Fresh install with no ACPI.
Written By: Alcatraz | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 3101 | Print Tweak |
2/18/2002
Just press F5 after the first screen asking if you have raid devices to install
(will ask at bottom of screen to press F6) keep pressing F5 to second screen
where it will ask to press F2 for recovery console. Keep holding F5 and should
get another screen where it will say that it cannot recognize type of pc. There
you have two choices: standard pc and other. Select standard and voila no ACPI
will be installed.
Stop Jerkey Graphics
Written By: Jazzman | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 4825 | Print Tweak |
2/18/2002
I have for a long time had problems with "jerky" graphics in some 3d games and
3dmark, and have had relativly high cpu loads in idle condition. The cpu load
would pulse from 1-2% up to 10-12%-load with about three-five seconds
intervals...(in idle) The jerking has not been due to low perfomance hardware or
old drivers and I have had the problems on two seperate systems. If you are
connected to a LAN and have similar problems, this might be the solution:
1.RightClick "MyComputer" 2.Select "Manage" 3.Click on "Device Manager"
4.DoubleClick on your NIC under "Network Adapters" 5.In the new window, select
the "Advanced" tab 6.Select "Connection Type" and manuelly set the value of your
NIC. (Not "Auto Sense" which is default.) 7.You should reboot... On my systems
the "jerking" in 3D games was completly gone, and so was the high idle cpu load.
This tip also applies to Win2K.
CDFS Tweaks
Written By: Nutterpc | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 2802 | Print Tweak |
2/16/2002
Howdy all........Whats the one thing we hate most when copying something from
CD, for me at least, is the speed in which the data is copied.
After many months of research, I have found what I consider the best CDFS
settings to have, and my DVD drive never copied so good ;)
Here is the changes that must be made
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\CDFS
Look for that registry key, if not there, we must create a new key, then add the
following values
CacheSize, this must be added as a binary value, then type in this value: ff ff
00 00
Prefetch, this key must be added as a DWORD value, then type in this value: 4000
hex
PrefetchTail, this key must be added as a DWORD value, then type in this value:
4000 hex
After that tweaking, try copying something across from CD, and you will notice
it does produce a speed boost, but it becomes apparent after a while of using
this tweak, you may or may not see it at first.
Let the ripping begin
Services Info and Configurations
Written By: Black Viper | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 10099 | Print Tweak |
2/13/2002
Do you mean that out of 89 services, 36 are set to Automatic as DEFAULT, but, we
MAY only need 5 running? In short, yes.
More detail on XP Service decriptions and dependencies can be found at:
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm
Suggested configurations for tuning internet gateway and gaming systems can be
found at:
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
Disable Debug Scripting in Internet Explorer
Written By: Adam S. Kirschner | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 4966 | Print
Tweak | 2/5/2002
Don't you hate it when you are browsing a page it asks you "Would you like to
debug this page?" Well here's a nifty and easy way to turn it off.
Right Click on Internet Explorer and Click Properties ----- or ----- Open
Internet Explorer. Click Tools | Internet Options
Click The "Advanced" Tab
The 4th Item in "Browsing" should say "Disable Script Debugging"
Check it and you are all set! Enjoy a Debug-Free Browsing experience.
Disable XP Boot Logo
Written By: Oleg | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 18251 | Print Tweak |
2/4/2002
It is possible to disable XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the
overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause
you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert ... ),
but if your system runs without any problems then it should not matter.
1. Edit boot.ini 2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".
Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by
removing the new switch.
Slow network access not always due to Scheduled tasks check
Written By: Graybeard | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 8654 | Print Tweak |
1/28/2002
If you have very slow access to your network computers through "My network
Places" and have already deleted the Registry entry calling for a check of
Scheduled Tasks on the other network computers (documented elsewhere on this
site) AND you have multiple network adaptors (i.e. a cable or DSL connection
through one NIC and an internal network using a second NIC) check the following.
Right click on "My Network Places", go to properties. Right click on the NIC
that your cable/DSL connects to, and chose properties. Select Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP), and click on properties. Click on "advanced", go to "WINS" tab, and
chose Disable NetBios over TCP/IP.
When you are back at your Network Connections page, right click on the Broadband
selection, chose "properties" click on the networking tab. Again, chose TCP/IP,
properties, advanced, WINS, and select "disable NetBios over TCP/IP"
Worked for me!
