XP tips and tweaks guide.

[jisaac]

Tweaking XP for performance

These tweaks are from both my own knowledge, and from numerous sources on the internet. A noticable performance boost should be apparent.

ANYONE WHO DOES THE FOLLOWING WILL BE GIVEN A REP
I'm looking for people who haven't already used this guide to perform some benchmarks for me, to show what sort of performance increase can be acquired through using these tweaks . Follow this method:
1)
Download and install passmark from http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm
2)
Run the full performance test and record/ take a screenshot of your results. (either just the end result or individual results aswell would be helpful).
3)
Perform all these tweaks (if you miss out a few make sure to post them).
4)
Redo step 2.
5)
PM me / post the results on this thread. I will include a table in my original post to show different user's results.
As passmark is a purely hardware based benchmark program, and cannot measure OS efficiency, or application/ general usage performance, massive increases in your passmark score are not expected. You should however feel a big difference when using XP.

TWEAKS

Optimize visual affects:
For those who want the XP graphical user interface but with max performance.
Control Panel >>System >> Advanced >> Visual Affects
Deselect everything except 'Use Visual Styles on windows and buttons.'

Disable Error Reporting
Purpose: Free up system/network resources. This “feature” calls home to Microsoft and sends info about system errors. It rarely serves a puirpose for the average user. You may also want to disable error reporting for privacy concerns.
Press the Windows & Pause Break keys > click on the Advanced tab > Click on the Error Reporting button on the bottom of the window > check the box that says Disable Error Reporting > uncheck the box that says But notify me when critical errors occur. click OK to close the window.

Don't Hide Inactive Icons.
Right click start button > click on properties > click on the Taskbar tab > uncheck the box that says “Hide inactive icons” > If you don't like the fact that XP puts all the same type of open windows into one group in the taskbar, uncheck "Group similar taskbar buttons" > click OK to exit out of these screens.

Turn Off Remote Assistance.
Purpose: Security. Free up system resources. The Remote Assistance feature in Windows XP lets you share control of your computer with someone else over a network or the Internet. For the average user this feature is unnecesary.
Press the Windows & Pause Break keys > Click on the Remote tab. Uncheck both check boxes and click Apply and then OK .

Disable user tracking:
The user tracking system built into Windows XP is useless to 99% of users (there are very few uses for the information collected other than for a very nosy system admin), and it uses up precious resources to boot, so it makes sense to disable this "feature" of Windows XP.
To do so-
start >> run >> type regedit and hit enter.
browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer and find the DWORD "NoInstrumentation". You may need to create this key if it is not there. The default setting is 0, but setting it to 1 will disable most of the user tracking features of the system.

Update your service pack:
If you're not using XP SP3, download and install from:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows...ce-pack-3.html
(remember if you're using an amd processor, install the hotfix first from:
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows...x0000007E.html)

Disable balloon tips
These are little information pop ups that you get from time to time by Windows user interface from your system tray. Some of them initially look to be very useful, but soon some people get irritated with them. Besides being a cause of irritation, they are also a drain on precious resources of your Windows.
* Click Start > Run
* Type GPEDIT.MSC > Press enter.
* Go to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu & Taskbar
* Double-click on Remove Balloon Tips on Start Menu Items and choose Enabled.
* Click OK.

Disable indexing:
Indexing services is a small program that hogs HUGE amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexing and updates lists of the files on your system, so you can search for them quickly, but it's completley unnessesary.
Control Panel >>Double-click Add/Remove Programs >>Click the Add/Remove Window Components >>Uncheck the Indexing services >>Click Next

Stop search for network folders/ printers:
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.

Disable Performance Counters:
Performance counters are the tools used by Windows to monitor and track the errors and bottlenecks in the speed and performance of Windows. But they are too technical in nature and are difficult to be used by a common Windows user. They keep on gathering their data from Windows in the background but in the process gobble up precious system resources.
Download and install the performance counter list from:
http://vasiliosfreeware.blogspot.com...-list-for.html
Navigate to:
C:\Program Files\Resource Kit and click on the app.
Select each performance counter in turn, and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox.

