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 relia ilit! of !our customers' P"s. #est of all, most of them will cost !ou nothing. $.% &o decrease a s!stem's oot time and increase s!stem performance, use the mone! !ou save ! not u!ing defragmentation software '' the uilt'in Windows defragmenter works (ust fine '' and instead e)uip the computer with an *ltra'$33 or Serial +&+ hard drive with ,'-# cache uffer. 2.% .f a P" has less than /$2 -# of 0+-, add more memor!. &his is a relativel! ine1pensive and eas! upgrade that can dramaticall! improve s!stem performance. 3.% Ensure that Windows XP is utili2ing the 3&4S file s!stem. .f !ou're not sure, here's how to check5 4irst, dou le'click the -! "omputer icon, right'click on the "5 6rive, then select Properties. 3e1t, e1amine the 4ile S!stem t!pe7 if it sa!s 4+&32, then ack'up an! important data. 3e1t, click Start, click 0un, t!pe "-6, and then click 89. +t the prompt, t!pe "83:E0& "5 ;4S53&4S and press the Enter ke!. &his process ma! take a while7 it's important that the computer e uninterrupted and virus'free. &he file s!stem used ! the oota le drive will e either 4+&32 or 3&4S. . highl! recommend 3&4S for its superior securit!, relia ilit!, and efficienc! with larger disk drives. <.% 6isa le file inde1ing. &he inde1ing service e1tracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a =searcha le ke!word inde1.= +s !ou can imagine, this process can e )uite ta1ing on an! s!stem. &he idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or propert! inside a document, should the! have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document the! want. Windows XP's uilt'in search functionalit! can still perform these kinds of searches without the .nde1ing service. .t (ust takes longer. &he 8S has to open each file at the time of the re)uest to help find what the user is looking for. -ost people never need this feature of search. &hose who do are t!picall! in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. #ut if !ou're a t!pical s!stem uilder, most of !our clients are small and medium usinesses. +nd if !our clients have no need for this search feature, . recommend disa ling it. >ere's how5 4irst, dou le'click the -! "omputer icon. 3e1t, right'click on the "5 6rive, then select Properties. *ncheck =+llow .nde1ing Service to inde1 this disk for fast file searching.= 3e1t, appl! changes to ="5 su folders and files,= and click 89. .f a warning or error message appears ?such as =+ccess is denied=%, click the .gnore +ll utton. /.% *pdate the P"'s video and mother oard chipset drivers. +lso, update and configure the #.8S. 4or more information on how to configure !our #.8S properl!, see this article on m! site.

@.% Empt! the Windows Prefetch folder ever! three months or so. Windows XP can =prefetch= portions of data and applications that are used fre)uentl!. &his makes processes appear to load faster when called upon ! the user. &hat's fine. #ut over time, the prefetch folder ma! ecome overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing s!stem performance, ! pre'loading them. 3othing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete. A.% 8nce a month, run a disk cleanup. >ere's how5 6ou le'click the -! "omputer icon. &hen right'click on the "5 drive and select Properties. "lick the 6isk "leanup utton '' it's (ust to the right of the "apacit! pie graph '' and delete all temporar! files. ,.% .n !our 6evice -anager, dou le'click on the .6E +&+;+&+P. "ontrollers device, and ensure that 6-+ is ena led for each drive !ou have connected to the Primar! and Secondar! controller. 6o this ! dou le'clicking on Primar! .6E "hannel. &hen click the +dvanced Settings ta . Ensure the &ransfer -ode is set to =6-+ if availa le= for oth 6evice B and 6evice $. &hen repeat this process with the Secondar! .6E "hannel. C.% *pgrade the ca ling. +s hard'drive technolog! improves, the ca ling re)uirements to achieve these performance oosts have ecome more stringent. #e sure to use ,B'wire *ltra'$33 ca les on all of !our .6E devices with the connectors properl! assigned to the matching -aster;Slave;-other oard sockets. + single device must e at the end of the ca le7 connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ri on ca le will cause signaling pro lems. With *ltra 6-+ hard drives, these signaling pro lems will prevent the drive from performing at its ma1imum potential. +lso, ecause these ca les inherentl! support =ca le select,= the location of each drive on the ca le is important. 