BTW, I don't use ICS (can never get it configured right) and instead use Sygate
for my Connection Sharing, so I can't verify that with ICS netbios is enabled in
the broadband connection and the modem NIC.The Wizard might catch it, but take a
look just in case.
CD ROM Stops AutoPlaying...
Written By: Decon | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 10265 | Print Tweak |
12/29/2001
...and the AutoPlay Tab has disappeared in My Computer, Devices With Removable
Storage, Right Click on CDROM, Properties.
Solution: The service: "Shell Hardware Detection" has been set to Manual or
Disabled. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Return this
service to "Automatic".
Hope this helps! Decon
Diskcache
Written By: Dr. Dong | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 73007 | Print Tweak |
12/24/2001
Diskcache plays a very important role in WinXP. However, the default I/O
pagefile setting of XP is conservative, which limits the performance. Some
better values for different RAM are given below.
1. run "regedit"; 2. goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management\IoPageLockLimit]; 3. modify the value in Hex depending
on the size of your RAM: RAM: modified value(Hex) 64M: 1000; 128M: 4000; 256M:
10000; 512M or more: 40000. 4. reboot.
Though some good tools (such as "Cacheman") can do this, it is an interesting
experience for you to work it out by yourself and let your XP fly.
Increase speed by tweaking prefetcher settings
Written By: Dr. Dong | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 38192 | Print Tweak |
12/23/2001
This is an unique technique for XP, which could improve the performance
significantly by tweaking the prefetcher. Recommended hardware: PIII 800 or
higher, 512M RAM or more.
1. run "regedit"; 2. goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher]; 3. Set the value
to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is
recommended). 4. reboot.
It will decrease the boot time but double and increase the performance of your
XP. Try it!
Users not interested in fancy windows and colors
Written By: WickedWoody | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 11668 | Print Tweak |
12/23/2001
Its understood that most users or computer literit users decide they want fancy
desktops windows, cool fades and colors. But if youve changed your mind and want
better peformance try this!
1. Right click "My Computer" and choose properties.
2. Click on the advanced tab, and than performance settings.
3. You now are now in the visual effects tab, check adjust for best performance,
and uncheck every squared box you see starting from "Animate windows when
minimizing and maximizing, all the way down.
4. Click OK, OK, and resart computer to see the differnce in speed.
Users not interested in fancy windows and colors
Written By: WickedWoody | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 11669 | Print Tweak |
12/23/2001
Its understood that most users or computer literit users decide they want fancy
desktops windows, cool fades and colors. But if youve changed your mind and want
better peformance try this!
1. Right click "My Computer" and choose properties.
2. Click on the advanced tab, and than performance settings.
3. You now are now in the visual effects tab, check adjust for best performance,
and uncheck every squared box you see starting from "Animate windows when
minimizing and maximizing, all the way down.
4. Click OK, OK, and resart computer to see the differnce in speed.
Turn off Indexing to speed up XP
Written By: Allen & Steve | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 39159 | Print Tweak
| 12/22/2001
Windows XP keeps a record of all files on the hard disk so when you do a search
on the hard drive it is faster. There is a downside to this and because the
computer has to index all files, it will slow down normal file commands like
open, close, etc. If you do not do a whole lot of searches on your hard drive
then I suggest turnning this feature off:
1. Open my computer 2. Right click your hard drive icon and select properties.
3. At the bottom of the window you'll see "Allow indexing service to index this
disk for faster searches," uncheck this and click ok. 4. A new window will pop
up and select apply to all folders and subfolders. It will take a minute or two
for the changes to take affect but then you should enjoy slightly faster
performance.
Clean your prefetch to improve performance.
Written By: Dr. Dong | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 37076 | Print Tweak |
12/19/2001
This is an unique technique for WinXP. We know that it is necessary to wash
registry and TEMP files for Win9X/ME/2000 periodly. Prefetch is a new and very
useful technique in Windows XP. However, after using XP some time, the prefetch
directory can get full of junk and obsolete links in the Prefetch catalog, which
can slow down your computer notablely. My suggestion is: open C(system
drive):/windows/prefetch, delete those junk and obsolete files,reboot. It is
recommended that you do this every month.
