windows users only!

[Daksfamus]

this is my way of getting the best out of your computer. follow these steps and you will see what your computer can really do!

 

Disclaimer : If you feel a certain step is too complicated and beyond your understanding : DON'T DO IT!. It's also a good idea to keep system restore on for a week or so just to make sure everything is running on point. Then you can turn it off.

 

I know not everyone can afford/actually needs a macbook pro and are stuck using windows. Well I'm here to help ! Follow these simple instructions and I guarantee your computer will run so {censored} flawlessly you will be stunned. I've personally done all of these and was amazed by the results. If you have a few minutes to spare and you're tired of a choppy windows then you've hit the jackpot.

 

To start things off here are my common sense steps:

 

- Run windows update once a month , if you can't remember go in task manager and set it for "every month".

 

- Keep your drivers up to date , check manufacturers websites for latest drivers. Especially for video cards.

 

- Do NOT use the default Audio/Video/IExplorer that comes with windows. They are absolute shyte.

Use : Winamp for audio

Use : VLC for video OR Windows Media Player Classic this is the absolutely lightest video player in existence.

Use : Firefox to browse the internet

Use : uTorrent for torrents

Use : CCCP for your codec pack

 

- Every now and then go in Control Panel , Add/Remove programs then get rid of all unnecessary {censored}.

 

- Formating :

Formating is the act of erasing all info off your Hard-drive and re-installing a fresh copy of windows. It helps a ton if you've never done it before. I usually do it once every 6-7 months even if everything is running perfectly. I keep all my important info(like drivers and skate videos) on external hard drives so it's not a hassle.

 

Here's a simple guide

 

note : make sure you have all your CDs that came with your comp if you attempt this. If not you'll have a hard time getting the drivers for your network cards/motherboards/etc. If you don't feel comfortable then don't do it. , obviously

 

- WayoutFilms tip - Make your Startup time shorter : go to start > run, and type msconfig

 

Choose the startup tab. there you'll find a list of programs that fire up as soon as you start your comp, and its very unlikely you'll need most of them, there'll be things like power dvd, which just makes it start a few seconds quicker when you use it, and Quicktime which is why theres always that qt icon in your system tray. you could safely turn off all of them, but you might want to leave a few such as your anti virus and win updates.

 

TEN EASY STEPS

 

1. Disable Indexing Services

 

Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don’t search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

 

* Go to Start

* Click Settings

* Click Control Panel

* Double-click Add/Remove Programs

* Click the Add/Remove Window Components

* Uncheck the Indexing services

* Click Next

 

2. Optimise Display Settings

 

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

 

* Go to Start

* Click Settings

* Click Control Panel

* Click System

* Click Advanced tab

* In the Performance tab click Settings

* Leave only the following ticked:

 

* Show shadows under menus

* Show shadows under mouse pointer

* Show translucent selection rectangle

* Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop

* Use visual styles on windows and buttons

 

3. Speedup Folder Browsing

 

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

 

* Open My Computer

* Click on Tools menu

* Click on Folder Options

* Click on the View tab.

* Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box

* Click Apply

* Click Ok

* Reboot your computer

 

4. Disable Performance Counters

 

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC’s performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

 

To disable:

 

* download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List

* Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom.button below

 

5. Improve Memory Usage

 

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

 

Once Installed:

 

* Go to Show Wizard and select All

* Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing

* Exit and Save Cacheman

* Restart Windows

 

6. Optimise your internet connection

 

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

 

* Download and install

* Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)

* Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet

* Check Optimal Settings then Apply

* Reboot

If ever for some reason this {censored}s you over and it slows down ur internet , revert to default settings.

7. Optimise Your Pagefile

 

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

 

* Right click on My Computer and select Properties

* Select the Advanced tab

* Under Performance choose the Settings button

* Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change

* Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

 

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

 

8. Run BootVis - Improve Boot Times

 

BootVis will significantly improve boot times

 

* Download and Run

* Select Trace

* Select Next Boot and Driver Trace

* A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot

* Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system’s boot process. When it’s done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System

* Reboot.

* When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete

9. Remove the Desktop Picture

 

Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.

