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

4. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC’s performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

To disable:

* download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
* Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom.button below

5. Improve Memory Usage

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

6. 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

7. Optimise Your Pagefile

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

* 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.

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.

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.

great guide, but links to downloadable apps would be good

or you could.....


Event ID 4226 Patcher (4226 fix)

What's this all about?
After almost everybody knows the <<EventID 4226: TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts>>, I used a day to create for educational purpose a fix for this argumentative feature.

Unfortunately there exists no REG-key which could easily be set (would be so nice and easy, right? *smile*). The file TCPIP.SYS in the directory C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS and C:\WINDOWS\SERVICEPACKFILES\I386 has to be changed (system dependend eventually in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE, too).

Needed things:
- Windows XP SP2 (from RC2 upwards) or Windows 2003 Server SP1 beta
- patcher
- a small amount of time

What's been done:
To say it easy: the before 10 half-open connections are beeing increased to 50 (can be changed during runtime and with the parameter /L) and the CRC is been corrected. And that's it!

Comment:
The method described here, should only be used by users, who know how to handle all the described. With the download of the here published program the user know, that changes are made on third party files. For damages in every kind I cannot be hold responsible for. Indeed, tests worked fine here. However, nothing is impossible.
Info: When error occurs, the patcher can change the TCPIP.SYS back to the original!

Instruction:
Just download the patcher and execute it. It will automatically find the windows directory and ask, if it should increase/decrease. For higher values, please check the help with parameter /?.
After a successful patch, the new TCPIP.SYS will be automatically installed. After that, the computer should be restarted.


files found here

hxxp://www.lvllord.de/?lang=en&url=downloads

I found Black Vipers guides invaluable...he had a break for a good while but his site is up and running again with virtually every tweak possible for almost every system...if it's allowed the link is below...an absolute mine of information...written so it's all very easy to understand and follow.

Black Viper

Those tips have definitely sped things up, thanks!!

Good stuff. Thank you.

Also one of the best things you can to is to remove items from your start menu. These are the things found in your system tray whenever you boot. Some can be disabled from there by right-clicking > Select disable (or whatever)
Other items may need to be removed using msconfig.

Go to Start>Run>Type msconfig and hit enter> Go to the start menu tab and uncheck anything you don't need/want.
Leave in you AV/Firewall and anything you don't recognise.
Click apply, exit and reboot. On restart you'll see a dialogue box saying that your configuration has changed, check the box to say you don't want to see the message again.
Thats it. Improved start up times and freed up resources.

Thank`s!
Help me a lot!

Thanx Mattie

Done the whole list right now.....Some stuff seam to work faster now and yet a few seams slower....But over all an Improvement I feel.
I had Yahoo Widgets Installed and I did delete it too now as it too did slow shit down.....
Performance more Important

Wouldn't it just be easier to scrap the XP eye candy and go to the Windows 98 look?
1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties or Control Panel>Display
2. Under "Appearance" tab select "Windows Classic Style"

OK then you're done.

Some nice tips there, thanks for sharing!

Personally, although cacheman does somewhat what it advertises, installing a program that uses memory to save memory seems off. Also, there's a program called xplite that can uninstall alot of windows apps you don't want like indexing service. Good list though.

I want to use Cacheman, but is there a way to get it without having to pay for it or do that annoying trialpay thing? I can't seem to find a good keygen for it.

Thanks.

Mags

Private msg. :)

Looks Good Mattie !!! :D013:

thx for the good tips

Thanks for these tips and my XP definetly boots quicker now :)

After I did the first reboot it said that the optimizer had encountered a problem and needs to exit: Send or Don't Send. Also, BootVis didn't run after. So do i still go on to optimizing?

yeahh it definatly made a difference. thanks heaps

THanx Alot Guys (Or Ladies) You've Been EXTREMELY Helpful to us all...(And saved me about $45.00-$125.00) You're The Best

Awesome guide mattie! Very understandable step-by-step instructions :)

A HUGE difference for everything especially the internet optimizer! I run 15,000kbps and with that, the page is loaded as I open it lol!

Thanks alot :D

Thanks a lot! I didn't quite do everything on the list but I went through with a large enough chunk of it to tell that Windows is starting and running much faster now. Thanks!