Do you have any Tips / Tricks on how to make a PC run better / Faster, apart form Overclocking ? (as i think that would warrant its own thread) post your tips here please

Disable Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud, noisy and slow when functioning. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don't search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following -

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next

Now Indexing Services are off

On my main Computer i have two internal HDDs and two external HDDs giving me 1650GB over 1?TB in total and i don't need Indexing services to find anything, As stated at Tweak XP . com > Here i find running good sized internal and external HDDs disabling indexing is more efficient.

Ann

Moving the Page File

This is a debatable tweak some say its faster some say there is hardly any difference, my self i believe it to be an improvement within a systems structure.

Windows uses its page file as a temporary workspace, and if this workspace is to small Windows will run slowly the optimum size is about one and a half times of memory in your PC (Ram), so if you have 512MB of Ram your page file should be at least 768MB within C: and that's room you could use also Windows may work faster if the page file is on a different drive to Windows (a separate physical HDD).

To execute this (in Windows XP Home / Pro SP2)

Click the start button, right-click My Computer and select Properties from the menu. Go to the Advanced tab and click the Settings button under Performance. Select the Advanced tab in the next window and click the Change button under Virtual Memory, all drives and partitions can now be seen. Set drive C: to the minimum 2MB and maximum 50MB, a minimum page file should be left in place on the boot partition as It is used in various circumstances by the system, Memory/crash dumps being the most important. Choose the second drive/1st partition and enter its values as before on C:,or setting a minimum and maximum of the same value is reasoned to stop fragmentation, (500MB min and 500MB max) Note 500MB is used just as an example figure (reboot to initialize). You now have more room on your C: drive and your PC may work faster, i have the Page File set as above on two Computers.

Ann

System Restore

Remove all but last Restore Points

Restore points uses disk space so its an idea just to keep your last restore point that is if you have System Restore enabled
To remove all but last System Restore points go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup > select the drive XP is installed on and click OK > click the More Options tab > in the System Restore section, click the Clean upÖ button and Yes in the resulting screen, wait 5 seconds and exit via cancel within the windows.

OR - Click Start > Run > type cleanmgr.exe > OK - takes you to Disk Cleanup.

Disable System Restore

To turn off System Restore - Note If you do not use a backup program, DO NOT use this tweak!!! System Restore while using resources is a useful feature
Click Start > Control Panel > System > click the System Restore tab and tick the box "Turn off System Restore on all Drives" click apply > OK

Ann

Editing The Registry (note if your not comfortable within the Registry leave it, and if you do implement this edit do back up your Registry first)

Disable User Tracking

Purpose - Free system resources.

A value of 1 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. As a result, the system disables customized menus and other features that require user tracking information

Start > Run > type regedit > OK > in Registry Editor open [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer]

Set Value "NoInstrumentation"=dword:00000001

Ann

Editing The Registry (note if your not comfortable within the Registry leave it, and if you do implement this edit do back up your Registry first)

Performance

Purpose - Performance, responsiveness,

Start > Run > type regedit > OK > in Registry Editor open - [HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop]

Set Values

"ForegroundLockTimeout"=dword:00000000
"HungAppTimeout"="4000"
"MenuShowDelay"="200"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="5000"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetContro l]

Set Values

"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="5000"

Note "MenuShowDelay" 0 is too fast the default is 400

Ann

Editing The Registry (note if your not comfortable within the Registry leave it, and if you do implement this edit do back up your Registry first)

Set CPU Priority

Purpose - Performance

This setting gives a boost to priority of foreground applications. In very overly-simplified terms, what you see on the screen gets more attention from the CPU than what you can't.

Start > Run > type regedit > OK > in Registry Editor open - [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPriorityControl]

Set Value "Win32PrioritySeparation"=dword:00000026

Ann