WinXP Overhaul Guide: How to make it look like Vista, run like lightning, and stay productive, fast & smooth

Step 4 Tweaking and speed tricks (Windows Settings)

Not everyone has new Core 2 Duo machines- and even if so, you may want to get every little bit of performance out of it you can. Here's some fairly easy steps that will give a speed boost to any system, especially older ones.

Windows Settings:

1. Visual Effects. This is especially helpful on older machines (low RAM and bad videocards) and the difference isn't noticeable for most people. Right-click on My Computer, and choose Properties. Click Advanced-> Performance Settings-> Visual Effects tab. Select Adjust for best performance (clears all), but then add back the following options: Show translucent selection rectangle, Show windows contents while dragging, Smooth edges on screen fonts, Use common tasks in folders, Use drop shadows for icons labels on desktop, and Use visual styles on Windows and buttons. Click apply. See any difference? Didn't think so :)

2. Virtual Memory. Still in the Performance Options window, go to the Advanced tab and click Change. There are constant arguments about what the best values are here, and every situation is different. My laptop has 2GB RAM, and I just select No paging file. I've yet to have an issue from this, and battery life has improved now that the hard drive isn't thrashing as much. A lot depends on what you do on your PC. Heavy Photoshop or video editors should probably let Windows manage things. For standard web surfing, online chatting and email (most casual users) you should safely be able to set the Initial and Maximum size at 1.5 or 2 times the amount of RAM you have, provided the machine has 512MB Ram or more. If your computer has more than one hard drive (not just multiple partitions) you can get a speed boost by putting the paging file on the second one instead of the system drive. Adjust as you wish, then click Set, OK, OK, OK when done. You'll likely have to reboot for changes to take effect.

3. System Restore. Also under System Properties, we have the System restore tab. This is another controversial option. If you choose to turn off System Restore, your system will speed up and you will reclaim disk space. However, you obviously lose the ability to 'go back' and undo harmful changes made to your PC. Again, this mostly depends on what type of user you are. I have never once had to use this feature, being savvy enough to troubleshoot problems or uninstall programs. If you're not sure, then just leave it on. If you're a semi-geeky power user or just struggling with a sluggish 400MHz Pentium II... you'll want it off.

4. Automatic Updates. Don't get me wrong, I keep my XP updated and encourage customers to do likewise. But what I don't like is Windows Update sucking up resources by running/downloading in the background while I try to encode video. I don't like the inane pop-ups telling me my computer will reboot in five minutes unless I click this button- only to have it pop up again ten minutes later. It kills productivity and drives users batty. So I turn the Automatic Updates off. Don't Panic; you can still manually check/start Windows updates whenever you want from the Start menu shortcut. I recommend weekly or biweekly.

5. Security Center. Microsoft has decided that no one can live without a Firewall, anti-virus, and Automatic Updates. XP therefore harasses you about it, and most users don't know how to make the pop-ups go away. Here's how. In Control Panel, open Security Center. Click 'Change the way Security Center alerts me,' and uncheck all three options. Click OK. The annoying little shield in your taskbar is now gone! Decide for yourself if Windows Firewall is essential or not.

6. Network folders and printers. In some cases, this would be a good thing- but it does often cause some delay when opening Explorer. If you don't care about automatically discovering network folders and printers (most average home users don't) then open My Computer-> Tools-> Folder Options-> View tab-> uncheck Automatically search for network folders and printers-> OK. This in no way stops you from accessing remote shares or printers. It just keeps Windows from checking for new ones since most users' network likely won't change between now and the last time you opened My Computer ;)

7. Remove Windows Components. Certain things are installed standard with XP which you will never, ever use. In Control Panel, open Add/Remove programs and select Add/Remove Windows Components. I feel MSN Explorer is a standard useless item, as is Windows Messenger. If you actually use these or other items, by all means leave them... but most of us have discovered better, newer alternatives than what originally shipped with XP. Some of these are mentioned in Part Two.

8. TweakUI, Image Resizer, and Exctrlst. Included in the Conversion package under Enhancements were these three programs which I sometimes find useful. TweakUI allows for altering hidden Windows settings, or changing the default behaviors. The Image Resizer powertoy allows you to (surprisingly enough) quickly resize images. It's pretty handy when you don't have Photoshop installed, or just need a jpeg made smaller with a click or two of the mouse. It integrates into Windows so is available with every right-click. Exctrlst requires a little more explanation. As XP runs, it keeps track of different processes and how they perform. These performance logs are sometimes helpful to system administrators, but most home users will never care or see this data. We can stop Windows from doing these performance logs with Exctrlst. Simply install (default is C:\Program Files\Resource Kit\), run, and uncheck everything.

9. Disabling Services. This is one area where I won't be too specific, sorry. Everyone argues about what's helpful or needed, mostly because every person and situation is different. It is worth doing, though. To edit which services run, click Start-> Run-> services.msc -> OK. There's a really good page about it that goes into more detail than I ever could here.

10. Power / Performance. This is mostly for laptops, but is very important. Ever notice that your game runs better when your laptop is plugged in? Check your power settings. Today's laptops often deliberately slow the cpu speed to conserve battery life. Normally that's wonderful... until you can't even play that flash game without lagging. Start-> Control Panel -> Power Options gets you where you can adjust this. Max Battery will almost certainly slow things down. Portable/Laptop is better, but for when you need full processing power, set it to Home/Office desk. Don't forget to change it back, or your battery life will suffer!

Comments

[The Jamalam]

Purble palace :P

[Meatroach]

thank you for this guide! It works great, the only thing was the widgets were not in any of the files, oh well. looks & works awesome. as for the corrupted headers all I did was repair the archives and extracted to another archive! :)

[CharredPC]

Glad it worked for you. Yahoo Widgets is included in the package; I personally prefer Thoosej Vista Sidebar, which I linked to in the online guide.

[Meatroach]

I agree, the Thoosje sidebar is much better. The only thing is you can't download any new gadgets for it. They seem only to be for Vista. (i.e. - Moon Phases gadget)

[Yakeyglee]

One teenie tiney issue here...under number 5 of step 4. In my security center, the link for "Change the way Security Center alerts me" is greyed out. What does this mean? I cannot click it. What should I do? Is it that important?

[CharredPC]

It's not all that important, it's more of a way to stop an annoyance than a speed tweak. I wouldn't worry too much about it, you're likely just not on an Administrator account so can't alter that setting.

[Yakeyglee]

I actually am an admin :-X.

[CharredPC]

If you are on a domain, try removing your machine from the domain and logging in locally. Often the "Change the Way Security Center Alerts me" option is greyed out until you remove the machine from the domain and log in as the local administrator. Let me know if this applies to / works for you.

[Yakeyglee]

Uh....I don't really understand what that means :-X It's not that important...I don't want to be wasting your time.