Performance tweaks for Windows XP

Just about any Windows PC will get slow over time. This phenomenon has been called 'Winrot'. After an attempt to squeeze the most performance out of an old Windows XP PC running on older hardware, I decided to compile the whole list of things I did to improve performance.

You will find all of these tweaks listed on pages around the web. Some of those sites don't go far enough in my option, and other sites tend to go off on tangents and provide information for items that doesn't provide any performance improvements. Other sites are geared toward amateurs and dedicate more text to walking the user through the basics rather than just giving the meat of the tweak.

These directions are intended to be more of a checklist than a comprehensive how-to guide, and some of these items require a deeper technical knowledge and should not be attempted by the casual user. I have no way of knowing what specific apps, services, and files reside on your system so I can't provide a detailed listing for every PC, but I have attempted to provide examples of common elements.

Note that some of these may not suite your specific situation. For example I don’t generally like my PCs to make any sounds or display any graphic fluff that can otherwise be disabled.

I have used these techniques to literally extend the life of PCs that have slowed to a crawl after years of use without maintenance in both corporate and home environments.

You can increase a PC's performance with four general methods:

1. Removal of applications, files and data
2. Disabling of applications that run at system startup
3. Disabling or adjustment of operating system features, settings, or services
4. Hardware-level items such as hard drive defragmentation

The general procedure is to handle all of the quick and easy changes first and continue making tweaks before you are forced to reboot. On a PC that runs really slowly, you may need to make the first round of changes and reboot before continuing so that additional changes can be made more quickly.

Note that these changes are inteded to apply to Windows XP.

First, perform the easy changes:

1. My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Performance >Settings > "Adjust for best performance"
2. Disable the sound scheme: Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds > Sound scheme = "No Sounds"
3. Remove desktop wallpaper and set the background color to black.
4. Remove unnecessary apps from Add/remove programs. (Side note: I prefer to only run a plain antivirus application and no spyware, adware, antispam, or other ‘security’ applications. I use Windows firewall only on my laptop PC, and run no other 3^rd party firewall apps. All of those all-in-one comprehensive security apps will put a huge load on any PC.)
5. Go through each item in the System Tray (lower right-hand corner of the desktop) and configure each app if possible to avoid having it start when Windows starts. Hint: Try right-clicking on each icon and looking for a "settings" or "properties" option that might lead you to a checkbox to prevent the item from appearing.
6. Uninstall from Windows components: Indexing Service, Games, and anything else you don’t need. Go To Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components
7. Disable unneeded services: Messenger, Remote registry, Secondary Logon, Security Center, Task Scheduler, Help and Support, Themes, Zero Wireless Configuration (for PCs without wireless Ethernet), and more depending on your specifics. Note, if you use Automatic Update, do NOT disable these services: Automatic Updates, WebClient, and Background Intelligent Transfer Service
8. Start > Run > msconfig > Startup tab > uncheck all unnecessary items
9. Enable DMA on Primary IDE channel: Device manager > Primary IDE Channel > Properties > Advanced > Transfer mode > DNA if available.
10. My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Uncheck "Auto search for network folders.."
11. Disable any devices in Device Manager that you don’t use such as serial ports, parallel ports, or extra Ethernet interfaces.
12. Disable QOS
1. Win XP Pro: mgedit.msc > Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Admin templates > Network > QOS Packet Scheduler > Enabled - 0%
2. Win XP Home: Local Area Connection > Properties > General tab > uncheck QoS
13. Free disk space by deleting obsolete files:
1. %systemroot%\temp\*.*
2. Service pack and hot fix uninstall files %systemroot%\$NTUninstall*.*
3. Obsolete user profiles from C:\Documents and Settings
4. %systemroot%\prefetch\*.*
5. Delete junk shortcuts from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop
6. Search the whole hard drive for files larger than 10MB and see if anything unnecessary shows up. Typical examples are old application install sources.
7. Search the whole hard drive for *.tmp; *.temp and delete them.
8. Disable hibernation (Display properties > screen saver > power options > Hibernate) and delete C:\hiberfil.sys
9. Run Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
10. Look in “C:\Program Files” and delete folders from apps you have uninstalled.
14. Create a dedicated folder for downloaded files and make yourself use it. I like to use c:\InstallSources
15. Delete obviously unneeded fonts from %systemroot%\fonts
16. Internet Explorer changes:
1. Delete the IE temp files and set the cache size to 10 megabytes to avoid cluttering up the disk with junk.
2. Remove all non-standard toolbars from IE such as Yahoo, Google, etc.
3. IE > Tools > Manage Add-ons > Enable or Disable Add-ons > Disable anything you don’t need.