Clean up disk space and defrag:
Download Ccleaner and Deffragler from:
http://www.filehippo.com/software/cleaning/
Install and run each app in turn – make sure to scan for and fix registry issues in ccleaner, aswell as running the cleaner itself. In the 'cleaner' section of ccleaner, I normally check everything except 'autocomplete form history'.

Optimise your internet connection:
Install and run TCP/IP Optimizer >>Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps) >>Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet >> Check Optimal Settings then Apply
If you do not know your connection speed check at: http://resources.zdnet.co.uk/speedtest/

Optimise your pagefile:
Stops windows automatically resizing pagefile. Reduces fragmentation.
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.

Speed up XP boot:
BootVis can defragment the files accessed during boot to improve startup performance.
Download and Run Bootvis
Select Trace
Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system’s boot process. When it’s done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
Reboot.
When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete

Disable Unnecessary Services:
For the general user, the following services are unnecessary. If you are unsure about whether a service is needed by you or not, search for it @ http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
Start>> Run>> services.msc
Click on each of the following services and change the startup type to disabled.
Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Fast User Switching
Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Remote Registry Service
Secondary Logon
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n’ Pray will disable this)
Telnet
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Upload Manager
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Windows Time
Workstation

Disable unnecessary boot screen, and remove programs from startup:
Start>> Run>> msconfig
On the Boot.ini tab select 'no gui boot'
On the startup tab untick everything (unless you really want something to load on startup)

Turn Off System Restore:
(If you really think you'll need it, leave it enabled)
1. Open Control Panel
2. Click on Performance and Maintenance
3. Click on System
4. Click on the System Restore tab
5. Tick ‘Turn off System Restore on All Drives’
6. Click ‘Ok’

Defragment Your Pagefile
Keeping your pagefile defragmented can provide a major performance boost. One of the best ways of doing this is to creat a separate partition on your hard drive just for your page file, so that it doesn’t get impacted by normal disk usage. Another way of keeping your pagefile defragmented is to run PageDefrag. This cool little app can be used to defrag your pagefile, and can also be set to defrag the pagefile everytime your PC starts. This only needs to be done once if you've used the 'Optimise your pagefile' tweak listed above. To install:
1.Download (from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb897426.aspx) and Run PageDefrag
2.Tick “Defrag at next Reboot”,
3.Click “Ok”
4.Reboot

Disable System Sounds
Surprisingly, the beeps that your computer makes for various system sounds can slow it down, particularly at startup and shut-down. To fix this turn off the system sounds:
1. Open Control Panel
2. Click Sounds and Audio Devices
3. Check Place volume icon in taskbar
4. Click Sounds Tab
5. Choose “No Sounds” for the Sound Scheme
6. Click “No”
7. Click “Apply”
8. Click “OK”

Improve Swapfile Performance
If you have more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably improve your performance. It basically makes sure that your PC uses every last drop of memory (faster than swap file) before it starts using the swap file.
1.Go to Start then Run
2.Type “msconfig.exe” then ok
3.Click on the System.ini tab
4.Expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign
5.Click on new then in the blank box type”ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1″
6.Click OK
7.Restart PC

Make Your Menus Load Faster
This is one of my favourite tweaks as it makes a huge difference to how fast your machine will ‘feel’. What this tweak does is remove the slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.
1.Go to Start then Run
2.Type ‘Regedit’ then click ‘Ok’
3.Find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop”
4.Select “MenuShowDelay”
5.Right click and select “Modify’
6.Reduce the number to around “100″

Improve XP Shutdown Speed
This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.
1.Go to Start then select Run
2.Type ‘Regedit’ and click ok
3.Find ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop’Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
4.Right click and select ‘Modify’
5.Change the value to ‘1000′
6.Click ‘OK’
7.Now select ‘HungAppTimeout’
8.Right click and select ‘Modify’
9.Change the value to ‘1000′
10.Click ‘OK’
11.Now find ‘HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop’
12.Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
13.Right click and select ‘Modify’
14.Change the value to ‘1000′
15.Click ‘OK’
16.Now find ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contr ol’
17.Select ‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout’
18.Right click and select ‘Modify’
19.Change the value to ‘1000′
20.Click ‘OK’

Turn on write-caching:
Ticking this setting can improve hard drive I/O performance by enabling the use of the hard drive write-back cache.
Control Panel >>Sytem >>Hardware >>Device Manager >>Expand 'disk drives' >> Double click on your hd >> On the 'policies' tab select 'enable write caching on the disk.'

Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system.
If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

Update drivers:
Make sure the drivers for your motherboard, and graphics card are up to date – this can really improve performance. Here I'll even provide the links for your gfx drivers:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.HTML

Turn off disk performance monitors
In Windows 2000 and XP Performance Monitor disk counters for physical disks are turned on by default, disk counters for logical disks are turned off by default.
Start >> Run >> type 'DISKPERF -N' and hit enter

Autologin:
Extremely recommended if you are the sole user of computer, and where data security isn't a must. This can speed up boot quite a bit.
1.Click Start, and then click Run.
2.In the Open box, type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.

Note When users try to display help information in the User Accounts window in Windows XP Home Edition, the help information is not displayed. Additionally, users receive the following error message:
Cannot find the Drive:\Windows\System32\users.hlp Help file. Check to see that the file exists on your hard disk drive. If it does not exist, you must reinstall it.
3.Clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" check box, and then click Apply.
4.In the Automatically Log On window, type the password in the Password box, and then retype the password in the Confirm Password box.
5.Click OK to close the Automatically Log On window, and then click OK to close the User Accounts window.

Optimise NTFS:
NTFS is a great filesystem, but its feature-set comes at a slight cost in performance. You can negate this a little with the following tips:
For the following to open regedit: start >> run >> type regedit and hit enter.

Stop XP automatically updating timestamps.
By default NTFS will automatically updates timestamps whenever a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes.

Disable it by pointing regedit to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\FileSystem and set 'NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate' to 1.

If the value doesn't exist, you'll need to add it. Select New | DWORD Value from the Edit menu. The new value will appear in the right pane, prompting you for a value name. Type NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and press [Enter]. Double-click the new value. You'll then see the Edit DWORD Value screen. Enter 1 in the Value Data field and click OK. When you're done, close Regedit.

Stop MFT becoming fragmented.
NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented. In the same key where you disabled the last access feature create a new DWORD value called 'NtfsMftZoneReservation' and set it to 2.

Stop XP storing filenames in the old compatibility.
Open regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Filesystem

In the right pane, look for the value named NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation. If the value exists, it's probably set to 0. To change the value, double-click it. In the Edit DWORD Value screen, enter 1 in the Value Data field and click OK.

If the value doesn't exist, you'll need to add it. Select New | DWORD Value from the Edit menu. The new value will appear in the right pane, prompting you for a value name. Type NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation and press [Enter]. Double-click the new value. You'll then see the Edit DWORD Value screen. Enter 1 in the Value Data field and click OK. When you're done, close Regedit.

No more low disk space messages
go into registry with REGEDIT.EXE, go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\Explorer\
and (if not already there) add DWORD (without quotes) "NoLowDiskSpaceChecks" and change the value to 1. Restart.

Memory Performance Tweak
These Settings will fine tune your systems memory
management -at least 512MB of ram recommended
go to start\run\regedit -and then to the following key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management
1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows*XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive yeilds faster performance.
2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernel to Run in memory improves system performance*alot
Reboot and watch your system fly ..happy tweakin
Note: This tweak may cause problems with ATI cards *this is documented by ATI(tweak forum Admin)

Disable compression:
Computer >> Right click your system drive >> Select properties >> Untick “compress files to save disk space”

Increase speed by tweaking prefetcher settings
This is an unique technique for XP, which could improve the performance significantly by tweaking the prefetcher (which is a cache folder). It should decrease the boot time and the time it takes to load programs.
1. run "regedit";
2. goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher];
3. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended).
4. reboot.