 

* Right click on Desktop and select Properties

* Select the Desktop tab

* In the Background window select None

* Click Ok

 

10. Remove Fonts for Speed

 

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

 

* Open Control Panel

* Open Fonts folder

* Move fonts you don’t need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

TEN INTERMEDIATE STEPS

 

1. Disable Unnecessary Services

Because Windows XP has to be all things to all people it has many services running that take up system resources that you will never need. Below is a list of services that can be disabled on most machines:

 

* Alerter

* Clipbook

* Computer Browser

* Distributed Link Tracking Client

* Fast User Switching

* Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)

* Human Interface Access Devices

* Indexing Service

* IPSEC Services

* Messenger

* Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)

* Portable Media Serial Number

* Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)

* Remote Procedure Call Locator

* Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)

* Remote Registry Service

* Secondary Logon

* Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)

* Server

* SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n’ Pray will disable this)

* Telnet

* TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper

* Upload Manager

* Universal Plug and Play Device Host

* Windows Time

* Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)

* Workstation

 

To disable these services:

 

1. Go to Start and then Run and type “services.msc”

2. Doubleclick on the service you want to change

3. Change the startup type to ‘Disable”

 

2. Turn Off System Restore

 

System Restore can be a useful if your computer is having problems, however storing all the restore points can literally take up Gigabytes of space on your hard drive. To turn off System Restore:

 

1. Open Control Panel

2. Click on Performance and Maintenance

3. Click on System

4. Click on the System Restore tab

5. Tick ‘Turn off System Restore on All Drives’

6. Click ‘Ok’

 

3. Defragment Your Pagefile

Keeping your pagefile defragmented can provide a major performance boost. One of the best ways of doing this is to creat a separate partition on your hard drive just for your page file, so that it doesn’t get impacted by normal disk usage. Another way of keeping your pagefile defragmented is to run PageDefrag. This cool little app can be used to defrag your pagefile, and can also be set to defrag the pagefile everytime your PC starts. To install:

 

1. Download and Run PageDefrag

2. Tick “Defrag at next Reboot”,

3. Click “Ok”

4. Reboot

 

4. Speedup Folder Access - Disable Last Access Update

 

If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer, when you access a directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for ALL sub directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not attempt.

 

1. Go to Start and then Run and type “regedit”

2. Click through the file system until you get to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem”

3. Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select ‘DWORD Value’

4. Create a new DWORD Value called ‘NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate’

5. Then Right click on the new value and select ‘Modify’

6. Change the Value Data to ‘1′

7. Click ‘OK’

5.Disable System Sounds

 

Surprisingly, the beeps that your computer makes for various system sounds can slow it down, particularly at startup and shut-down. To fix this turn off the system sounds:

 

1. Open Control Panel

2. Click Sounds and Audio Devices

3. Check Place volume icon in taskbar

4. Click Sounds Tab

5. Choose “No Sounds” for the Sound Scheme

6. Click “No”

7. Click “Apply”

8. Click “OK”

 

6. Improve Boot Times

 

A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on.

 

1. Go to Start Menu and Click Run

2. Type in “Regedit” then click ok

3. Find “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction”

4. Select “Enable” from the list on the right

5. Right on it and select “Modify”

6. Change the value to “Y to enable”

7. Reboot

7. Improve Swapfile Performance

 

If you have more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably improve your performance. It basically makes sure that your PC uses every last drop of memory (faster than swap file) before it starts using the swap file.

 

1. Go to Start then Run

2. Type “msconfig.exe” then ok

3. Click on the System.ini tab

4. Expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign

5. Click on new then in the blank box type”ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1″

6. Click OK

7. Restart PC

8. Make Your Menus Load Faster

 

This is one of my favourite tweaks as it makes a huge difference to how fast your machine will ‘feel’. What this tweak does is remove the slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.

 

1. Go to Start then Run

2. Type ‘Regedit’ then click ‘Ok’

3. Find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop”

4. Select “MenuShowDelay”

5. Right click and select “Modify’

6. Reduce the number to around “100″

 

This is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to “0″ but it can make windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look at them - well move your mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for anywhere between 50-150 depending on my mood

 

9. Make Programs Load Faster

 

This little tweak tends to work for most programs. If your program doesn’t load properly just undo the change. For any program:

 

1. Right-click on the icon/shortcut you use to launch the program

2. Select properties

3. In the ‘target’ box, add ‘ /prefetch:1′ at the end of the line.

4. Click “Ok”

 

Voila - your programs will now load faster.

 

10. Improve XP Shutdown Speed

 

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.

 

1. Go to Start then select Run

2. Type ‘Regedit’ and click ok

3. Find ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop’Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’

4. Right click and select ‘Modify’

5. Change the value to ‘1000′

6. Click ‘OK’

7. Now select ‘HungAppTimeout’

8. Right click and select ‘Modify’

9. Change the value to ‘1000′

10. Click ‘OK’

11. Now find ‘HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop’

12. Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’

13. Right click and select ‘Modify’

14. Change the value to ‘1000′

15. Click ‘OK’

16. Now find ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control’

17. Select ‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout’

18. Right click and select ‘Modify’

19. Change the value to ‘1000′

20. Click ‘OK’

 

ADVANCED STEPS

 

Bonus Stuff :

 

- Saving time on rebooting your computer

 

"Using the Quick Boot Feature of the BIOS

 

All systems initialize in more or less the same way. During the power on self test mentioned earlier, the BIOS checks the hardware devices and counts the system memory. Out of all of the different types of system memory, the random access memory, better known as RAM, takes the longest to be counted. Counting the RAM takes time, and on a machine that has large amounts of RAM, this calculation can take several seconds. For example, a machine that has 512MB of RAM may take up to 3 seconds just to count the memory. On top of the RAM counting, a few other tests need to be done because your computer wants to make sure that all of the hardware in your computer is working properly.

