Learn the tricks for making your Windows XP PC run faster, whether you’ve got an
old machine or a new one.
This course explores how to adjust Windows XP settings for better performance and
stability. Plus you’ll learn how to free up resources that waste your computer’s
processing power, optimize your internet connnection, and more.





Add memory for more stability and speed.
Adjust Windows XP settings for maximum efficiency.
Reduce the number of programs that start automatically (and slow your system
down).
Windows Registry tweaks that can improve speed.
Hidden ways to improve your internet connection.
Lesson 1: The basics
Welcome, wadeldaim71. You are enrolled in this course.
In this lesson we’ll look at a couple of simple and relatively quick things
you can do to speed up your computer.
In this course, we’ll zero in on some key ways you can make your PC run faster.
Really. When you first take a new PC out of the box, Windows comes with many
“default settings” that can significantly slow down your system. Fortunately there are
many ways you can adjust those settings to get more performance out of your
machine. Sometimes you’ll have to strike a balance between speed and looks, but in
most cases there’s no tradeoff — you simply need to change the way Windows works
with your hardware and software.
Of course, making adjustments in Windows can be intimidating. But that’s why
you’re here. We’ll try to make this a simple, step-by-step process that anyone can do.
ALERT:
This course only offers recommendations for speeding up the performance of your
Windows XP PC. Before you do any troubleshooting or changing to your PC settings,
we recommend that you do a full back-up of all your files.
Memory boost
To start off, the single most important thing you can do to increase your computer’s
speed is to add RAM--random access memory. It’s also the one thing in this course
that will cost you money (but it’s worth it).
Think of your hard drive as a big box full of puzzles and games, and your RAM is
like a table where you can assemble puzzles and play games. The bigger the table, the
more puzzles and games you can play with at once. Conversely, when you have a
small table (limited memory), your hard disk is forced to serve as an “artificial table”
(or virtual memory). This fake memory trick works fine, but it causes the computer to
slow way down. So it’s far better to have enough RAM so that your PC isn’t forced to
use its hard drive for virtual memory.
The price of memory has dropped dramatically in the last few years, making an
upgrade an inexpensive way to get a big boost in performance.Adding or replacing
RAM is relatively simple to do: You simply plug some chips into sockets on your
computer’s motherboard.
The challenge, however, is getting the correct memory module for your PC. Just about
every computer is different. Some are already equipped with plenty of memory, while
others have very little. And there are a lot of different types of memory, so you need
to be sure to get the exact right module for your system.
A good reference on this topic can be found at CNET Labs’ guide to buying RAM.
This guide explains what RAM is and how to install it. There’s also an online tool
called a memory configurator that tells you exactly what kind of memory your
computer make and model uses.
Cut the graphics
Whether or not you choose to add memory, another easy way to speed up Windows
XP is to change your graphics settings. The more gratuitous effects you use, the
slower your computer will work. So let’s reduce or eliminate them.
If you’ve used other versions of Windows, you know that XP has a very different
look. Unfortunately, that look comes at the expense of some speed because it uses
more graphics. So if you don’t mind a simpler, no-nonsense interface, dump it and
reclaim the power.
Here’s how:


Go to Control Panel and choose Display (you may have to click Appearance
and Themes first).
On the Themes tab, change your current theme to Windows Classic, which
uses fewer resources than the new look does. You can then click the
Appearance tab and change that look to suit yourself.
We’re not finished. Windows also uses its graphics power to provide all sorts of
special effects--menus that fade, shadows under the mouse cursor, and so on. All of
these effects sap performance. So…




Go into Control Panel and choose System (you may have to click Performance
and Maintenance first).
Click the Advanced tab.
In the Performance box, click Settings.
You can now select Adjust for best performance, or you can choose Custom
and play around with the settings. The more you uncheck, the less work your
computer will have to do.
Browse files faster
Finally, a useful change to speed up your file browsing. When you open a folder or
run Windows Explorer, Windows will automatically search your network for folders
and printers you might want to access. That takes time, and is especially annoying if
you don’t need to access one at the time.
So let’s tell Windows not to search for them unless you ask it to. Here’s how:






Open My Computer.
Click the Tools menu.
Choose Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
Uncheck “Automatically search for network folders and printers.”
Click OK.
The next time you reboot your computer, browsing your folders should be a little
faster.
We’ll make them faster still in the next lesson, when we do some spring cleaning of
your hard drive.
Lesson 2: Clean your drive
In this lesson you’ll learn how to clean up the data on your hard drive to
make accessing files faster.
Hard disks run faster and more consistently when not completely filled. Having a
large block of unused disk space is essential for both speed and stability. So it’s useful
to look through your hard disk and remove files that you no longer need (and you’ll
probably be surprised how many there are!).
Before you begin, check how much space you currently have on your hard drive. To
do this, open up My Computer, right-click on your hard disk’s icon, choose
Properties, and then make a note of how many gigabytes or megabytes of free space
you have.
Now go through your My Documents folder. Delete what you don’t need, or if there’s
stuff you want “just in case,” consider storing it on a CD, DVD, or second hard drive
so your main drive doesn’t have to wade through it.
Eliminate extra software
That done, continue your cleanup by getting rid of any software you don’t use. Go to
your Control Panel and select “Add or Remove Programs.”
A list of your installed software will appear. Scroll through it and remove anything
you don’t use anymore. (Some programs might have been preinstalled on your
computer when you bought it.)
ALERT:
Once you remove a program, the change is permanent--so if you’re not sure about
whether you’ll need a particular program, do not remove it!
Next, click the big button on the left labeled “Add/Remove Windows Components.”
This lists XP components that were automatically installed with Windows. Remove
whatever components you don’t need.
Eliminate fonts
If you’re feeling up to it, clean out your fonts. Create a folder (maybe within My
Documents) called “Unused Fonts.” Then use Windows Explorer to go to your
C:\WINDOWS\FONTS folder, and drag any fonts you never use into that Unused
Fonts folder. (You can double-click a font to see what it looks like.) Just moving
those fonts will speed up some applications.
Clean your disk
Finally, let Windows find some more unused gunk.



From My Computer, right-click on your hard drive.
Choose Properties.
Click “Disk Cleanup.”
It will take a few moments to scan your disk for files you can delete. When it’s done,
click OK and then Yes (you do want to perform those actions).
Even though you may have uninstalled some programs, many of them leave “residue”
in the Windows Registry, which Windows uses to store just about everything about
your system. We’ll work with that in a future lesson.
Clean the Registry
For now, let’s just clean out anything that doesn’t belong. There are a lot of Registry
cleaners out there, and my favorite--because it’s (a) easy to use and (b) free--is
EasyCleaner.





Download and install it. When you start the program, you’ll get a grid of 16
things from which to choose.
Click the Registry button.
Click the Find button on the bottom. EasyCleaner will search your Registry
for the leftovers of old programs and other detritus. This could take several
minutes.
When it’s done, click the Delete All button. (You can’t click it till it’s
finished.)
Click Yes to confirm you really want to delete the bad entries.
That’s it! Click Close and let’s move on.
Time to defrag
With all that cleaned out, it’s time to defragment your hard drive.
When your computer stores files on your drive, it puts files in whatever empty space
is available. The result is that over time individual files are actually split up and stored
in several places on the drive. (Imagine a library where the different chapters of a
book are on different shelves.)
Defragmenting--often referred to as simply “defragging”--puts those pieces together
so your computer spends less time accessing files.
The procedure is simple:




First, shut down any running programs. Then disable your screen saver
through your Control Panel by choosing Display (you may have to click
Appearance and Themes first).
That done, go to My Computer and right-click on your hard drive.
Choose Properties, then click the Tools tab.
There you’ll see “Defragment Now.” Click on it and then let the computer
complete the process without any disturbance. This can take anywhere from
minutes to hours, depending on the size of your drive and the level of
fragmentation.
ALERT:
During the defragging process, the PC cannot be used for anything else, and you
should be especially careful not to accidentally turn it off. It’s essential that this
procedure run its course without interference, or data loss could occur.
When you’re all done, check to see how much free space your drive now has (go to
My Computer, right-click on the drive, and choose Properties). Hopefully you’ll see a
difference.
Lesson 3: Get more out of your hardware
In this lesson you’ll get into some of the deeper parts of your computer to
change the way Windows works with your hard drive.
One of the slowest things about your machine is your hard drive. It takes a computer
forever (comparatively) to read the disk and write things to it. So it makes sense that
anything you can do to speed up your drive will also speed up your computer.
In this lesson, we’ll cover two permanent changes you can make that affect how
Windows works with your hard drive. The first upgrades your file system--the way
Windows stores information on your drive. The second speeds up how Windows
moves that information from place to place.
It’s possible your computer is already set the right way. Let’s find out.
The file system is how Windows stores your files on your hard drive, and it’s akin to
the way a library arranges books on a shelf. Older versions of Windows used a file
system called FAT32 (File Allocation Table, if you must know). Newer versions use
one called NTFS (New Technology File System).
NTFS has several benefits. Most importantly, files don’t get fragmented as much, so
you won’t have to defrag as often (see Lesson 2 for instructions on how to defrag).
You can’t tell which way your drive is set up just by using it. But to get the most out
of your machine, you’ll want to make sure that you’re using NTFS.
Losing FAT
First, check to see if you’re already using it. Go to My Computer, then right-click on
your hard drive and choose Properties. On the window that appears, you’ll see either
“File system: FAT32″ or “File system: NTFS.”
If it’s FAT32, you should convert it. Here’s how:



Shut down any running programs.
Click Start, then choose Run.
In the box, enter cmd, which will bring up a black command-line window.
You’ll see a prompt that says something like “C:\WINDOWS” with a blinking
cursor. (If you’ve ever used DOS, you’ll recognize this.)


Enter the following: convert c: /fs:ntfs (If your hard drive isn’t drive C:,
substitute the correct letter, and don’t forget the space between the colon and
the slash.)
When you press Enter, you’ll probably see a message saying the conversion
will take place next time you start Windows. So click Start, choose Shut
Down, and choose Restart. Windows will convert your drive--and it will also
reboot your computer twice.
Hook into DMA
Next, let’s make sure your computer is transferring data efficiently by using a
technology called DMA (direct memory access).






Go to your Control Panel and double-click System, then choose the Hardware
tab. Click Device Manager. This will bring up a list of every type of hardware
your computer has, from “Computer” to “Disk Drives” to “Monitors,” and
more.
Click the plus sign next to “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.”
Double-click “Primary IDE Channel.” (If you have two of them, don’t worry.
Just repeat this procedure.)
Click the Advanced Settings tab. You’ll probably see two devices listed (0 and
1).
For each one, click the drop-down arrow next to Transfer Mode and choose
“DMA if available.” Then click OK. (If you have another Primary IDE
Channel, repeat this procedure.)
Close Device Manager and reboot your computer.
Congratulations! You’ve just made two simple changes that most people have never
heard of, that will add a bit more speed and stability to your system.
Lesson 4: Reduce start-up programs
In this lesson, you’ll prevent Windows from automatically running
programs you don’t need.
You may be working in a program and wondering why it runs so slow--especially if
you don’t have any other programs open. The problem is that when Windows boots
up, a lot of programs are automatically loaded to run “in the background” where you
can’t see. Of course, some of these are quite valuable (virus protection for instance),
but many are useless and simply eating up your system resources for no reason.
Seek and destroy
Here’s how to get rid of these unnecessary start-up programs:
The first and easiest way to seek and destroy unnecessary start-up programs is to look
in your Startup folder.



Click Start, then choose All Programs or Programs (depending on your setup).
Find the Startup folder on the list and hover your mouse over it.
The list of programs that automatically start will appear. Check this list, and if
you see something you don’t want or need to start automatically--such as some
Microsoft Office task--right-click it and choose Delete.
Repeat as necessary.
Stop automatic starts
Now let’s go a little deeper. Remember EasyCleaner from Lesson 2 ? It has another
useful function besides cleaning the Registry: It can tell you what programs start
automatically and let you stop them. Here’s how:



Start the program and click the Startup button.
You’ll see a list of all the programs that start automatically with Windows.
Most of these should start: your anti-virus
program, a Windows program called HDAShCut, maybe a driver or two. But
some things just waste resources.
Most notorious for loading themselves are media players such as Quicktime
and RealPlayer. There’s no need for them to be loaded until you need them. If
you see things like that which don’t belong, select them and click the Delete
button. When you’re done, click Close and close EasyCleaner.
Deep cleaning
That done, let’s go even deeper. Besides programs that run automatically when you
start up, Windows also launches services --internal software that does important
things, such as making your network run, managing users, and a host of other things.
But there are some services you just don’t need; running them is a waste of resources.




