Warning If you do not know much about windows registry please do not attempt without asking question's first. Please before editing anyting in the registry please back it up by clicking on start..clicking on run...type in regedit..click on file...click on export...and save the regstry to another folder such as your document's etc.

Improve XP's response time. To reduce delays in specific situations, navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop subkey. To set a lower threshold at which the system prompts you to manually end a hung task, change the HungAppTimeout value, of type REG_SZ, from the default 5000 to 1000. Be careful when you adjust this setting: If you use a program that runs slowly on XP, the OS might falsely determine that it has hung. In such a case, you can increase the HungAppTimeout value by increments of 1000 until the false "hung" detections stop.


Menu Speed
Go to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay. The default value is 400. Set it to 0 to remove the delay completely, but if you do that it will be nearly impossible to move the mouse fast enough not to activate All Programs if you mouse over it en route to your final selection. Pick a number that suits your style, make the change, and then test it until you find a good compromise between speed and usability

Place Windows Kernel into RAM
It's a given that anything that runs in RAM will be faster than an item that has to access the hard drive and virtual memory. Rather than have the kernel that is the foundation of XP using the slower Paging Executive functions, use this hack to create and set the DisablePagingExecutiveDWORD to a value of 1

WARNING
Perform this hack only if the system has 256MB or more of installed RAM!

Edit the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive to 1 to disable paging and have the kernel run in RAM (set the value to 0 to undo this hack). Exit the Registry and reboot.


Alter Prefetch Parameters
Prefetching (the reading of system boot files into a cache for faster loading) is a commonly overlooked component that can have a significant impact on system boot time. This tweak allows you to select which components will make use of the prefetch parameters. To see which files are gathered using each setting, clear the prefetch cache located at C:\Windows\Prefetch and then enable one of the settings listed in this hack. Clear the cache and repeat for each setting.

Set the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher to 0 to disable prefetching, 1 to prefetch application launch files, 2 to prefetch boot files, or 3 to prefetch as many files as possible.


Disable 8.3 Name Creation in NTFS
Files that use the 8.3 naming convention can degrade NTFS drive performance. Unless you have a good reason for keeping the 8.3 naming convention intact (such as if you're using 16-bit programs), a performance gain can be achieved by disabling it.

Set the Registry DWORD key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\FileSystem\NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation to 1. Exit the Registry and reboot

Add or Remove Programs Restrictions (Windows 2000/XP)
These restrictions apply to the Add/Remove Programs feature of Control Panel. They allow you to entirely or individually disable components.

Open your registry and find the key below.
Create a new DWORD value for each restriction required according to the table below. Set the value to equal "1" to enable the restriction or "0" to disable it.

NoAddRemovePrograms - Disable Add/Remove Programs
NoRemovePage - Disable Change and Remove Programs
NoAddPage - Disable Add Programs
NoWindowsSetupPage - Disable Windows Components Wizard
NoAddFromCDorFloppy - Hide "Add a program from CD-ROM or disk" option
NoAddFromInternet - Hide "Add programs from Microsoft" option
NoAddFromNetwork - Hide "Add programs from your network" option
NoServices - Go directly to Windows Components Wizard
NoSupportInfo - Disable Support Information You may need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\...
Registry Settings
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\
Uninstall]
System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Policies\
Uninstall]
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = enable restriction)

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