Beginners Guides: 99 Performance Tips for Windows XP

Welcome to PCSTATS' massive Tech Tips and Tweaks Guide! This time around, our focus is on making your Windows computer perform better, and faster! Whether this means booting and shutting down quicker, achieving better 3D gaming performance, or just making your PC feel more 'snappy,' chances are there's a tip or two in here to help you speed your current PC up.

PCSTATS will also cover the basics of overclocking the processor, memory and video card, so as not to miss out on this important area of extra performance potential. Please pay special attention to our 'Tweak Insurance' tips at the beginning of this guide to help you prepare your system against any potential mishaps.

Now let's get into PCSTATS' 99 Performance Tips for Windows... but first, click on this link to bookmark this awesome PCSTATS Guide. There are so many useful tips and tweaks listed here that at some point in the future you'll need to reference this guide and may not be able to remember the exact URL. If you've moved onto Windows Vista, check out the brand NEW 99 Vista Performance Tips Guide here. PCSTATS other 101 handy tips and 104 killer and tweaks guides for Windows XP are a good read too.

Table of Contents Preparing Your System (1-8) Graphics Performance Tweaks (47-55) Use 'whole system' performance benchmarks Tweak insurance part 1: backing up and editing the registry Tweak Insurance part 2: Creating a system restore point Saving your hard drive space from the system restore utility Tweak insurance part 3: Restoring BIOS defaults Tweak insurance part 4: Use hardware profiles to experiment with system settings. Editing BIOS settings Editing registry settings without restarting BIOS tweaks and Insight (9-13) Change memory Latency times Set the correct AGP mode Update your bios Disable unneeded ports Disable built-in features on your motherboard Overclocking your processor and memory (14-16) Overclocking the memory/front side bus Changing the CPU multiplier Modify Processor and memory voltage WindowsXP Software and Registry Performance Tweaks (17-46) Stop the 'last access update' stamp Disable the 8.3 naming convention Keep Windows operating data in main memory Obtain the newest drivers for your hardware Disable performance counters Move the page file from system drive Create a 'permanent' page file Optimize your page file size Defrag page file with PageDefrag utility Set priority for important programs Check your hard drives with scandisk Force XP to unload DLL files after closing a program Thaw out your desktop Speed up mouse movement, part 1 Speed up mouse movement, part 2 Create a RAID configuration Disable the themes service Remove the desktop picture Change to the NTFS file system Perform a manual Application and Boot file Defrag Disable the hibernation feature Disable automatic sensing on network cards Use the prefetch switch to load applications faster Verify DMA mode is set for all drives Do a windows repair install Stop hard disks spinning down Reduce recycling bin reserved space Enable write caching on hard disks Defragment your hard disk(s) Turn off the indexing service 3d game benchmarks Change your Monitor's refresh rate (CRT monitors only) Fix the refresh rate for 3d games Enable AGP Master 1WS Write/Read Enable AGP Fast Write Set Video Memory Cache Mode Overclocking ATI video cards Overclocking Nvidia Video cards Disable VSYNC Network and Internet Performance Tweaks (56-66) Increase maximum number of simultaneous connection in Internet Explorer b' devices slow down 802.11g networks Proprietary modes for wireless networking Closer is better for wireless Enhance your Internet connection. Increase DNS cache size Disable DHCP with DSL connections Do not cache failed DNS entries Use CTRL+ENTER to speed up Internet address entering Get a faster network connection to Windows 9x/ME computers Remove the QoS Bandwidth Reserve Setting WindowsXP User Interface Shortcuts and Hints (67-78) Create shortcut keys Create a custom shortcuts toolbar Using ALT+TAB to switch between applications Add the address taskbar to desktop Disable error reporting Reduce menu delays Restore the Quick launch bar Increase desktop graphic performance Make 'my computer' open faster Remove the need to enter a password to login to XP (be careful!) Sort out spam Keyboard shortcuts using the Win Key (ÿ) Improving Windows XP boot speed (79-94) Disable floppy drive seek Set primary display adaptor Enable quick POST/memory test Eliminate unwanted programs from boot up Scan your PC for spyware and Adware Disable boot virus detection Change boot sequence. Disable the XP loading screen Eliminate unwanted fonts to increase boot speed Turn off bios disk detection Use the Bootvis utility Use the Intel application accelerator Disable unnecessary services Disable unneeded devices in device manager Disable auto detection for empty IDE slots Reduce wait time after XP boots Increasing XP shutdown speed (95-99) Increasing shutdown speed by reducing wait times part 1 Increasing shutdown speed by reducing wait times part 2 Increasing shutdown speed by reducing wait times part 3 Disable the Nvidia driver helper service Auto kill tasks on shutdown