XP Tweaks

[Duper]

I imagine that most of you know these, but on the off chance that some don't here's a list of teaks to help free up some resources. I knew some of these, but a couple were new.

• My Computer | Properties
  1. - Turn off \"Page File\" (Advanced>Performance>settings>Advanced>Virtual Memory)
     if the PC has >= 1GB RAM (desktops only). Laptops and desktops with <1GB RAM,
     set \"Page File\" to 2GB min/max.
  2. - Visual Effects - Adjust for best performance
  3. - System Properties > Advanced - Disable \"Error Reporting\" (lower button) uncheck box.
  4. - System Report - set tot he second lowest bar.
  5. - Recycle Bin Properties - set to 2%

• RegEdit
  1. - HKEY_Local_Machine > System > currentControlSet > Control > SessionManager > Memory Management.
     • DisablePagingExecutive - set to 1
     • (If >= 1GB RAM) LargeSystemCache - set to 1
     • PrefetchParameters - EnablePrefetcher - set to 0

• Windows Explorer options (folder options)
  1. - Detail View (Apply to All)
  2. - Uncheck 'Hide extentions for known file types'
  3. - Uncheck 'Hide protected operation system files'
  4. - (If >= 1GB RAM) Check 'Launch folder windows in a separate process'

• Delete all files in C:\\WINDOWS\\Prefetch
• Go into Computer Management (Administrative Tools)
  1. - In Event Viewer set the log size of all 3 (Application, Security, System) to 4096 KB and check 'Overwrite events as needed'
  2. - In Services and Applications > Services, disable Messenger
  • Open a command prompt and enter the following commands:
    • fsutil behavior set disable8to3 1
    • fsutil behavior set mftzone 2
    • (only on desktops) fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

• Go into msconfig after program installs and user setup to clear unnecessary programs from starting with Windows.

[Krom]

I don't know where you heard that, but disabling the page file, and prefetch will both do far more to harm windows performance then speed it up. I have 1 GB of RAM and a 1536 MB page file, just set the page file around 1.5 times larger then your ram but on a partiton where it will not become fragmented for optimal performance. The only time you should disable the page file is when it has become fragmented, disable it, defragment, then enable it again.

Prefetch does work and accelerates applications starting up, don't disable it or use utilities that \"clean\" it.

[Matrix]

I don't know where you heard that, but disabling the page file, and prefetch will both do far more to harm windows performance then speed it up. I have 1 GB of RAM and a 1536 MB page file, just set the page file around 1.5 times larger then your ram but on a partiton where it will not become fragmented for optimal performance. The only time you should disable the page file is when it has become fragmented, disable it, defragment, then enable it again.

Prefetch does work and accelerates applications starting up, don't disable it or use utilities that "clean" it.

x2

Disabling the page file died along with win98, XP is totally different.

[fyrephlie]

it's very old school... i think part of it is that a lot of linux users are still told now they don't need a swap partition anymore... maybe this to carries over lol.

really though... disabling page file scaling, and keeping it from fragmenting is the way to go...

prefetching is great... but iirc makes 'windows shutdown' take a little longer since the system has to layout the prefetch again... since it makes the programs themselves run start a little faster though... seems like the ends justifies the means.

[Krom]

That was not all that was wrong with that list, just the most glaring problems with it. Most of the others do nothing.

[Interceptor6]

Also, don't ever delete anything out of the Prefetch folder. Deleting these can cripple your performance by as much as 75%. That's a well-known XP \"myth\", don't try that one.

The same goes for the pagefile, set it to 1.5X your physical RAM for optimal performance.

[MD-2389]

Also, don't ever delete anything out of the Prefetch folder. Deleting these can cripple your performance by as much as 75%. That's a well-known XP "myth", don't try that one.

Now thats a steaming load. I clear my prefetch folder all the time and its never impacted on my performance.