Next, perform registry changes:

(or, download the .reg file here.)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AlwaysUnloadDLL=1

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ALwaysUnloadDLL=1

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate=1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\CleanupWiz\NoRun=0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation=1

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate=1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CabinetState\"Use Search Asst"="no"

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction\"Enable"="Y"

To disable check of Task Scheduler on remote machines, delete: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

Check this key for apps no longer on the machine: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Reduce shutdown delay:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control Panel\Desktop\WaitToKillAppTimeout=1000

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control Panel\Desktop\HungAppTimeout=1000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\CurrentControlSet\Control\WaitToKillServiceTimeout=1000

Last, perform the items that may take a long time to run:

1. After making the above changes, removing applications, deleting unnecessary data, and patching using Windows Update or Microsoft Update, boot to safe mode and defragment the hard drive.
2. Convert the hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS

Remember routine maintenance work and policies:

1. Keep the hard drive free of unnecessary files.
2. Uninstall apps you no longer need.
3. When installing apps, avoid installing anything you don’t need such as IE toolbars. Also be on the lookout for apps that run some kind of automatic updater. Common examples are Adobe Acrobat, Quicktime, and Installshield.
4. Run Msconfig.exe regularly and disable things as needed.
5. Don't even think about installing Windows Vista until you can get a really fast PC for a reasonable price. I would hold off on Vista for as long as reasonably possible.
6. Defrag the hard drive
7. A PC can never have too much RAM. Use Task Manager to see how much RAM your PC is using when it's under a typical load. Find out how much RAM your PC can accomodate, see how how many memory modules it currently has, and determine where you can go from there.

Other ideas:

Malware:

Do not underestimate the possibility of your machine having malware runnning on it. 10 years ago, malicious software would typically delete data. Today, however, malicious software needs your machine to stay up and running so that it can harvest your personal data, send out spam, and participate in attacks against other systems. The other problem is that like any other program, malicious programs eat up a chunk of your PC's processing power and can add to general slowness.

The problem with malware can be getting rid of it. Don't count on your antivirus software to handle it. The worst malware has to be removed manually and that can take 1 or 2 hours and 5 or 10 reboots depending on how tricky the software is. It is impossible to provide a guide that deals with all malware, but here are some tips:

1. Use msconfig to keep an eye on apps that run on startup: Start > Run > msconfig > Startup tab. Keep checking back here when fighting malware to ensure things stay clean.
2. Remove all suspicious things from add/remove programs
3. Use the task manager to look for unusual process that are running. Here, it helps to be familiar with the normal, legitimate processes. If you find suspicious processes, look them up on google. Don't stop at just stopping the processes; be sure to find the offending file(s) and delete them and check to ensure they stay deleted.
4. Disable unnecessary add-ons in IE, and keep checking back to ensure the list stays clean.
5. Use google to research any re-occuring strange behevarior you see, like wallpaper that looks like an error message or a fake blue screen.
6. Boot to safe mode and perform as much work there as possible. This is the best chance you have at crushing the bad processes so that the bad files and settings can be removed.
7. If you have battled malware and think you have it fixed, keep checking back to ensure that the settings you fixed have not reverted back. Check processes, startup items in the registry, etc.
8. After cleaning a system of malware, re-install the antivirus software as it may have been damaged by the malware.