5 tips to speed up Windows XP
Tip 1
Disable GUI options
1. Right-click on the desktop and click Properties.
2. Click on the “Appearance” tab at the top.
3. Click the “Effects” button.
4. Uncheck “Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips
5. Uncheck “Use the following method to smooth the edges of screen fonts” – (disable the use of an LCD monitor, in which case, check this)
6. Uncheck show shadows below menus.
7. Others don’t really matter.
8. Click the “OK” button.
9. Back in the “Display Properties” window, in the “Windows and Buttons” selection menu, select “Classic Windows Style”.
10. Click the “Apply” button.
11. Click the “OK” button.
Tip 2
Disable System Restore
System restore will take up resources such as memory and hard drive I / O. Personally, I have been using Windows XP since it came out and have never used system restore. If you are disabling system restore, be sure to back up important files to another disk, such as a USB stick / CD-ROM / tape drive, etc. To disable system restore in Windows XP, do the following
1. Right click on “my computer” and click properties.
2. Click on the “System Restore” tab at the top.
3. Check the “Disable system restore on all drives” box.
Tip 3
Delete temporary files
Most of the programs you use will leave * .tmp / * .temp files on your computer. Over time, these files will accumulate and consume a lot of disk space. To delete these files, click Start> Run and type CMD and then press Enter. A black window will appear. In this window type Del / a / f / q / s file: ///C:/*.tmp”C:*.tmp and Del / a / f / q / s C: *. Temp Then press enter If you have 2 partitions, repeat this process for the other partitions, replace C: with the letter of your other drive, for example Del / a / f / q / s file: ///D:/*.tmp”D: *. tmp if you have a D: drive. Be careful doing this, if you enter the wrong command, you could delete some system files and cause Windows XP not to start.
Tip 4
Remove unnecessary software
You may have a bunch of software packages on your hard drive that are no longer needed, or were installed for free when you downloaded some other package. Toolbars, file-sharing programs, free email enhancers, online shopping “buddies,” and download managers are all known for this practice. These uninvited guests can be a huge hurdle on startup time, slow web pages to load, and generally bog down your computer. Go to Control Panel, then Add / Remove Software to see what packages are installed. Eliminate the ones you know you don’t need and do a web search for information about the ones you’re not sure about.
Tip 5
Run a defrag
A defragmentation will rearrange the location of the files on your system, move the files to ensure you get the best performance when accessing the files. For example, it will move all the system files to one part of the disk, so when the system needs to access the system files, they will all be in the same location and the hard drive won’t need to jump as much to access whatever it is. To run defragmentation, double-click my computer icon on your desktop, right-click the disk that says C: and then select properties. Click on the tools tab> Degragment now. Then select each partition you have and click the remove charges button. You will receive a report of what has been done when you are done.