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Upgrader764’s Guide to Optimization of Windows

These Windows optimizations are to be used at your own risk, I or PCHF cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your operating system, or data lost, as an effect from using these settings. Any options in the registry should be altered with the utmost care.

I also recommend you backup the registry before using any software on it. How to back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003


In this guide I have compiled lots of tips to increase performance on your PC. NB: this is mainly aimed at PC's with a Microsoft Windows Operating System.


Essential Software for Security and Maintenance

• Defragmenter

This should be performed weekly to keep your system in good order. You can use the defragmenter built into windows, but if you want better performance from defragging then you may want to purchase a defragmenter which will also be faster. Other alternatives include: Diskeeper, Vopt XP and PerfectDisk.

A good tip before performing a defrag is to clear up your computer. This can be done within windows or you can use a free program called CCleaner, which performs slightly better, to perform this in Windows you can use Disk Cleanup. Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. And then select the drive you wish to clean and click OK.

To perform a defrag using the built in windows utility go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Then click “Defragment” to perform the operation.

• Antivirus

Antivirus software is one of the most important pieces of security software. Antivirus software is designed to eliminate computer viruses and other malicious software that may have got onto your computer. I recommend running an Anti-virus scan at least once a week. Windows does not have built-in Antivirus software, however you can download free antivirus software if you wish or you can purchase it. I would recommend purchasing it as you will get better protection, however the free alternatives are very good. For example AVG Free Edition is a good piece of Antivirus software and will eliminate a lot of pc viruses and includes real-time protection. However if you wish to purchase some I recommend NOD32 which is a nice antivirus with and very light on resources, which means it will not hog up your RAM.

• Firewall

A firewall is a piece of software which will limit access to your computer and access to the internet from programs to stop unauthorized access (by hackers etc) and stop any malware if present accessing the internet. There is a firewall built into Windows XP Service Pack 2 which is ok but I recommend you get better protection by getting a commercial firewall. There are a lot paid for firewall’s available but there are some very efficient free versions like Zonealarm, which is a lot better than the Windows Firewall.

• Spyware Scanner

A spyware scanner is a very useful tool. It will scan your pc and get rid of any nasties like adware and malware. There are many spyware scanners out there, but again there are some very good free versions. I recommend Spybot Search and Destroy, which is a very comprehensive tool.

• Registry Cleaner

Another useful tool is a registry cleaner which will scan for and repair any problems within the windows registry. I recommend using the freeware registry cleaner – Regseeker.


Good XP Tweaks for Improved Performance

Below is a list of useful XP tweaks and how to perform them. And below that there is some service tweaking information. All these tweaks are designed to speed up your computer and improve performance, however you may find that you need one of the objects listed below, so do not disable anything if you need it. Also I recommend you make a notepad file listing the tweaks you have performed for future notice in case you need to restore them.

To start I have two very hungry Windows services which use quite a lot of RAM. These are Indexing and System Restore. Blackviper.com which is currently not working is a useful website, but what we need from the site is in a PDF document which I found here

If you are not familiar with the Windows Registry then I would recommend not performing any of the tweaks which involve the registry.


Indexing Service
The indexing service uses about 500KB to 2MB, it also use a lot of CPU resources. I personally have this service turned off.

How to:
Start > Run > services.msc > Indexing service > Stop it, then choose ‘disabled’ at the startup option.

If you wish to remove it completely you can via Add/remove programs and Windows Setup Components.


System Restore
If you don’t use Windows System Restore then disable it. System restore takes up a lot of disk space on your hard drives and if you don’t use it then you might as well retrieve some free disk space.

To turn it off:
Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System > System Restore tab > and Check ‘System restore’ > then OK to apply the setting.

Then you will need to disable the system restore service:
Start > Run > type services.msc > Double Click System Restore Service > Stop and Disable it.

Other General WinXP Tweaks

Disable Windows XP Themes
With Windows XP came some new themes, which are all colourful and high on RAM usage. If you are not bothered about the new themes you can disable them and go back to grey. You may save up to 12MB of RAM by disabling the themes.

How to:
Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System > Go to the Advanced tab > Under performance, select settings > Visual Effects > and ‘Adjust for Best performance > and then click the OK button.

Also If you want to you can disable the themes service from running:
Start > Run > services.msc > double click Themes Service > Stop and Disable the service.

System Tray Icons and Services
Even though them fancy icons at the bottom-right hand corner of your desktop on the taskbar look good and provide easy access they do take up a lot of system resources and therefore slow down your computer. If you do not need some of them running at startup, then disable them using CCleaner (above). But make sure you leave your security software enabled and running. You can find out what any of them are in CCleaner, if you don't recognize one find out what it is by entering it into Google.

In CCleaner:
Open it up > Click the Tools tab > Then Startup > then click ones that you want to stop and click delete entry at the bottom.

Windows XP Hibernate
If you wish to save on disk space a good idea would be to disable the Hibernate function if you don’t need it. It can be disabled by going to: Start > Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate > then uncheck ‘Enable Hibernate’.


XP: Slow Shutdown
If you’re Windows XP PC shuts down slow or ‘hangs’ then try this tweak.

Response Time For ‘Hung Applications
This will specify the time before Windows XP automatically shuts down applications which are ‘hanging’ during shutdown/log off. For this we will need to use the registry.

Go to Start > Run > type regedit > Click OK > Navigate to: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] > then locate HungAppTimeout > double click it and change the value data to 1000 which is 1 second > Complete , Close the registry.

Also take a look at this thread where there is a download which can help.

Registry Tweaks
Here are some sites with lots more registry tweaks but I have listed some of the good ones.

Win XP Tweaking: XPTUNEUP
Windows 9x and ME Reg Tweaks: SpeedGuide.net :: Windows 9x/ME Registry TweaksTweakXP.com - Windows XP Tweaks, Tips, Hacks, Visual Styles, Support, and Software
Windows Registry Guide - Registry tweaks and fixes for Windows systems
Windows 2000 and XP Reg Tweaks: SpeedGuide.net :: Windows 2000/XP Registry Tweaks


Prefetch Tweak
This will only work in XP. It could improve performance a bit by tweaking this folder which is a cache folder.

How to:
Go to Start > Run > type regedit > Click OK > Navigate to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters] > then locate EnablePrefetcher > Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both I recommend ‘3’).> Complete , Close the registry.

Enable Boot Defrag
Windows XP can do a boot defragment which will place all the files required for booting next to each other on the hard drive thus enabling for faster booting. This is normally turned on but sometimes it can be found off. I recommend you turn it on.

Go to Start > Run > type regedit > Click OK > Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOpt imizeFunction] > then locate EnablePrefetcher >Double click Enable .> Change the value to Y for enabled and N if you want it disabled > Then reboot your pc.

General Performance

This tweak I found on the forums from GarHar. It is supposed to increase general performance over the whole computer. Start -> Run -> Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> PriorityControl

Once in here, create a new DWORD value called IRQ8Priority with the value of 1 Reboot.

Disable the Unused Ports
If you don’t use all the ports on your pc, for example USB or COM ports, you might as well disable them for increased performance. You will find when you disable ports that are unused that your boot time will be faster.

To disable ports on your pc please go to:

Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware tab > Device Manager > right click the a port and then select ‘disable’.

Then reboot your PC.


Steps for a Fresh Reinstall/Reformat
When you reformat or f-disk your hard drive and have installed windows I recommend following these steps in order to continue the process:

• Install Windows
• Motherboard and the Chipset drivers
• Graphics Card Drivers
• Install Real-time Security Software and update them (for protection)
• Service Packs from windows if any
• DirectX Update
• Other hardware drivers inc. modem, sound, network/lan etc
• Critical Updates from Microsoft for Windows
• Install all other programs, update them and choose their settings
• A Full Defrag
• Also if you can it is a good idea to get your hard drive with all programs down to about 5gb and then create a bootable dvd with a program like Norton Ghost for when you next restore so everything is there as it is now. Most programs will compress data aswell.

It is also a good idea to backup drivers on CD before you format, so there is no risk of getting infected and restart after each driver install.

This concludes this guide. If you have followed some of these tweaks you should now find your PC is performing better. If you have had any problems with these please don’t hesitate to post in the forums for help. On a final note take a look at TuneXP for some extra tweaking and better performance.

These Windows optimizations are to be used at your own risk, I or PCHF cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your operating system, or data lost, as an effect from using these settings. Any options in the registry should be altered with the utmost care.

Thanks for reading,

Upgrader764



P.S. Any suggestions anyone wants to make feel free, im always open to comments too.

You can delete this post but this is a good guide for XP myths..

XP Myths

a comment! Thanks .

How much does registry cleaning really help? I have heard several times that registry cleaning isn't that useful and doesn't speed your pc up that much.

I don't agree... it makes my PC noticably faster/more stable.I do it once a week. More sometimes.
Some people also claim there's no need to defrag... either at all(!) or more than once a year(!).
I would not want to run my PC if I had not defragged for that long. I run Diskeeper to keep it tuned right up.
Never have to touch it really.

I am a person who's alway trying new programs... and other stuff. If I don't run a cleaner for a while... when I do-- the debris from old uninstalls would fill a book.
Some of those bits of code can interfere with other apps when they try to run. Especially security -- firewalls/AV... it can also interfere with new installs.

Ever try PCPitstop ?
see what it comes up with on your PC.

Welcome to PC PitStop!

Oh, yeah. Nice guide upgrader

Yeah, nice guide upgrader, and i agree with ih8bills. I do alot of experimenting with programs too. The uninstaller in alot of programs leaves bits and pieces behind, and if you do alot of installing/deleting/uninstalling, and file shuffling, things tend to get scrambled up a bit. When my machines start acting goofy, cleaning up, cleaning out the registry, and defragging always help speed things up and get em back to normal.