Remove hibernation file
Written By: Ross Burnett | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 19743 | Print Tweak |
12/18/2001
If you do not use hibernation, make sure you do not have it enabled, which
reserves disk space equal to your RAM. If you have a hidden file on the root
directory of your C-drive called hiberfil.sys, hibernation is enabled. To remove
that file, go to Control Panel, select Performance and Maintenance, Power
Options, Hibernate tab, and uncheck the Enable hibernation box.
Remove hibernation file
Written By: Ross Burnett | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 19745 | Print Tweak |
12/18/2001
If you do not use hibernation, make sure you do not have it enabled, which
reserves disk space equal to your RAM. If you have a hidden file on the root
directory of your C-drive called hiberfil.sys, hibernation is enabled. To remove
that file, go to Control Panel, select Performance and Maintenance, Power
Options, Hibernate tab, and uncheck the Enable hibernation box.
Turbo Shutdown
Written By: G.J.Knol | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 52747 | Print Tweak |
12/18/2001
For years there have been advises about fast shutdown procedures involving
desktop shortcuts.
No one seems to realise that in XP and ME with APM properly enabled only one
press on the power button suffices to shutdown Windows in the same fashion as
going through the Start > Shutdown procedure.
Improve NTFS Performance
Written By: Nmohamad | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 50980 | Print Tweak |
12/17/2001
The NTFS file system is the recommended file system because of its advantages in
terms of reliability and security and because it is required for large drive
sizes. However, these advantages come with some overhead. You can modify some
functionality to improve NTFS performance as follows:
1. Disable creation of short names. By default, NTFS generates the style of file
name that consists of eight characters, followed by a period and a
three-character extension for compatibility with MS-DOS and Microsoft® Windows®
3.x clients. If you are not supporting these types of clients, you can turn off
this setting by changing the default value of the NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation
registry entry (in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Filesystem)
to 1.
2. Disable last access update. By default NTFS updates the date and time stamp
of the last access on directories whenever it traverses the directory. For a
large NTFS volume, this update process can slow performance. To disable
automatic updating, change the value of the NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate registry
entry (in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentContolSet\Control\Filesystem) to 1.
If the entry is not already present in the registry, add it before setting the
value. (Add it as a REG_DWORD)
3. Reserve appropriate space for the master file table. Add the
NtfsMftZoneReservation entry to the registry as a REG_DWORD in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem. When you add
this entry to the registry, the system reserves space on the volume for the
master file table. Reserving space in this manner allows the master file table
to grow optimally. If your NTFS volumes generally contain relatively few files
that are typically large, set value of this registry entry to 1 (the default).
Typically you can use a value of 2 or 3 for moderate numbers of files, and 4
(the maximum) if your volumes tend to contain a relatively large number of
files. However, be sure to test any settings greater than 2 because these higher
values cause the system to reserve a much larger portion of the disk for the
master file table.
Reboot after making changes.
HDD slowdown when booting in
Written By: Zeb | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 30868 | Print Tweak |
12/12/2001
If, like I had , you have a 3min+ or slower boot time where Windows XP seems to
sit for 2+ or so minutes with the XP logo doing nothing before everything comes
to life, then do the following.
Download Bootvis from www.microsoft.com and run it the next time you boot. Do a
'Trace' If it shows a very long 'HDD init' time of minutes rather than seconds
then this is how to fix it.
This example assumes you have 1 Hard drive on your primary IDE channel and a
DVD-ROM(or CD) and CD-R on your two secondary IDE channels.
Go to start > right click on my computer > click properties. Click Hardware >
Device Manager.
Go to IDE/ATAPI Controllers. Select primary channel. Right click properties.
Click the Advance settings tab. Then on the device (0 or 1)that does not have
'device type' greyed out select 'disable' instead of 'autodetect'. This should
stop windows trying to find a drive that isn't there.
If you have your IDE channels set up differently simply repat the above for the
secondary IDE channel settings.
When I did this my boot time went from 3mins 20 to 35 seconds.
Disable auto-reboot
Written By: SlackerX | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 9927 | Print Tweak |
12/7/2001
When Running windows and it crashes you will get a blue screen and it will
automatically restart, ofter it will restart too fast for you to see the error
message. You could check the error log in this case but that is too easy. We are
going to disable auto restart on system failure.
1. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> System (Windows+Pause works, too) 2. Go to
Advanced 3. Under the Startup and Recovery section, click Settings... 4. Under
System Failure un-check "Automatically restart"
Proformance Increase through My Computer
Written By: Dade Valkyr | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 50625 | Print Tweak |
12/6/2001
Easy enough tweak to usually find out about it on your own, but still, some of
use still don't find it right away. So here it is: 1: Start > Right Click on My
Computer and select properties. 2: Click on the "Advanced" tab 3: See the "Perfomance"
section? Click "Settings" 4: Disable the following:
Fade or slide menus into view Fade or slide ToolTips into view Fade out menu
items after clicking Show Shadows under menus Slide open combo boxes Slide
taskbar buttons Use a background image for each folder type Use common tasks in
folders
There, now Windows will still look nice and perform faster.
Unload .dll's to Free Memory
Written By: allen | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 31306 | Print Tweak |
12/5/2001
Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of
time after the application using them has been closed. This can be an
inefficient use of memory.
1. Find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer].
2. Create a new DWORD sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value
to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory. 3. Restart Windows
for the change to take effect.
I tried this after running a intense program, then watched the task manager;
memory recovered it self.
Remove start-up items
Written By: bossfn | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 21588 | Print Tweak |
12/3/2001
Having programs run when windows loads slows down your start.
There are two ways do disable programs that may be in your startup (like icq,
messanger,)
The easiest is to do the following: 1. start --> run --> msconfig 2. Click on
the "startup" tab (furthest right)\ 3. Unclick any items you don't want to load
when windows starts.
The second is by deleting registry entrys, this can be done the following way:
1. Start --> run --> regedit 2. Navigate to : \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
3. Delete any entry's that you don't want to load up
***NOTE*** Deleting keys from the registry will not allow you to set them to
startup again if you change your mind. **********
Reduce 10 second scandisk wait time
Written By: win | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 26013 | Print Tweak |
12/1/2001
Start MS Dos Prompt (Start run CMD) CHKNTFS/T:4 where 4 is the amount of wait
time
CHKNTFS/? for more info
Disable Error Reporting
Written By: gimik | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 20254 | Print Tweak |
11/27/2001
To enable or disable error reporting :
1. Open System in Control Panel. 2. On the Advanced tab, click Error Reporting.
3. Click Disable error reporting or Enable error reporting.
Solution for power down/system shutdown
Written By: Jonathan Evans | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 39857 | Print Tweak
| 11/26/2001
Many people have been having problems with their system not automatically
closing down when they 'turn off' their PC. This is because of the APM setting
which is not enabled. To enable it, right click on my computer goto properties
select hardware and click device mangager. Click view and then on show hidden
devices. You should see the NT ATM / Legacy Interface mode with a red cross on
it. Double click it and on the screen that appears at the bottom choose enable
from the drop down menu.
Your PC should now automatically switch off completely on shutdown.
SystemPages Memory Tweak
Written By: M|KR0N^ | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 47890 | Print Tweak |
11/24/2001
Hi, I'm not 100% sure if this tweak will yield a great performance boost to the
majority of users out there, but for me it seems to have shown very good
results. By default, if you look in the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management]key, you'll see the 'SystemPages' DWORD Value set to
something around 500 MB (more accurately, 524288 (KB), or something close to
that value). Simply reduce the value to something around 128 MB (131072 KB) or
256 MB (262144 KB). Personally, I'm using the 128 MB setting, since my total RAM
is 256 MB. It might help to experiment a little, since each machine will most
likely yield better or worse results. Good Luck!
Get rid of IM and no slow OE startup
Written By: Brian Goff | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 31881 | Print Tweak |
11/20/2001
If you have OE 6 got to tools > windows messenger > options > preferences and in
the general area uncheck "run this program when windows starts" and "allow this
program to run in the background." After doing this IM does not load on startup
and OE loads as usual. Hope it helps.
Convert FAT32 To NTFS
Written By: Allen and edited by Steve | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 37433 |
Print Tweak | 11/18/2001
To change from FAT 32 to NTFS for more stability and security, open the command
prompt and type: "Convert C: /FS:NTFS". Make sure there is a space between the
C: and the foward slash (/). Once you press enter it will ask you for
confirmation and press Y. Then press Y and enter once more to reboot. It will
take between one hour and 15 minutes to convert to NTFS. Now you can set
passwords for files and use encryption. This also works for windows XP Home.