 

All of these system tests are not needed every time that you boot, and can be turned off to save time. Most system BIOS's offer a feature called quick boot. This feature will allow the user to turn off these test. Other BIOSs only allow you to turn off the memory check, which will still cut down on a lot of time.

ADVERTISEMENT

To turn on the quick boot feature or turn off the memory check, just do the following:

 

 

1. Enter the system BIOS again by pressing F2 or the correct system setup Enter key upon the POST screen.

2. Once you are in the BIOS setup, locate where it states Quick Book or Memory Check as shown in Figure 8-2. Navigate with the arrow keys until the option is highlighted.

 

Figure 8-2

Figure 8-2

click on image for full view

 

3. Use the Change Value keys to cycle through the options and select enable for the quick boot feature or disable if your systems BIOS has the memory check feature.

4. Once you have made the change to the setting, exit the system BIOS by pressing the Escape key and make sure the save the changes upon exit.

 

Use of the quick boot feature or the disabling of the memory check will not do any harm your system. In fact, there are even some computer manufactures that ship their computers with these settings already optimized for performance. The only downside to disabling the tests is in the rare situation in which your RAM self-destructs; the BIOS will not catch it and you may receive errors from the operating system or your system could become unstable. If you notice that your system becomes unstable and crashes frequently or will not even boot, try going back into the BIOS and re-enable the tests to find out if your system's memory is causing the problems

My sources : http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2005/12...-up-windows-xp/

http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2005/12...eed-up-windows/

http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2006/01...-up-windows-xp/

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1786122,00.asp

 

P. S Once you guys do the tweaks tell us how much better it is.

[Macshiba]

If you put this in Windows instead of Mods and Overclocking it would have actually been useful.

 

There are different forums for a reason.

[tierro]

It's really wierd to see this on here. It's an Osx86 forum. I might be wrong though

 

And besides that I can't agree with quite some things. Microsoft doesn't produce shyte, as you'd like to call it. We all have our preferences, and most of us like firefox, but I absolutely dislike winamp.

 

Formatting isn't the whole thing of reinstalling. Formatting isn't emptying your disk either. It sort of configures a disk, or a part of it, to be able to handle different types of file IO. It's just that usually the data get's lost by this and is therefore the perfect thing to do before installing windows.

 

I can sorta head on like this, here and there there are things which I do myself too, but are common knowledge.

 

Anyways I hope to get OSX running on my machine soon so I can contribute on that as well.

[Daksfamus]

If you put this in Windows instead of Mods and Overclocking it would have actually been useful.

 

There are different forums for a reason.

 

it's in there, but then i realized the is also considered a modification.

[vbetts]

You aren't really modifiying anything though. You're disabling some services, and visual enhancements. It's common sense that by disabling some things that it'll speed up some.

 

Even then, to just to be able to get a performance boost that's worth it, you'd have to disable much more than that.

[Daksfamus]

if you look at the parts where your going into the registry editor and the msconfig.exe your doing some drastic changes that will speed up your computer A LOT.

[vbetts]

You're disabling services and lowering the visual quality of Vista, that's not speeding Vista up really, but rather taking some of the load off so Vista can run more smooth.

[teknojunkie]

man give this guy a break, this is excellent gonna try this out

[Daksfamus]

you'll notice a big difference in feel and speed if you do them.

[Macshiba]

You're not going to notice much at all.

 

Most of this is complete false and will do little to nothing.

[CLiDE FTW!!1]

^

Source?

 

Most of it works for me, especially not checking for network folders/printers.

[DiaboliK]

most if not all these can be enabled/disabled and/or tweaked/edited thru nlite

 

skip the boring part of doing it by hand and have the installer do all the work.

 

-D-

[vbetts]

This will not have any effect on the speed of the OS. You're only freeing up some resources. It does help though some, but not enough to actually be worth much.

[Beerkex'd]

"skate videos" eh?

 

 

Also, Raxco PerfectDisk 2008 and CrapCleaner are two apps you didn't mention that should be on everyone's Windows installation.

 

I wonder why Microsoft are the only ones who say that Bootvis does not improve your boot time.

[hecker]

Format the drive every 6 months? Wow. You make windows sound even crappier than it is!

 

How about defragmenting every 6 months, instead?