How To Make XP Go Faster

Some regular troubleshoots we follow to increase performance:  
  • Disk Clean Up
  • Defragmentation
  • Remove Spyware
  • Detect and repair disk errors
  • Increasing Virtual Memory   etc ..,
 Apart of the above we can also try the below stated instructions which are already executed practically and the results were more than appreciable. However, Registry entries or few options might differ from PC to PC.  

Increasing Graphics performance

By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.

To turn these off selectively:

Right click on the My Computer icon - Properties -  Advanced tab - Under Performance, click on the Settings button  To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance

My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging
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Speeding CD burner programs

If you use program other than the native WindowsXP CD Burner software,
you might be able to increase the speed that it loads.

Path : Control Panel - Administrative Tools  -  Services ( or )  Start -  Run -  Services.msc
Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
For the Startup Type, select Disabled
Click on the OK button and then close the Services window
If you dont You should notice
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No GUI Boot

If you don't need to see the XP boot logo,

 Path : Start - Run -  MSCONFIG - Under BOOT.INI tab ---     Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT
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Disable unwanted Services 

There are quite a few services you can disable from starting Automatically. This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources. 

!! These  are only suggestions so you have to read the description of each one when you run Services and that you turn them off one at a time. 

Some possibilities are:

Alerter
Application Management
Clipbook
Fast UserSwitching
Human Interface Devices
Indexing Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeeting
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routing & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client

Path:  Start -  Run -  Services.msc
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Clearing the page file on shutdown

Path : Start -  Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Local Security Policy - Local Policies - Click on Security Options
Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile" - Select "Enable"
Reboot the computer

For regedit users.....
If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown:

Path : Start - Run - regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SYSTEM - CurrentControlSet - Control - Session Manager - Memory Management - Clear PageFileAtShutdown  Set the value to 1

!!  Please back up the registry before making any changes to the registry so that you can revoke the settings if any issue (  In Registry  File- Export ( to Make a copy) File - import (to revoke)

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no logon , logoff, startup and shutdown status messages

!!  Please back up the registry before making any changes to the registry so that you can revoke the settings if any issue (  In Registry  File- Export ( to Make a copy) File - import (to revoke) 

To turn these off:
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SOFTWARE - Microsoft - Windows - CurrentVersion - policies - system
 If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
Give it a value of 1

Path : Start - Run - regedit
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Increasing system performance
  
If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.

Path : Start - Run - regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SYSTEM - CurrentControlSet - Control - SessionManager - Memory Management - DisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1  ....Reboot the computer
!!  Please back up the registry before making any changes to the registry so that you can revoke the settings if any issue (  In Registry  File- Export ( to Make a copy) File - import (to revoke)
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Increasing file system caching

To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:

Path : Start - Run - regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SYSTEM - CurrentControlSet - Control - SessionManager - Memory Management
Edit the key IoPageLockLimit
!!  Please back up the registry before making any changes to the registry so that you can revoke the settings if any issue (  In Registry  File- Export ( to Make a copy) File - import (to revoke)
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Resolving inability to add or remove programs

If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, there might be a simple registry edit needed.

Path : Start - Run - regedit

Go to HKey Current User - Software - Microsoft - Windows - CurrentVersion - Policies - Uninstall

Change the DWORD NoAddRemovePrograms to 0 disable it

4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory
 !!  Please back up the registry before making any changes to the registry so that you can revoke the settings if any issue (  In Registry  File- Export ( to Make a copy) File - import (to revoke)