More Ways To Speed Up Windows XP

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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

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