanced tab
- Under Performance choose the Settings button
- Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
- Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.
Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. 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.
XP tweak 5 - Remove the Desktop Picture
Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.
- Right click on Desktop and select Properties
- Select the Desktop tab
- In the Background window select None
- Click OK
XP tweak 6 - Remove Fonts for Speed
Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.
- Open Control Panel
- Open Fonts folder
- Move fonts you don't need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.
Xp Repair Pro
Cnet Recently Rated Xp Repair Pro 'one Of The Top 10 Must Have Programs For Windows Users'.
Great Windows XP Stuff on Amazon
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3 for System Builders - 1 pack
Amazon Price: $89.99 (as of 12/28/2009) 
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 32-bit for System Builders - 1 pack
Amazon Price: $139.99 (as of 12/28/2009)
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Full Version with SP2
Amazon Price: $267.49 (as of 12/28/2009)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition FULL VERSION with SP2
Amazon Price: (as of 12/28/2009)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 12/28/2009)
Great Stuff on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Your Feedback on XP Tweaks and Tricks
Can you suggest a tweak or trick to speed up Windows XP? Did you use the xp tweaks shown on this lens? Did they speed up your Windows?
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- Mike_ha Mike_ha Apr 30, 2009 @ 12:44 am
- Thanks for the tips. Anything that speeds XP up is aces with me.
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