Disable unnecessary programs
Written By: Webmaster | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 90467 | Print Tweak |
11/11/2001
Installing many programs on you computer can often clutter your registry with
unnecessary programs running when your computer starts up. This will slow down
your machine and take up memory.
Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how
to get started. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Once there, locate any entry's on the right. You can identify the program by the
path to the executable. Find programs that you can live without starting up from
the list. Right click on them and select Delete You may also want to navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Runonce and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. Delete
unnecessary programs. Reboot your computer.
Alternative method:
Click on the start button and select run. In the text box type msconfig and
click ok. Once the window has loaded, click on the startup tab and uncheck
programs you do not want to start up anymore.
Fix for slow loading of Outlook Express when Messenger is disabled
Written By: Joe | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 22584 | Print Tweak |
11/6/2001
This is just a clarification of the french guy's tweak.
Open up Register Editor by running "regedit" command. Click on "Edit" and select
"Find". Copy and paste FB7199AB-79BF-11D2-8D94-0000F875C541 onto the "Find what"
box and click on "Find Next". Once found, click on the plus sign in front of it
and you will find InProc32 and LocalServer32. Select one of them then right
click on default under the name column and select "modify", then simply delete
what's in the Value Data box. Repeat for the other.
Microsoft Speed-Up-Boot Tool
Written By: Julian | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 118345 | Print Tweak |
11/6/2001
Microsoft has designed a tool to help in monitoring the boot up process of your
computer. The tool has many cool features that allow you to find out how long
each program running at start up is taking to load and when they load. For more
information, visit the website by clicking here.
ASPI Drivers
Written By: Dave | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 46317 | Print Tweak |
11/4/2001
I have had some bad times trying to get CD/DVD programmes working with XP. This
was down to the ASPI drivers which I have now downloaded and installed. PowerDVD,
AudioCatalyst and a few others now work how they were meant to.
Get the drivers here and follow the readme:
http://xp.xyu.ca/winxp/aspi.zip
No more low disk space messages
Written By: James | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 15469 | Print Tweak |
11/4/2001
go into registry with REGEDIT.EXE, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\
and (if not already there) add DWORD (without quotes) "NoLowDiskSpaceChecks" and
change the value to 1. Restart.
Its all about your priorities
Written By: Sheehan Alam | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 26081 | Print Tweak |
11/2/2001
In life, the only way to succeed is to get your priorities straight. Well
tough-luck, to all you slackers, the computer world ain't much different.
Windows has setup a system controlled hiearchy which is notably called the
Priority System. By increasing a programs priority, the task manager tells the
system to pay more attention to it, by feeding it RAM and optimizing that
program to use the system cache more effifiently. Lets explore into the
wonderful world of priorities.
1.) Right click on your taskbar and select TASK MANAGER 2.) Under the Processes
pane select a program that you would like sped up. 3.) Now right click, and
under Set Priority, set the system priority to High.
That program will be much faster, and will run more efficiently. Beware, by
setting it to Realtime requires a motherload of RAM (256MB a minimum). Note, the
system priority won't always be high, it will only be high for the current
session. Meaning, once you restart your computer, all your priorities will be
set back to its default (most of the time normal). Another hint, is not to set a
system priority, because system managed files will give you an Access Denied
error.
Happy Tweaking!
Sacrifice Graphics for Speed
Written By: Sheehan Alam | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 35262 | Print Tweak |
11/2/2001
XP is very graphic-intensive which results in a large consumption of RAM.
Sometimes to squeeze in the nitty-gritty megs of memory can be, by sacrificing
the pretty little bits and colors that are on your screen.
- For starters, reducing the color density and and bit display of your screen
will ultimately increase speed to your computer.
1.)On your desktop, right click and go to PROPERTIES. 2.)In properties go to
Settings, and set your color quality to the lowest bit-rating (most likely 15
bit). This will reduce color density, and icon quality, but will heavily boast
system performance.
- If you really want to increase your system performance, new Windows themes are
NOT the way to go, if you are ill-equipped with RAM.
1.) Go into Control Panel and into Performance and Maintenence. 2.) Get into
System and click on the Advanced tab. 3.) Now click on Performance 4.) Under
your visual effects, select CHOOSE BEST PERFORMANCE. 5.) This will undoubtedly
increase your system performance by returning XP into Classic Style and getting
rid of the fancy-shmancy fading menus, shadows and whatnot.
