Increasing System Performance for WinXp

[kamrandahir]

A. Memory Tweaks

There are 3 tweaks you can make to change how XP uses memory.
Open Regedit and Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\

Disable Paging Executive:
XP pages data from RAM memory to the hard drive. We can stop this happening and keep more data in RAM, resulting in better performance. Users with a large amount of RAM (256MB+) should use this setting. The setting we change to disable the ?Paging Executive?, is DisablePagingExecutive. Changing the value of this key from 0 to 1 will de-activate memory paging.

System Cache Boost:
Changing the value of the key LargeSystemCache from 0 to 1 will tell XP to allocate all but 4MB of system memory to the file system cache, allowing the XP Kernel to run in memory. The 4MB of memory left is used for disk caching, if more is needed, XP allocates more. Generally, this tweak improves performance by a fair bit but can, in some intensive applications, degrade performance. As with the previous tweak, you should have at least 256MB of RAM before attempting to enable LargeSystemCache.

Input/Output Performance:
This improves performance of large file transfers. If this entry does not appear in the registry, you will have to create a REG_DWORD value called IoPageLockLimit. The data for this value is in number of bytes, and defaults to Zero which equates to 512KB on machines that have the value. Most people using this tweak have found maximum performance in the 8 to 16 megabyte range, so you will have to play around with the value to find the best performance. The value is measured in bytes, so if you want, 12MB allocated, it?s 12 * 1024 * 1024, or 12582912. As with all these memory tweaks, you should only use this if you have 256MB or more of RAM.

Use your hard drive less for Virtual Memory:
The Windows 98/ME "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" optimization does not work for XP.

B. Video Performance

If you experience slow screen redraws and you are running the latest drivers for your video card, try selecting a lower quality video resolution. In the Display icon of the Control Panel, select the Settings Tab. If the system is set for True color try lowering it to High Color (16-bit). Many LCDs cannot show a full 32-bit color pallet. You can also reduce the Desktop Area. Upgrade to a new video card if this does not help. Using the latest Microsoft DirectX drivers can increase game performance.

Reducing XP's screen effects will also speed up performance. Goto My computer, Properties, Advanced Tab, Performance Settings, Select adjust for best performance.

C. Removed Unused Programs, Protocols, and Fonts

Uninstall any Programs that you do not use. Also remove any Fonts that are not used. This will free up disk space and make the machine boot faster. You should also remove any temporary files located in the C:\TEMP, c:\windows\prefetch, or C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directories. Also remove any unused Network Protocols such as NetBEUI or IPX.

D. Unload DLLs

Windows does not unload dll files a program has used after it has been closed, to speed up a possible restart of the program.

Use Regedit to edit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer Add the DWORD value named: AlwaysUnloadDLL and set it to 1

E. Shortening Menu Delay

You can shorten the delay when menus open up by using Regedit to edit: HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop / MenuShowDelay By default, the value is 400, but changing it to a smaller value, such as 100, will speed it up.
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[y2j826]

windows xp has lot of features which take lot of memory especially if u have service pack II installed. type "services.msc" in run command and there you can disable lot of unusefull options which can help you to tweak your system performence.

 

[kush]

greta tips!

 

[Cowburn199]

Gotta remember to be extrememly carefull when your messing with your registry

 

[SaiSrini]

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

This site is the best site for optimizing your Windows XP and extracting the best out of it! And to increase the life of your PC and to make your PC a whole lot faster, get Disk Keeper (it's money though!). But Disk Keeper is so much valuable that its precious to buy it! The built in Windows Defragmentor does absolutely nothing in improving your system performance! Disk Keeper improves it by at least 95%

But even without Disk Keeper, you will notice some imrovement in your PC.

 

[ZexyZahid]

I already have done some of these improvements. But never heard of Diskeeper. Will try it out.

 

[SaiSrini]

I already have done some of these improvements. But never heard of Diskeeper. Will try it out.

Disk Keeper is a paid version of the built in Windows Defragmentor. You need to defragment your hard drive once every 2 to 3 weeks to keep it running in good shape and increase system performance. But the built in one doesnt do well.