Disable automatic updates:
What it does: Stops Microsoft messing with your computer at inconvenient times. You can re-enable this when _you_ feel like an update.
Go to: Start
Right click: My Computer.
Select: Properties > 'Automatic Updates' tab.
Select: Turn off automatic updates.
Click: Apply.

Don't have XP clear your paging file at shutdown.
For security reasons, you can have XP clear your paging file (pagefile.sys) of its contents whenever you shut down. Your paging file is used to store temporary files and data, but if extreme security isn't a high priority, you might not want to clear it. To shut down XP without clearing your paging file, run the Registry Editor (click Start > Run, then type regedit in the Run box) and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management
Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0. Close the Registry, and restart your computer. Whenever you turn off XP from now on, the paging file won't be cleared, and you should be able to shut down more quickly.

EXTREME TWEAKS

Do not use these tweaks before reading through the information provided, and doing some of your own research. These tweaks are only recommended for advanced users. Anyone contributing to the benchmarks explained at the very top of this post should not incorporate this tweak in their testing. Have fun!

Use minlogin to halve XP boot time
Follow my guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=252599

reps much appreciated!

[jisaac]

Although I am a junior member here, the majority of my time is spent on http://forum.notebookreview.com/ where i am a consistent contributor. This guide is now included as a minor sticky in those forums:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=177399

IMO this would be a worthwhile addition to this forums stickies as it addresses performance issues that many users have - (to all you mods xD).

[Kdawgca]

Originally Posted by jisaac

Although I am a junior member here, the majority of my time is spent on http://forum.notebookreview.com/ where i am a consistent contributor. This guide is now included as a minor sticky in those forums:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=177399

IMO this would be a worthwhile addition to this forums stickies as it addresses performance issues that many users have - (to all you mods xD).

notebookreview.com?...never heard of it.

Since DTR's Windows section does not have an index sticky yet, I sticked it for you. Thanks for porting it over.

-Kevin

[nshoreman]

I have done about 2/3 of the "tweaking" and it certainly hasn't hurt the performance and I believe the computer is "snappier"! I was not able to complete the "write cache" and have therefore not gone further as yet. Also, trying to do the delete baloon tip the computer does not accept GPEDIT.MSC. It gives a honking sound and its not accepted! Wonder if there are any suggestions regarding these (2) issues.

[chgoguy7]

I've tried everything to disable file access time on my PC to help speed up my system but nothing seems to be working. (Windows XP, SP3, 3GB RAM)

I've set the NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate registry attribute to 1. I've deleted and recreated this entry. I've even used a command line option to set this attribute: fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

Of course I have rebooted after each of these changes. But I see that accessed or changed files still have their access time updated.

Any suggestions for what might be preventing the change from taking effect?

Thanks!

[status]

I've done about half of these apart from the system restore removal (as I think that there is a chance i may need that in the future) and Landlord Insurance has made a difference definitely

Will keeping System Restore matter much??

Thanks

[Kdawgca]

Originally Posted by status

I've done about half of these apart from the system restore removal (as I think that there is a chance i may need that in the future) and it has made a difference definitely

Will keeping System Restore matter much??

Thanks

It all depends on your computer and how much HDD space you want. System restore takes up HDD space and if you get infected with a virus, it will likely be saved in the system, so you might have to disable it anyways(to delete the files containing the virus).

An alternative to system restore will be to use an external hdd(or another hdd or partition) and get a program that makes a image of your HDD(like Acronis or Norton Ghost) or a backup program...that way, you will have your important files saved(or can revert back to a previous image in case of a problem with windows).

[Uzen]

alrighty i ran this, i turned off almost every thing that it said, a few where alrdy done, i did not do the memory tweak, because it says may cause problems with ati cards.

here is my first score with out any tweaks, amd fusion is on tho.



here is my 2nd score, with tweaks, and amd fusion



i did not finish defraging, tho i will do that and see if it helps any bit more :X

tys for the tips on improving pref, if u have any more let me know !\


hmm i really would like to do the minlogon, thing but the link to download it is broken on nbr, site, and i have been unable to find it, can u give me a link plz !!!!! XP load times are sooooooooooooo slow ;X