Del DeVries : Speed Up An Old XP System

Good project for a holiday weekend - Speed up an aging XP desktop that is primarily used as a print server. Lots of unused programs, icons on the desktop, startup programs not needed, and setup for daily use. Objective is to get the number of running processes reduced and the normal system load to a minimum. Another aspect of an aging system is a slower CPU!

I started with a memory of Black Viper web pages for tweaking XP processes for maximum performance. But I started with the following 2 Google searches instead:

15 minute XP Tuneup from 7/18/2007
XP Speed Tweaks which ranks various hints into low/medium/high risk. The site has other useful XP info available as well (for aging systems!).
BlackViper Windows XP Service Configurations

Some steps I completed:

Uninstalled applications (I used the uninstall application tool in CCleaner and the remove startup applications tool for a quick way to get started)
- check for remaining folders in the Program files folder
- updated applications that should be kept for maintenance such as Spybot Search and Destroy
Changed the display properties for best performance, disabled fancy 3D graphics rendering, and changed the screen background to *none*, i.e. a colored page.
- Hit the Windows and Pause/Break keys to bring up System properties
- or from Run type in 'sysdm.cpl' and hit Enter to bring up System properties
Ran CCleaner to remove the clutter of temporary, logs, web browsing, etc. files.
- Run the registry cleaner part of CCleaner AFTER making a backup and AFTER rebooting
- Backup the registry by Start / Run / Regedit / File / Export
Turned off 'Automatically search for network folders and printers' in My Computer / Tools / Folder Options / View
Scanned
- Spyware
- Viruses
Defragged hard drives (particularly the system drive)

_2008-05-22

Tags: Tips

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