The Complete Guide To Optimising Windows XP

Improve Memory Usage With Cacheman

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings. Once Installed:

• Go to Show Wizard and select All
• Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing
• Exit and Save Cacheman
• Restart Windows

Optimise your internet connection

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer

• Download and install
• Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
• Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
• Check Optimal Settings then Apply
• Reboot

Optimise Your Pagefile

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

• Right click on My Computer and select Properties
• Select the Advanced tab
• Under Performance choose the Settings button
• Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
• Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

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

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.

INTERMEDIATE

Turn Off System Restore

System Restore can be a useful if your computer is having problems, however storing all the restore points can literally take up Gigabytes of space on your hard drive. To turn off System Restore:

• Open Control Panel
• Click on Performance and Maintenance
• Click on System
• Click on the System Restore tab
• Tick ‘Turn off System Restore on All Drives’
• Click ‘Ok’

Defragment Your Pagefile

Keeping your pagefile defragmented can provide a major performance boost. One of the best ways of doing this is to creat a separate partition on your hard drive just for your page file, so that it doesn’t get impacted by normal disk usage. Another way of keeping your pagefile defragmented is to run PageDefrag. This cool little app can be used to defrag your pagefile, and can also be set to defrag the pagefile everytime your PC starts. To install:

• Download and Run PageDefrag
• Tick ‘Defrag at next Reboot’,
• Click ‘Ok’
• Reboot

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