Vishal Gupta 4 Report post Posted October 29, 2004 I got this article via mail and thought of sharing with you guys: Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the performance and reliability of your PC. Best of all, most of them will cost you nothing.1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer. 2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance. 3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives. 4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system. The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for. Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it. Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button. 5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. 6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete. 7.) Once a month, run a Disk Cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files. 8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel. 9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear. 10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if you really want the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page. 11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine. 12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel. 13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness. 14.) If you r comfortable editing the registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP. 15.) Visit msft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion. 16.) Update anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure u have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability. 17.) Make sure u have fewer than 500 type fonts installed on ur computer. The more fonts u have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system. 18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data. 19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced. 20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free. 21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations. 22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect. 23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rEdshiFt 1 Report post Posted October 29, 2004 thats one useful list vishal...nice guide u've put FAT32 to NTFS conversion right on top of the list !! is it that necessary ? or for that matter that easy ?...remember most of us have partitioned drives...? most of the machines i've seen seem to be this "FAT32 is"... it advisible/safe to convert to NTFS ? i've always wanted ask this. say, is urs NTFS or FAT32 ?...mine's FAT32 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ganesh 0 Report post Posted October 30, 2004 NTFS is always better .but if u convert FAT32 u cannot reinstall WIN98 etc.U will need to repartition the harddrive if u need WIN98 again... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rEdshiFt 1 Report post Posted October 30, 2004 thanx ganesh, i need some specific advice here... i currently have 98(C:\) and xp(D:\) installed on my machine - from here, how do i do this FAT to NTFS conversion ? does this invole re-installing my OS(s) from scratch ? i guess the conversion is of use only if i convert the system drive (D,in my case) ? do i need to convert all(c,d,e,f) drives to NTFS? if i leave my C: drive intact, then my 98 will remain safe ? also, i heard something like - even in a dual_boot system, thers is only ONE bootable drive....is this so ? the concepts behind are quite alien to me...advise pls.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sklm 0 Report post Posted October 30, 2004 It is always better to install OS on separate Primary partition. If you want to install two windows 98s and one windows 2000 and one windows xp do four primary partition and activate each partition before installing an OS. When an OS runs then the C: drive will be acording the OS. Ex: If you running windows 98 then the windows 98 drive is c: and if you are running the windows xp then the windows xp drive will be c: then the windows 98 drive will be d: or e: or f: depends on 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th partition you have made. The best thing about installing OS in primary partition is if one OS crashes then the rest OSs remains intact and you can recover the crashed OS from other OSs which are installed on other primary partition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Code 0 Report post Posted October 30, 2004 Yeah and win9x systems (95/98/Me) can run only run with one active primary partition else the OS installtion gests corrupted. Most the third party(e.g Bootmagic) or XP boot manager automaticaly do this in the background. Further more as others already said it is better to have the non primary partitions (D E etc) as FAT32 to ease recovery in case of a Crash and also if one is plannig a dual boot with the other system belonging to 9x family. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rEdshiFt 1 Report post Posted October 30, 2004 thanx for the tips guys,but im sorry - this one topic is totally over my head...sounds way too complicated with my current know_how on PCs i think i'll jus stick to my FAT32... But seriously, do we have people here who are really running this NTFS thing or are we all the same FAT32 ? whats the word Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saurav 22 Report post Posted October 30, 2004 it's good topic. vishal thanx tips really work. i am using PC with 3 OS Me, XP Proffessional, 2003 Server. My C drive is on FAT 32 while other drives are on NTFS. Keeping NTFS helps to maintain good security. my XP & 2003 are password protected. so none knows what all i have in my system. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
