This is a document to help everyone trying to squeeze a bit more performance out of Windoze XP. I take no responsibility if these instructions cause your computer and half the neighbourhood around it to vaporize.
There are some programs mentioned here. These are not meant to be advertisements. I have had the opportunity to test lots of software, and these are the programs that I have found to do their job quicker than all others.
There are a few things you can do to speed up XP, which may or may not give Chankast a bit more of a chance to do it's job quicker:
1. Adjust your desktop for performance.
To do this, right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties" from the menu. The "System Properties" window will now appear. Select "Advanced" from the tabs at the top of the window. Click the "Settings" button in the "Performance" box. The "Performance Options" window will now appear. Click "Adjust for best performance" then click "Apply" and click "OK". The "Performance Options" window will now close. Click "OK" on the "System Properties" window to close that as well.
2. Disable System Restore.
I never use it because it only works when it wants to. If you don't know what it is then you don't really need it. It wastes heaps of hard drive space, and kills performance. It's the first thing I disable after installing XP. Here's how. Right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties" from the menu. The "System Properties" window will now appear. Select "System Restore" from the tabs at the top of the window. Click the box that says "Turn off System Restore on all drives". It should now have a tick in the box. Click "Apply" and then click "OK".
3. Disable Hibernation.
Once more, I never use it because it only works when it wants to. If you don't know what it is then you don't really need it. It wastes heaps of hard drive space, and kills performance. It's also the second thing I disable after installing XP. Here's how. Right-click somewhere on your desktop where there are no icons and select "Properties" from the menu. The "Display Properties" window will now appear. Select "Screen Saver" from the tabs at the top of the window. Click the "Power" button on this window. The "Power Options Properties" window will now appear. There will be a tab at the top called "Hibernate". If there isn't then your computer is not able to hibernate so you can cancel out of this. If there is a "Hibernate" tab then select it. Now click the "Enable hibernation" box. There should be no tick in the box. Click "Apply" and then click "OK" to close the "Power Options Properties" window. Click "OK" to close the "Display Properties" window.
4. Check your hard-drive is not over-full.
As you install programs on your computer, you use hard-drive space. As you run out of hard-drive space, Windows becomes slower. XP likes a fair amount of free hard-drive space to play with. If space gets tight then XP slows down. To check you have enough free space, do the following. Double-click "My Computer". This will open a list of all the drives on your computer. You need to check "(C)" . It may be called "Local Disk(C)" or "Something(C)" but whatever it's called, just right-click it and select "Properties" from the menu. You should see a window with a blue and purple pie chart on it. If the purple piece represents less than 15% of the entire pie, then your hard-drive is over full, and you will be losing performance as a result of this. I normally try to have 1/4 or 25% of the pie purple. If you have less than 15% purple, then you will need to uninstall some software in order to free up more space.
5. Defragment your hard-drive.
If you don't know what this is about then you need to do it. Here's how. To begin with, make sure you have performed step 4 first, and that you have more than 15% free hard-drive space. Click the "Start" button and select "All programs", then "Accessories", then "System Tools" and finally click "Disk Defragmenter". This will open the "Disk Defragmenter" program. Now click the "Defragment" button. This can take a while and it's best to leave the computer alone while it is doing this. Once it has finished, a small window will appear telling you the defragmention is complete. Click "OK" to close this window. You can now close the "Disk Defragmenter" program. Reboot your computer after you do all this.
6. Speedup tools.
There are hundreds of tools floating around the internet saying that they will speed your computer up. The truth is that most of them do the reverse, plus they normally contain spyware or ads. You don't need them. There has only ever been 1 tool that I have ever found that does speed up xp and it's called SpeederXP. It has one slider to control speed and it does precisely what it says. I still use it today, and have never found anything remotely like it. Try it and see for yourself.
http://www.speederxp.com/en/index.html
7. Virus checkers.
All virus checkers slow your system down. Some more than others. I have found that F-Prot antivirus puts the least strain on my computer. Once again, try and see.
http://www.f-prot.com/products/currentversions.html
8. Video Card Drivers.
Forget about the drivers that came with your card. Get Omega Drivers instead. Note that Omega Drivers are already optimized for performance, so don't change any settings on them other than screen resolution or refresh rate. If you do, then you lose the speed benefits that Omega Drivers give you. Also, when you take your old drivers off, use Driver Cleaner to remove any remaining driver files before putting your new Omega Drivers on.
http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/
http://www.omegadrivers.net/archive.php
There are some programs mentioned here. These are not meant to be advertisements. I have had the opportunity to test lots of software, and these are the programs that I have found to do their job quicker than all others.
There are a few things you can do to speed up XP, which may or may not give Chankast a bit more of a chance to do it's job quicker:
1. Adjust your desktop for performance.
To do this, right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties" from the menu. The "System Properties" window will now appear. Select "Advanced" from the tabs at the top of the window. Click the "Settings" button in the "Performance" box. The "Performance Options" window will now appear. Click "Adjust for best performance" then click "Apply" and click "OK". The "Performance Options" window will now close. Click "OK" on the "System Properties" window to close that as well.
2. Disable System Restore.
I never use it because it only works when it wants to. If you don't know what it is then you don't really need it. It wastes heaps of hard drive space, and kills performance. It's the first thing I disable after installing XP. Here's how. Right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties" from the menu. The "System Properties" window will now appear. Select "System Restore" from the tabs at the top of the window. Click the box that says "Turn off System Restore on all drives". It should now have a tick in the box. Click "Apply" and then click "OK".
3. Disable Hibernation.
Once more, I never use it because it only works when it wants to. If you don't know what it is then you don't really need it. It wastes heaps of hard drive space, and kills performance. It's also the second thing I disable after installing XP. Here's how. Right-click somewhere on your desktop where there are no icons and select "Properties" from the menu. The "Display Properties" window will now appear. Select "Screen Saver" from the tabs at the top of the window. Click the "Power" button on this window. The "Power Options Properties" window will now appear. There will be a tab at the top called "Hibernate". If there isn't then your computer is not able to hibernate so you can cancel out of this. If there is a "Hibernate" tab then select it. Now click the "Enable hibernation" box. There should be no tick in the box. Click "Apply" and then click "OK" to close the "Power Options Properties" window. Click "OK" to close the "Display Properties" window.
4. Check your hard-drive is not over-full.
As you install programs on your computer, you use hard-drive space. As you run out of hard-drive space, Windows becomes slower. XP likes a fair amount of free hard-drive space to play with. If space gets tight then XP slows down. To check you have enough free space, do the following. Double-click "My Computer". This will open a list of all the drives on your computer. You need to check "(C)" . It may be called "Local Disk(C)" or "Something(C)" but whatever it's called, just right-click it and select "Properties" from the menu. You should see a window with a blue and purple pie chart on it. If the purple piece represents less than 15% of the entire pie, then your hard-drive is over full, and you will be losing performance as a result of this. I normally try to have 1/4 or 25% of the pie purple. If you have less than 15% purple, then you will need to uninstall some software in order to free up more space.
5. Defragment your hard-drive.
If you don't know what this is about then you need to do it. Here's how. To begin with, make sure you have performed step 4 first, and that you have more than 15% free hard-drive space. Click the "Start" button and select "All programs", then "Accessories", then "System Tools" and finally click "Disk Defragmenter". This will open the "Disk Defragmenter" program. Now click the "Defragment" button. This can take a while and it's best to leave the computer alone while it is doing this. Once it has finished, a small window will appear telling you the defragmention is complete. Click "OK" to close this window. You can now close the "Disk Defragmenter" program. Reboot your computer after you do all this.
6. Speedup tools.
There are hundreds of tools floating around the internet saying that they will speed your computer up. The truth is that most of them do the reverse, plus they normally contain spyware or ads. You don't need them. There has only ever been 1 tool that I have ever found that does speed up xp and it's called SpeederXP. It has one slider to control speed and it does precisely what it says. I still use it today, and have never found anything remotely like it. Try it and see for yourself.
http://www.speederxp.com/en/index.html
7. Virus checkers.
All virus checkers slow your system down. Some more than others. I have found that F-Prot antivirus puts the least strain on my computer. Once again, try and see.
http://www.f-prot.com/products/currentversions.html
8. Video Card Drivers.
Forget about the drivers that came with your card. Get Omega Drivers instead. Note that Omega Drivers are already optimized for performance, so don't change any settings on them other than screen resolution or refresh rate. If you do, then you lose the speed benefits that Omega Drivers give you. Also, when you take your old drivers off, use Driver Cleaner to remove any remaining driver files before putting your new Omega Drivers on.
http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/
http://www.omegadrivers.net/archive.php
just one more to add...