10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows XP
Update: If you are using Windows Vista then check out 10 Simple Ways To SpeedUp Windows Vista. If are feeling more adventurous I have also posted 10 Intermediate Ways To Speed Up Windows and also More Ways to Speed Up Windows XP
I’ve just finished setting up a new PC for a friend and I think some of you will be interested in some of the tweaks I make to all of my PCs to make them quicker. I’ve focused here on the ones which are simple to do and won’t cause problems if you get it wrong, rather than listing registry tweaks etc.
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
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Comment by Mark from Bloglyne on 14 January 2008:
Looking through your archives - have you thought about doing a Vista version of this article?
Comment by TechDune on 30 December 2007:
I actually was googling for speeding up vista and came into this page .:)
A list of 3 procedures..will try one by one and let you know.Thanks
Comment by jsubbu on 29 December 2007:
thanks man its useful for me
Comment by Anonymous on 17 December 2007:
Wherez those 10 tips to speed up this server where this page runs on. ^^
Got to see if I never need these, but everything little is something. Tho I kno most of these tricks by my own.
Comment by sendit on 5 December 2007:
#5 and 6 are bollocks because nothing on the instructions above relates to anything in the program. I know nothing about these programs or what they do and if I read instructions telling me to click on things which aren’t there then I assume the person who wrote this page doesn’t know either.
Comment by Eric Barker on 1 December 2007:
Thanks for posting! Didn’t know about #3, auto-searching for network files and printers. Made the change and it’s faster!
Comment by Jacob on 22 November 2007:
Actually I prefer to have the desktop wallpaper and some Windows visual enhancements. But afterall your article is useful especially on the folder part. Thank you. Found a similar article, hope it is useful too:
http://www.tipskey.com/computer/speed_up_computer_without_paying.htm
Comment by Rosie on 21 November 2007:
These comments have been invaluable to me as is this whole site. I thank you for your comment.
Comment by fertdert on 18 November 2007:
i did these things and now my explorer bar is gone
HELP!!!!
Comment by Selbourne on 14 November 2007:
“Speedup Folder Browsing” this was a very useful resource. Its been a marked improvement since I have done this small change. Thanks