To get to the list of services, click Start, then Run.
Enter services.msc in the box. The screen that pops up is a bit intimidating at
first, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. It lists every service on your
machine and tells you whether it starts automatically or manually, among
other things.
Click the Extended tab on the bottom, which will create a space that will give
you a description of each service.
Now click on the words “Startup Type” at the top of that column, which will
sort the services. The ones that say “Automatic” are--obviously--the ones that
start when Windows does. They’re the only ones you care about.
ALERT:
Some services are critical for your computer to run. So don’t disable anything that’s
not on the list below unless you’re absolutely sure that it’s an expendable item.
The following lists services you can probably do without. Of course, if you recognize
one that you use such as Windows Messenger or Telnet, don’t turn it off.
Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Error Reporting Service (if you don’t want to be asked to send error reports to
Microsoft anymore)
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
IPSEC Services
Messenger
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry
Routing & Remote Access
Secondary Logon
Server
SSDP Discovery Service
Telnet
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Upload Manager
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Workstation
Pick one from the list and double-click it. You’ll see a drop-down menu next to
“Startup type” that is currently set to Automatic.
Change it to Manual and click OK. This way the service will start only if it’s needed,
not all the time.
Special services
Two services deserve special mention: the indexing service and Windows themes.
The indexing service’s job is to keep track of every file on your computer, so if you
use Windows’ search function you’ll be able to find things faster. But if you don’t use
search that often, the indexing service is a waste of resources and will slow you down.
That’s why disabling the indexing service is high on the list of many speed tweakers.
To do that, go back to your list of services (Start, Run, enter services.msc -- see
above), scroll down to Indexing Service, and set the Startup type to “Disabled.”
Finally, if you’re using the Windows Classic theme (we suggested switching to it in
Lesson 1 ), you can free up some memory. Scroll down the list of services to Themes
and set it to “Disabled.”
Lesson 5: Tweaking the Registry and more
.
In this lesson you’ll get into the nitty-gritty with the Windows Registry–the
heart of the operating system, and a place full of ways to squeeze some more speed
from your computer.
The Registry stores all sorts of information about your system in what are called
“keys.” A key might describe how Windows handles a particular type of file, or how
it manages memory, and many other things. You get into the Registry by clicking
Start, choosing Run, and entering regedit in the box that appears. Then welcome to
the Registry, perhaps the most intimidating part of Windows. Here you can make all
sorts of internal changes to the way Windows operates.
Note:
Changes made to the Registry will not take effect until you restart Windows.
ALERT:
Be very cautious editing the Windows Registry. Changes made here can completely
disable your computer if they’re done incorrectly. We recommend that you follow the
instructions below very carefully, and encourage you to back up your data files before
proceeding.
Saving your configuration
Before you do anything else, set up a System Restore Point. That tells Windows to
save everything about your current configuration, so if something goes awry you can
tell it to revert back to that point—kind of like a big “undo” button.
To set a Restore Point:






Click Start and choose either Programs or All Programs.
Go to Accessories, then System Tools, and choose System Restore.
On the welcome screen, you’ll be asked whether you want to restore or create
a restore point. Choose Create a Restore Point.
Name it something you’ll remember, such as “Before CNET Changes.”
Click Create.
Now if something doesn’t work, you can repeat these steps and choose
“Restore” instead, to return to the status you just saved.
That done, let’s tweak.
The first things you’ll see are the five main sections of the Registry’s entries. They
have cryptic names: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, and so
on. Next to each of those five sections is a small plus sign. Click that to view that
section’s subsections. Note that you can end up going several levels deep before
getting to the key you want to change. The standard way to point to a key is to list the
various levels separated by slashes. For example, if you see:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel / Desktop
it means you should click the plus sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, then the
plus sign next to Control Panel, then look for Desktop.
Make your menus load faster
For your first trip to the Registry, we’ll do something simple: Make your menus work
faster.





Start regedit (see above).
Navigate to the following key by clicking the plus signs next to the name of
each level:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Control Panel
Click “Desktop.” A list of entries will appear on the right side.
Double-click “MenuShowDelay” and change the Value data to 0.
Click OK.
Free up memory from closed programs
When you shut down a program, Windows will often keep part of it in memory even
if it’s not being used. Called dynamic link libraries (DLLs), they take up memory and
sometimes cause other problems. You can change a Registry key to prevent Windows
from doing this.

Start regedit, following the instructions in this lesson.







Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SOFTWARE / Microsoft / Windows /
CurrentVersion
Under CurrentVersion, right-click on Explorer, then choose New->Key.
In the box that appears (”New Key #1″), change the name to
AlwaysUnloadDLL.
Hit Enter. On the right side, double-click the word (Default).
For the value data, enter 1.
Click OK.
Close regedit (unless you want to tweak some more).
Speed program startup
Windows can be set to load information about some applications to make them start
up faster by changing how much work a program called the Prefetcher does.

Using regedit (instructions above), navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control /
Session Manager / Memory Management / PrefetchParameters




When you click PrefetchParameters, the right side of the editor will display a
list of entries.
Double-click “Enable Prefetcher” and change the value data to 5 (in decimal,
not hexadecimal).
Click OK.
Close regedit.
Reduce Windows’ workload
If you have many folders and subfolders, every time you access one, Windows will
spend a lot of time updating the “last accessed” time for that folder and all its subfolders. Stopping that process will buy you some time.





Using regedit (see instructions above), navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / System / CurrentControlSet / Control
Under Control, right-click on FileSystem, then choose New, then DWORD
Value.
Replace “New Value #1″ with NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and hit Enter.
Double-click NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and change the Value data to 1.
Click OK.
Improve Swapfile performance
Many programs use a lot of memory, and if you run more than one or two at once,
Windows might run out of RAM. In that case, it will start using a section of your hard
disk called the “swapfile” to store information. It’s a lot slower than RAM, but it
beats not being able to run a program. But sometimes Windows uses the swapfile
before it has to. This tweak will tell it to wait ‘till the last moment before doing that.



Click Start, then Run.
Enter msconfig in the box.
Click on the System.ini tab.



Click the plus sign next to 386enh.
Click New, then type “ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1″ in the box that appears.
Click OK.
Lesson 6: Improve your Internet browsing
In this lesson you’ll learn a couple of tricks to make your broadband
connection work more efficiently with Windows.
First, you might want to test your current connection speed. A good tool to do this is
the CNET Bandwidth Meter speed test. Run the test a few times to get a better idea
of your average bandwidth speed, then check again after you’ve made these changes
to see whether your connection speed improves.
Stop QoS
First, let’s get rid of a system that’s supposed to make sure your network is working,
but in reality isn’t helpful and can eat up to 20 percent of your bandwidth. It’s called
QoS, for Quality of Service, and here’s how you stop it.
If you have Windows XP Professional, follow these instructions to disable QoS:








Click Start, then Run.
Enter gpedit.msc in the box.
Under “Local Computer Policy,” click the plus sign next to “Computer
Configuration,” then the one next to “Administrative Templates.”
Click the plus sign next to “Network” and select “QoS Packet Scheduler.”
In the right-hand box, double-click on “Limit Reservable Bandwidth.”
On the Settings tab, choose Enabled.
In the “Bandwidth Limit %” box, set it to 0%. (Do not leave it blank.)
Click OK.
If you have Windows Home Edition, follow these instructions to disable QoS:




Click Start and then the “Settings” option.
Select the Control Panel, and open up “Network Connections”
Right-click “Local Area Connection”and choose Properties.
On the General tab, uncheck QoS.
Network settings
Now let’s change some other networking settings.
Out of the box, Windows networking comes configured for a generic user with a
generic connection. It has no idea what kind of Internet connection you have--whether
you’re using dialup or DSL or a cable modem. Because of that, its network settings
are also generic.
It’s helpful to tailor these settings to your connection. The easiest way to do this is to
use a (free) software program that will do it for you.
There are several programs that will let you manage those changes. Some require you
to enter values in boxes; they then edit the Registry for you. But a much easier-to-use
one is TCP Optimizer from Speed Guide, a Web site dedicated to broadband issues.
The nice thing about TCP Optimizer is that you only have to use a slider to indicate
your connection speed, tell it how you connect, and click on the Optimize button.
When you reboot, your connection should be noticeably faster (and you can always go
back to Speakeasy.net to check it).
The measures we’ve covered in this course will help speed your computer, but they’re
only the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of small tweaks you can make, and the
only limitation is how deep you’re willing to delve into your system.
A number of Web sites are dedicated to helping people squeeze every last drop of
speed from their machines. Searching for “speed up Windows XP” or “Windows XP
speed tweaks” will help you find some.
In particular, check out the System Performance section of TweakXP.com , and the
Broadband/Registry Tweaks section of Speed Guide --both have some excellent
suggestions with detailed instructions, along with a community of people you can ask
for help.