This tutorial is meant for increasing the performance of Windows XP, either it can be a fresh installation or an older one.
1. Following is a registry file containing a few registry modifications, which are completely safe and can increase the performance of Windows. Just download the attached ZIP file, extract it and then run the file:
2. Right-click on Desktop and select Properties, Now in the new window goto Appearance tab and click on Effects button. Now in the new opened window uncheck the following options:
- Use the following transition effect for menus & tooltips.
- Show shadows under menus.
3. Right-click on
My Computer icon on Desktop and select
Properties (or press
key +
key), now goto
Advanced tab in new window and click on
Settings button in
Performance section.
Now disable all unnecessary options in Visual Effects tab, you can remain following options enabled according to your requirements:
- Show window contents while dragging.
- Smooth edges of screen fonts.
- Use common tasks in folders (If you use the left side pane in My computer)
- Use drop shadows on icon labels on the desktop. (to make the desktop icons label transparent.)
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons. (If you use XP themes.)
4. Open
Tools -> Folder Options and click on
View tab:
Now uncheck following options:
- Automatically search for network folders & printers.
- Display file size information in folder tips.
- Display simple folder view in Explorer's Folders list.
- Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color.
- Show pop-up description for folder and desktop icons.
- Use simple file sharing.
Other options don't affect the system performance. You can enable/disable them according to your requirements.
5. Right-click on
My Computer icon on Desktop and select
Manage (You can also open it by typing
services.msc in RUN and press Enter). Now goto
Services & Applications -> Services. Here you can set a few unnecessary services to
Manual, which will not start with windows and will decrease the boot time and will increase system performance. Please follow the following tutorial to know about which services can be safely set to MANUAL:
Windows XP Services Configuration: Turn Off / Disable Unnecessary Services to Optimize Performance 6. Type
msconfig in RUN and press Enter. Now goto
Startup tab and deselect the unnecessary entries, which you don't want to start automatically with Windows, e.g. you can disable VGA driver utility, Sound Card utility, etc to speed up the startup time and to increase system performance.
7. Open
Sound & Audio Devices in Control Panel (or type
mmsys.cpl in RUN), goto
Sounds tab and select
No Sounds in
Sound Scheme section. Or you can remain some of your favorite sounds but set
Exit Windows, Start Windows, Windows Logoff, Windows Logon to
(None).
8. Also don't forget to:
- Defrag the hard disk regularly
- Install only necessary software
- Use the latest device drivers
- Keep your Windows up-to-date
After following all the above mentioned points, you'll definitely notice major improvements in your Windows XP performance.