10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows XP
Everton | Dec 03, 2005 | Comments 162
We recommend! Click Here to Turbo Charge your PC and internet
8. Run BootVis – Improve Boot Times
BootVis will significantly improve boot times
- Download and Run
- Select Trace
- Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
- A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
- Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system’s boot process. When it’s done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
- Reboot.
- When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete
9. Remove the Desktop Picture
Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.
- Right click on Desktop and select Properties
- Select the Desktop tab
- In the Background window select None
- Click Ok
10. Remove Fonts for Speed
Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.
- Open Control Panel
- Open Fonts folder
- Move fonts you don’t need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.
Hope you find these 10 tips useful please leave a comment below and please share any other tips you may have with other readers.
Update: This guide has been updated and augmented in The Complete Guide To Optimising Windows XP
Continue Reading This Post:123
Related Posts
- More Ways To Speed Up Windows XP
- 10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows Vista
- 10 Intermediate Ways To Speed Up Windows
- The Complete Guide To Optimising Windows XP
- Turn XP into a Blazing Speed Demon
- Windows Trick: How To Add Items To Your Windows Explorer Right Click Menu
- Five Ways To Speed Up Outlook 2007
Filed Under: Internet News • Tools & Tips
Bookmark & Share
About the Author: Everton is based in London and has worked in the internet and mobile space for over ten years now, and before that worked in corporate strategy and consulting. He has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, and currently runs the Portal and online operations for one of the largest ISPs in the UK.
He also writes for Windows 8 News, Windows 8 News and One Tip A Day.





I’ve been banging my head against Vista for months. I’m probably the only person in the world who likes it over Xp, although XP was always faster.
Alot of your tips work well for Windows Vista (but needed some tweaking), and Ive managed to speed my Vista laptop up considerably.
Thanks!
Thanks for that – I still use XP in preference to Vista as it’s a lot faster, but even so it does slow down a lot over time compared to when I first installed it so any tips to crank the speed back up are much appreciated!
Vista aint slower then XP…
If you configure it correctly, its faster.
Also disabling the Wallpaper is bullshit…
No one runs an XP System with less then 256MB of ram, and then the Wallpaper doesnt even affect the spead if you measure it…
i run XP at 128MB of ram,an so do others.so it’s not true when you say that no one runs XP with less than 256MB of ram.
there are things you can get rid of in the registry to speed up your machine and turn off services that are not needed, for example you can make help and support manual and stop the service meaning it want start but is available if needed, to change the registry is easy to follow the steps
start
run
type in regedit
expand HKEY_local_machine
expand Software
expand microsoft
expand windows
expand current version
click run
in here is evrything that starts on start up you should be able to tell what you can delete things like quicktime itunes real player just be careful if you can tell what it is dont do it. this will also work with vista
I have also set up a blog which shows you how to tweak your Windows XP and which software to run to speed it up.
Check it out
http://debianguru.blogspot.com.
Thanks, this stuff actually works!
defragmentation also increases speed of a PC by using software tuneup utility
Thanks. I noticed significant improvement in my PC’s speed after following some of your tips.
yeah, worked for me as well
tony´s last blog ..View Comics On Your iPhone
I’ve optimized! My computer runs smother now. Thanks for the advice on the matter. It took me no time.