It is pretty obvious that I am a computer novice when it comes to maintenance and what not. I was emailed the following by a co-worker and I followed a couple steps to instantaneous results. So give some of these a try if XP is running a bit sluggish for you.
Don't you love the feeling of unbridled speed when you start using a new computer, or you drop a fresh, clean installation of Windows onto your PC's hard drive? Wow, you marvel, I didn't know a computer could run this smoothly! It responds so quickly! It boots up in seconds! It's the computer of my dreams!
Perhaps you're not quite that passionate, but the fact is, a freshly installed Windows XP (news - web sites) tends to run a lot better than one you've been using heavily for the past year or two. That's because as you install programs, as they add little background applets that start when the system boots, as you download more and more files, and, in general, as you use the computer, the sheer amount of stuff that Windows has to do increases.
More files in your folders means Windows has more to sift through when searching for something. Applets running in the background eat up memory and resources. Adding and deleting files and programs causes the data on the hard drive to fragment, making Windows work harder to read them.
All is not lost. Windows XP knows the value of efficient performance, so it does some of its own housekeeping to keep itself speedy. It watches which programs you use the most and which files you access frequently, and keeps track of them in an .INI file. It keeps frequently accessed data in a cache, which it reads when you launch an application or when Windows boots up. This process is called prefetching and it's pretty cool--but there's still plenty to do to get an old Windows XP installation running like new.
Regular Maintenance
The first thing to think about is stepping up your regimen of Windows XP maintenance tasks. Windows, and the computer world at large, change all the time. Software and hardware updates come rolling in as regularly a commuter train. Windows fills up its temp directory and doesn't always clean it out. Shady Web sites try regularly to deposit programs and cookies that pry into your personal computing habits. Viruses are as common as dust. Keep on top of this stuff by doing the following:
Keep Windows up to date. Use Automatic Updates, or run Windows Update (Start/All Programs/Windows Update), at least once each week. Download all of the critical updates and any service packs that surface in the future.
Keep your system's drivers up to date. Download the latest drivers for your motherboard chip set, your graphics card, your sound card, your network interface device, your modem and anything else you can think of. Head over to the manufacturer's Web site, look for a drivers or downloads link, and be sure to get the proper drivers for your model.
Clean House. Every so often, fire up the Add/Remove Programs applet through Control Panel. Surf through the entries, looking for programs that you never use anymore. When you find one, purge your system of it. After uninstalling it, make sure its folder was deleted from the directory tree.
Stay safe. Run anti-spyware tools and anti-virus software, and use a firewall, whether it's Windows Firewall (which comes with Service Pack 2) or another firewall product. For the low down, see PC Mag's Firewalls: Software. PC Mag recommends ZoneAlarm Pro 5.5, which offers top-notch protection against a host of nasty intruders attempting to enter your PC.
Keep the hard drive tidy. Run Disk Cleanup (Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup) and Disk Defragmenter (same location) at least once each month. Defragging a large drive can take a few hours, so you might start the process at the end of your day and let the computer defrag itself while you sleep.
Reduce the Overhead You can get rid of all kinds of programs that run in the background that you may not need. The easiest way to do this is with the System Configuration Utility, otherwise known as Msconfig. Launch it by clicking the Start button and then Run, typing MSCONFIG into the text box, and hitting Enter.
Click on the Startup tab and look at the contents. This is a list of things that start when the computer boots up. All of these little goodies run in the background, eating up memory and resources and slowing your system down. Smite them here.
Uncheck everything in the list, reboot and see if any of your programs or hardware devices lose functionality. If they do, run the System Configuration Utility again and recheck entries that you suspect to be the programs your system needs, rebooting between each attempt until you narrow it down. Leave everything that doesn't affect normal use of your system unchecked. This will speed the Windows boot process and clear up system resources.
Tame the Paging File
When Windows doesn't find enough physical memory in your computer to do something it needs to do, it swaps contents of the memory out to "virtual memory" on the hard drive. The virtual memory is located in a file called a paging file.
By default, the paging file resides on your system's C: drive, and its size is dynamic, changing when Windows decides it has to grow or shrink. This leads to performance problems: not only does Windows thrash the hard drive and slow everything down while it's adjusting the paging file size, but if the paging file becomes fragmented it can be a performance nightmare.
Ideally, the paging file should reside on a secondary physical hard drive in its own partition. That's not always practical, however, so I suggest you force Windows to use a static paging file and defrag the paging file every month or so. Here's how to set up a static paging file:
1. Right-click My Computer
2. Click Properties
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Under the Performance heading, click Settings
5. Click the Advanced tab.
6. Under the Virtual Memory heading, click Change.
You're going to set the virtual memory to a custom size by making the initial size the same as the maximum size. How big should it be? There are all kinds of complicated formulas all over the 'Net trying to answer this question. I don't have one. I simply look, at bottom of the Virtual Memory dialog you've just opened, at the "Recommended" size, and roughly double it. For instance, if I encounter a recommended paging file size of 1574 MB, I'll make the static paging file 3000 MB even.
Simply enter your ideal paging file size in the Initial Size and Maximum Size boxes, and click OK until you get back to the desktop. You'll probably have to reboot for the new setting to take effect.
You should also defrag the paging file every few weeks. Contrary to popular belief, you don't need a third-party disk manager to defrag the paging file. To do it with Windows XP's Disk Defragmenter, simply do this:
1. Open the Virtual Memory dialog following the steps above.
2. Click on the No paging file radio button.
3. Click OK until you get back to the desktop.
4. Reboot.
5. Run Disk Defragmenter. Defrag the drive on which the paging file resides, whether Disk Defragmenter thinks it needs it or not.
6. Reboot.
7. Open the Virtual Memory dialog and set the Initial and Maximum paging file sizes to the same value (double the "recommended" size).
8. Click OK back to the desktop.
9. Reboot.
--Joel Durham Jr.