Now your graphically challenged computer, has turned into a mean, lean,
computing machine.
Happy Tweaking!
Virtual Paging File
Written By: Sheehan Alam | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 35765 | Print Tweak |
11/2/2001
This tweak can increase the amount of RAM significantly used on your computer.
What this tweak actually does is it uses your hard-drive disk-space to emulate
RAM. This is called caching, or in Microsoft terms - The Virtual Paging File
Size.
1.) Go into Control Panel and into Performance and Maintenance 2.) Get into
System 3.) Click the Advanced Tab 4.) In the Performance Frame, click on
Settings 5.) Once in Settings click on the Advanced Tab 6.) Now under Virutal
Memory click on Change 7.) Here you can set your RAM value. The recommended
increase you should make should be achieved by multiplying your RAM by 1.5. This
is already done if you have a System Managed file size. I like to increase it by
1/5 of my actual hard-drive space. This will drastically increase performance,
because the system will now have a pool of cache to retrieve memory from.
Happy Tweaking!
Increase system loading time by changing network settings
Written By: EvilAjax | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 55355 | Print Tweak |
10/31/2001
When you start up your computer and you are connected to a LAN and your computer
is set to DHCP and your computer has to search for the DHCP server and then
request and IP address and all other configuration. This process takes up some
time and slows down the time it takes to boot the computer up. Following the
directions below will help your set a static IP address. Even if your ISP says
to use DHCP this tweak may still work for you, but you are warnned! Click Start
and click on Run. Type command in the text box and click OK. In DOS, type
ipconfig and hit enter. This will show you your current IPs that your NIC and
PPPoE adapters have. Only pay attention to your Ethernet Card Adapter, not to
the PPP adapter. Next, right click My Network Places and select Properties from
the drop down menu. This will open up the Network Connections window. In here,
locate your Local Area Network connection and right click it, select Properties
from the drop down menu. When the next Window that opens up, select Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties at the bottom. In the next window, click
'Use the following IP Address'. This is where that DOS window comes in handy.
Copy the same exact IP Address from your Ethernet card (in the dos window) and
place it where it says IP Address. Same goes for the Subnet Mask and Default
Gateway. If your Default Gateway is blank, then just leave it blank. Click Ok,
then Ok again. In the DOS window type exit dos then enter. Reboot your machine.
Now there is absolutely NO loading. You can connect as soon as you see your
desktop.
Quick Note: If you use DHCP (Dynamic IP Address) to connect to the net, you may
find that your net connection does not work after this. So if some day your
network connection stops working, just go back into the NIC card properties and
select automatically get IP address and reboot.
Edit Hidden System Settings using Group Policy Editor
Written By: Andrew Berman | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 51281 | Print Tweak
| 10/29/2001
Windows XP has a great program called Group Policy Editor that allows system
administrators to modify the settings to a great number of windows features. TO
start the program up follow the directions below.
1. Open the start menu and click Run 2. Type gpedit.msc 3. The Group Policy MMC
appears 4. Click through the different nodes of the tree to see all the hidden
features of Windows XP that you can edit without touching the registry.
Examples: Changing IE displays, Clearing the pagefile at shutdown, boot-time
defrag settings, and many many more
Another tip is to add this to your Administrative Tools by adding the shortcut
to gpedit.msc
Fix Outlook's slow load time without editing registry
Written By: Kevin Glendenning | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 42250 | Print
Tweak | 10/28/2001
There has already been one suggestion for fixing Outlook's load time after
uninstalling Messenger, however if you don’t feel comfortable editing the
registry simply open OE, click on the Tools menu, then Options, then go to the
'Other' tab, then un-check the box at the bottom that reads "Enable instant
messaging in Microsoft Outlook".
DMA Mode on IDE Devices
Written By: Lolo LaSida | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 72383 | Print Tweak |
10/27/2001
Just like Windows 2000, Windows XP still fails to set the DMA mode correctly for
the IDE device designated as the slaves on the primary IDE and secondary IDE
channels. Most CD-ROMS are capable of supporting DMA mode, but the default in XP
is still PIO. Setting it to DMA won't make your CD-ROM faster, but it will
consume less CPU cycles. Here's how:
1. Open the Device Manager. One way to do that is to right click on "My
Computer", select the Hardware tab, and Select Device Manager. 2. Expand "IDE
ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and double-click on "Primary IDE Channel" 3. Under the
"Advanced Settings" tab, check the "Device 1" setting. More than likely, your
current transfer mode is set to PIO. 4. Set it to "DMA if available".