Disk Keeper has Smart Scheduling options which will automatically schedule defragmenting jobs and does it in the background itself that once you do the first defragmenting job when you download Disk keeper the first time, you dont need to worry abt it for the rest of ur life!

 

[kush]

how about opening this thread for all tips and tweaks in order to keep Windows runnig smoothly?

 

[ZexyZahid]

Disk Keeper is a paid version of the built in Windows Defragmentor. You need to defragment your hard drive once every 2 to 3 weeks to keep it running in good shape and increase system performance. But the built in one doesnt do well.

Disk Keeper has Smart Scheduling options which will automatically schedule defragmenting jobs and does it in the background itself that once you do the first defragmenting job when you download Disk keeper the first time, you dont need to worry abt it for the rest of ur life!

I don't like the part where the software runs in the background. Because that costs itself memory. And I actually prefer to run disk fragmentation, when I want to. The one of Windows XP starts sometimes after a percentage completation again from the start. I guess it starts again, because of the background software that is working at the time. Normally I perform disk fragmentation in safe mode of Windows XP.

 

[SaiSrini]

I don't like the part where the software runs in the background. Because that costs itself memory. And I actually prefer to run disk fragmentation, when I want to. The one of Windows XP starts sometimes after a percentage completation again from the start. I guess it starts again, because of the background software that is working at the time. Normally I perform disk fragmentation in safe mode of Windows XP.

The amount of memory the background service takes is just 2mb! The main defrag program doesnt run in the background. Only the service runs in the background and keeps track of when the next schedule is. Once it reaches the next schedule time, the program automatically opens in the background, runs the defrag process and then automatically closes! And for a person with a RAM of 512mb or so, it doesnt give him an inch of a hint that the program is running in the background!

how about opening this thread for all tips and tweaks in order to keep Windows runnig smoothly?

That would be a good idea also! I love to collect such details on running my PC smoothly! Its so valuable because a new PC is too costly here in our place!

 

[siddharth2002]

The amount of memory the background service takes is just 2mb! The main defrag program doesnt run in the background. Only the service runs in the background and keeps track of when the next schedule is. Once it reaches the next schedule time, the program automatically opens in the background, runs the defrag process and then automatically closes! And for a person with a RAM of 512mb or so, it doesnt give him an inch of a hint that the program is running in the background!
That would be a good idea also! I love to collect such details on running my PC smoothly! Its so valuable because a new PC is too costly here in our place!

Actually anything running in background will slow down your PC regarless of RAM because other resourses also get utilised.
Some of the registry tips above are pretty good but in the longer experience one will find that Windows XP itself is quite fast OS and doesn't need further tweaking other than making some settings in the Folder options and some performance tweaks in System properties.
Remember one can install heaps of programs to do this and do that but the programs itself defeat the purpose of keeping a PC fast at the first place by using its resources.:cool:
I infact don't even use any anti-virus program becuase I want my full resources available to me when I play a game or surf through 10+ websites at one time while listening to music. If I accidentaly get a virus which I won't than I've got my HD image file and the whole Win XP can be restored in 5 minutes!!

 

[SaiSrini]

Actually anything running in background will slow down your PC regarless of RAM because other resourses also get utilised.
Some of the registry tips above are pretty good but in the longer experience one will find that Windows XP itself is quite fast OS and doesn't need further tweaking other than making some settings in the Folder options and some performance tweaks in System properties.
Remember one can install heaps of programs to do this and do that but the programs itself defeat the purpose of keeping a PC fast at the first place by using its resources.:cool:
I infact don't even use any anti-virus program becuase I want my full resources available to me when I play a game or surf through 10+ websites at one time while listening to music. If I accidentaly get a virus which I won't than I've got my HD image file and the whole Win XP can be restored in 5 minutes!!

It depends on how fast you perceive your system needs to be!

 

[siddharth2002]

It depends on how fast you perceive your system needs to be!

yeah thanks to some overclocking and sound cooling I've managed to run Doom3 at medium settings on my piece of old crap.:cool: