More Ways To Speed Up Windows XP


We recommend! Click Here to Turbo Charge your PC and internet

Ensure XP Is Using DMA Mode

XP enables DMA for Hard-Drives and CD-Roms by default on most ATA or ATAPI (IDE) devices. However, sometimes computers switch to PIO mode which is slower for data transfer – a typical reason is because of a virus. To ensure that your machine is using DMA:

    1. Open ‘Device Manager’
    2. Double-click ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers’
    3. Right-click ‘Primary Channel’ and select ‘Properties’ and then ‘Advanced Settings’
    4. In the ‘Current Transfer Mode’ drop-down box, select ‘DMA if Available’ if the current setting is ‘PIO Only’

Add Correct Network Card Settings

Some machines suffer from jerky graphics or high CPU usage even when a machine is idle. A possible solution for this, which, can also can help network performance is to:

    1. RightClick ‘My Computer’
    2. Select ‘Manage’
    3. Click on ‘Device Manager’
    4. DoubleClick your network adaptor under ‘Network Adapters’
    5. In the new window, select the ‘Advanced’ tab6. Select ‘Connection Type’ and select the correct type for your card and then Reboot

Remove Annoying Delete Confirmation Messages

Although not strictly a performance tweak I love this fix as it makes my machine ‘feel’ faster. I hate the annoying ‘are you sure?’ messages that XP displays, especially if I have to use a laptop touchpad to close them. To remove these messages:

    1. Right-click on the ‘Recycle Bin’ on the desktop and then click ‘Properties’
    2. Clear the ‘Display Delete Confirmation Dialog’ check box and click ‘Ok’If you do accidently delete a file don’t worry as all is not lost. Just go to your Recycle Bin and ‘Restore’ the file.

Disable Prefetch on Low Memory Systems

Prefetch is designed to speed up program launching by preloading programs into memory – not a good idea is memory is in short supply, as it can make programs hang. To disable prefetch:

    1. Click ‘Start’ then ‘Run’
    2. Type in ‘Regedit’ then click ‘Ok’
    3. Navigate to ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
    Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters’
    4. Right-click on “EnablePrefetcher” and set the value to ‘0′
    5. Reboot.

I hope you find these changes useful. If you have any tips you want to share, or if you have any questions about the tips listed here then please leave a comment below.

Update: This guide has been updated and augmented in The Complete Guide To Optimising Windows XP

Related Posts

Filed Under: Tools & Tips

Tags:

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.

RSSComments (24)

Leave a Reply | Trackback URL

  1. Caf says:

    About this part:

    Speed Up Boot Times I

    This tweak works by creating a batch file to clear the temp and history folders everytime you shutdown so that your PC doesn’t waste time checking these folders the next time it boots. It’s quite simple to implement:

    1. Open Notepad and create a new file with the following entries:

    * RD /S /q “C:\Documents and Settings”UserName without quotes”\Local Settings\History”
    * RD /S /q “C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History”
    * RD /S /q “D:\Temp” <–”Deletes temp folder, type in the location of your temp folder”

    Where is the temp folder you are referring to for example windows has one by its own, each user has it’s own and do you mean temp folder or temporary internet files, which temp folder do you mean, and there are programs out there to delete these things(CCleaner,Index.dat Analyzer

  2. Everton says:

    @caf

    CCleaner etc don’t clear out the crap every boot automatically. If you have more than one user, then add a line to the batch file for each user.

  3. dhon says:

    how can i download videos in a fastest way???????

  4. Coop says:

    Also switch to Opera for a web browser.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Connected Internet | The Complete Guide To Optimising Windows XP
  2. Trip Around the Blogosphere 9-9-2007 | Pajama Professional
  3. how do i change what starts up in windows xp
  4. 10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows XP | Wallpapers gratis, Fondos Gratis

Subscribe without commenting

Leave a Reply

CommentLuv Enabled
Comment Policy: Any comments are permitted only because the site owner is letting you post, and any comments could be removed for any reason at the absolute discretion of the site owner.