Repeat the step for the "Secondary IDE Channel" if you have devices attached to
it. Reboot.
For a Microsoft artical on setting the DMA mode Click Here.
Auto-reboot modification
Written By: Mike Gates | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 14218 | Print Tweak |
10/25/2001
If you would rather not use regedit, you can right click on my computer and
select properties. Click on settings button for startup and recovery on the
advanced tab. The box for automatically restart will enable/disable auto reboot
after a power failure.
View and manage startup programs
Written By: Koolio | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 14533 | Print Tweak |
10/23/2001
Type msconfig in run and then go to the startup tab here you can select which
programs you want enabling and which you want to be disabled from starting up.
Speed up Network Browsing
Written By: James Penneck | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 122702 | Print Tweak
| 10/18/2001
There was a bug in windows 2000 that would cause the scheduled tasks folder to
be searched when ever the user would browse network drives. Microsoft developed
a fix for this bug. The fix fixed the problem and it also had nice side affect
of speeding up browsing of Microsoft networks. Below are instructions how to
apply the fix.
1. Open up regedit. 2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current
Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace. 3. Find a key named
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. 4. Right click on it and delete it. 5.
Restart
Remove Unnecessary Services more easily !
Written By: Bill Gates | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 39999 | Print Tweak |
10/16/2001
Ever knew about something called "MSCONFIG" ?? ... LoL No ? Click ... Start >
Run > Type MSCONFIG > Click OK > GOTO Service TAB Have Phun !
System Configuration Utility
Written By: Bill Delin | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 28617 | Print Tweak |
10/15/2001
To Get to the System Configuration Utility Click Start Click Help and Support
Click Tools On the left Select System Configuration Utlity
IRQ Priority Boost
Written By: grrinder | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 37431 | Print Tweak |
10/10/2001
Yet another great one from Axcel's site! »members.aol.com/axcel216/newtip21.htm#..
All you have to do is copy/paste the following (between the ----- ) into notepad
and save with a .reg extension.
-------- REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl]
"IRQ8Priority"=dword:00000001 ---------
To undo the tweak copy/paste the following (between the ----- ) into notepad and
save with a .reg extension.
-------- REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl]
"IRQ8Priority"=dword:00000000 ---------
Note: Make sure your System CMOS/Real Time Clock are on IRQ 8
To get the actual IRQ# go to: Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager ->
System Devices -> System CMOS/real time clock -> Properties -> Resources tab ->
default IRQ# is 8 on all IBM PC clones.
Now you can add other IRQ's for multiple entries, but real-time priority doesn't
like to share so if your going to, be aware of what your adding since the main
tweak boosts almost all performance of your system.
You could boost your network card, or your video card if you wanted. Run
msinfo32 to find the IRQ's that you feel necessary to give this to.
NOTE: ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES TO IT.
System Settings for a Game Machine
Written By: dhrf | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 91589 | Print Tweak |
9/29/2001
If you are a hard core gammer then the below tweak is for you. Below are a list
of windows services that we reccomend you change to the manual setting. If you
do not know how to do that, refer to our tweak on disabling windows services by
clicking here.
Routing and Remote Access Alerter Application Layer Gateway Service** (only if
firewll is not used) Application Management Background Intelligent Transfer
Service ClipBook COM+ System Application Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinator Help and Support IMAPI CD-Burning COM
Service** (only if do you not use the cd-rw xp record suport) IPSEC Services
Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service MS Software Shadow Copy Provider Net
Logon NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing Network DDE Network DDE DSDM Network
Location Awareness (NLA) NT LM Security Support Provider Performance Logs and
Alerts Portable Media Serial Number QoS RSVP Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator Remote Registry Removable Storage Server
Smart Card Smart Card Helper SSDP Discovery Service System Restore Service
Telnet Themes Uninterruptible Power Supply Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Volume Shadow Copy Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) Windows Installer Windows
Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions Wireless Zero Configuration WMI
Performance Adapter Fast User Switching Compatibility ** (only if fast user
shiching is not used or the machine have one user only) Protected Storage
Windows Time TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Task Scheduler Secondary Logon Print Spooler
** (only if the pc do not have or use a printer) Indexing Service Error
Reporting Service Computer Browser Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet
Connection Sharing (ICS)
Have Fun!
The System Configuration Utility
Written By: Jaron Molsbee | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 52746 | Print Tweak
| 9/20/2001
A Handy utility for speeding up system performance in Windows XP (or any version
of Win9x/me for that matter as well) is the System Configuration Utility. To
access the system configuration utility, go to Start and click Run. Type
msconfig and click ok. Click the tab labeled Startup. Uncheck any items for
which you do not care if they load when Windows loads or you do not have any
idea what they are. In Windows XP, no items that are listed here are essential
to Windows running properly, so feel free to experiment. After you removed
everything you don't need, click apply and then ok. Say yes when it asks you to
restart your system. Enjoy the significantly enhanced performance!
Disable zip folders
Written By: anonymous | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 27546 | Print Tweak |
9/12/2001
Are the ZIP folders too slow for you? Disable it by unregistering the file
zipfldr.dll.
regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
Disable automatic updating
Written By: Webmaster | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 25634 | Print Tweak |
6/4/2001
To save memory and CPU time turn off the automatic update system in windows. You
can always check manually for updates and most users have no problem with that.
For those of you lazy bums out there you can leave this feature on but I warned
you.
Open control panel.
Click on performance and maintenance.
Click on System.
Then click on the automatic updates tab and select Turn off automatic updating.
Click Ok.
Disable unnecessary services to free system resources
Written By: Webmaster | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 225643 | Print Tweak |
6/4/2001
Services are programs that run when the computer starts up and continue to run
as they aid the operating system in functionality. There are many services that
load and are not needed which take up memory space and CPU time. Disabling these
services will free up system resources which will speed up your overall computer
experience. I recommend that you sort through the list and read the descriptions
to decide if you need that service depending on what you want to do with your
computer. Remember, you can always turn the service back on if you find that you
need it in the future. Below is the procedure to turn off a service.
Click the start button. Select run from the bottom of the right column. Then
type services.msc in the box and click ok. Once the services window has loaded
we are ready to turn off unneeded services. For instructional purposes we are
going to turn off the Portable Media Serial Number service. Find this service in
the list and select it with the mouse. Right click and select Properties. Once
the properties windows has loaded locate the Start up type drop down box and
select disable. Then just click ok and the next time the computer starts the
service will not be loaded.
Enable or disable boot defrag
Written By: Webmaster | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 52491 | Print Tweak |
6/4/2001
A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot
defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow
for faster booting. By default this option in enables but on some builds it is
not so below is how to turn it on.
Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how
to get started. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
Select Enable from the list on the right. Right on it and select Modify. Change
the value to Y to enable and N to disable. Reboot your computer.
Modify application timeout
Written By: Webmaster | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 21028 | Print Tweak |
6/4/2001
The operating system has a set amount of time that a program must be frozen for
before it is timed out. Often this number is set too high. But in some
circumstances it is set too low. Depending on if the program is doing a lot of
calculations in the background the computer may think that it is timed out. To
prevent this increase the value of the timeout in the registry.
Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how
to get started. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop Select
HungAppTimeout from the list on the right. Right on it and select Modify. Change
the value to the new timeout value. Reboot your computer.
Modify auto-reboot setting
Written By: Webmaster | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 29966 | Print Tweak |
6/4/2001
Since Microsoft has worked so hard to make this version "the most stable ever,"
then this tweak is not needed. However, I am fairly sure that they have not
perfected millions of lines of code in less than a year. Below you will discover
how to turn the auto reboot feature on and off. This allows your computer to
instantly reboot upon a system fault. (The blue screen)
Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how
to get started. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
Select AutoReboot from the list on the right. Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 0 to disable and 1 to enable. Reboot your computer.
Speed up menu display
Written By: Webmaster | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 139440 | Print Tweak |
6/4/2001
When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of
the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend
changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear
instantly.
Start Regedit. If you are unfamiliar with regedit please refer to our FAQ on how
to get started. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop Select
MenuShowDelay from the list on the right. Right on it and select Modify. Change
the value to 0. Reboot your computer.