Related Articles

Cleaning Prefetch

Just like everything else in windows after a while the prefetch ends up with files that haven't been used in quite a while. Every so often you should browse to C:/windows/prefetch and clean out what you don't need.

Disable Auto reboot

1. Right Click My computer and hit properties
2. Go to Advanced
3. Under the Startup and Recovery section, click Settings...
4. Under System Failure un-check "Automatically restart"

Crappy "Features"

Windows Xp has a number of features that are not needed by most of us and use up valuable resources.

Automatic Updates

Right click my computer, hit properties
Automatic updates
Turn off

Turn off System Restore

Go to your Control Panel

Click System

Go to the System Restore tab

Check the box Turn off System Restore for all drives

For some of you disabling this isn't a good idea. If you are going to do this you should make this the very last tweak that you try. You should also turn this back on before you make any major changes to your OS. This is a way that will help free up some resources but it comes at a cost. Windows XP by default has many many safety nets. It will improve system performance if you're flying without the safety net. BUT if you fall without the nets properly in place then you die.

Turn off Automatic Updates

Go to your Control Panel

Click System

Go to the Automatic Updates tab

Click the turn off updates box

Turn off user tracking

Run gpedit.msc

User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Start Menu and taskbar

Look for Turn off user tracking and double click on it

Select Enable

This setting prevents the system from tracking the programs users run, the paths they navigate, and the documents they open. The system uses this information to customize Windows features, such as personalized menus.

If you enable this setting, the system does not track these user actions. The system disables customized features that require user tracking information, including personalized menus.

The Default start menu relies on this. If you're using the classic start menu like I am then make sure you turn this off cause it doesn't do any good for you.

Remove Built in CD burning

Run gpedit.msc

User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Explorer

Look for Remove CD Burning Features and double click on it

Choose enabled and apply

I suggest using a third party program such as Nero or Adaptecs EZ CD Creator.

Networking

This is where I am putting all of the LAN and modem related tweaks.

Share browsing speedup

Why does browsing shared folders on some computers take so much longer than it does on some other machines? Something as simple as having any Scheduled tasks on the computer you're trying to browse can add up to 30 seconds of waiting! Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to disable this process. You'll have to open up regedit. The key that you will want to change is in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace directory. Browse through the contents and find a key called {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. Delete this nasty little key. As with all registry changes it will require a reboot for the changes to take affect.