4or these reasons, the ca le is designed so drive positioning is e1plicitl! clear. $B.% 0emove all sp!ware from the computer. *se free programs such as +d+ware ! Davasoft or Sp!#ot Search E 6estro!. 8nce these programs are installed, e sure to check for and download an! updates efore starting !our search. +n!thing either program finds can e safel! removed. +n! free software that re)uires sp!ware to run will no longer function once the sp!ware portion has een removed7 if !our customer reall! wants the program even though it contains sp!ware, simpl! reinstall it. 4or more information on removing Sp!ware visit this We Pro 3ews page. $$.% 0emove an! unnecessar! programs and;or items from Windows Startup routine using the -S"834.F utilit!. >ere's how5 4irst, click Start, click 0un, t!pe -S"834.F, and click 89. "lick the Start*p ta , then uncheck an! items !ou don't want to start when Windows starts. *nsure what some items areG :isit the Win&asks Process Di rar!. .t contains known s!stem processes, applications, as well as sp!ware references and e1planations. 8r )uickl! identif! them ! searching for the filenames using Foogle or another We search engine. $2.% 0emove an! unnecessar! or unused programs from the +dd;0emove Programs section of the "ontrol Panel.

$3.% &urn off an! and all unnecessar! animations, and disa le active desktop. .n fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers man! different settings in this area. >ere's how to do it5 4irst click on the S!stem icon in the "ontrol Panel. 3e1t, click on the +dvanced ta . Select the Settings utton located under Performance. 4eel free to pla! around with the options offered here, as nothing !ou can change will alter the relia ilit! of the computer '' onl! its responsiveness. $<.% .f !our customer is an advanced user who is comforta le editing their registr!, tr! some of the performance registr! tweaks offered at &weak XP. $/.% :isit -icrosoft's Windows update site regularl!, and download all updates la eled "ritical. 6ownload an! optional updates at !our discretion. $@.% *pdate the customer's anti'virus software on a weekl!, even dail!, asis. -ake sure the! have onl! one anti'virus software package installed. -i1ing anti'virus software is a sure wa! to spell disaster for performance and relia ilit!. $A.% -ake sure the customer has fewer than /BB t!pe fonts installed on their computer. &he more fonts the! have, the slower the s!stem will ecome. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficientl! than did the previous versions of Windows, too man! fonts '' that is, an!thing over /BB '' will noticea l! ta1 the s!stem. $,.% 6o not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's 3&4S file s!stem runs more efficientl! on one large partition. &he data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessar! to reinstall an operating s!stem. &he same e1cuses people offer for using partitions appl! to using a folder instead. 4or e1ample, instead of putting all !our data on the 65 drive, put it in a folder called =6 drive.= Hou'll achieve the same organi2ational enefits that a separate partition offers, ut without the degradation in s!stem performance. +lso, !our free space won't e limited ! the si2e of the partition7 instead, it will e limited ! the si2e of the entire hard drive. &his means !ou won't need to resi2e an! partitions, ever. &hat task can e time' consuming and also can result in lost data. $C.% "heck the s!stem's 0+- to ensure it is operating properl!. . recommend using a free program called -em&est,@. &he download will make a oota le "6 or diskette ?!our choice%, which will run $B e1tensive tests on the P"'s memor! automaticall! after !ou oot to the disk !ou created. +llow all tests to run until at least three passes of the $B tests are completed. .f the program encounters an! errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memor! ?assuming !ou have more than one%, and run the test again. 0emem er, ad memor! cannot e repaired, ut onl! replaced. 2B.% .f the P" has a "6 or 6:6 recorder, check the drive manufacturer's We site for updated firmware. .n some cases !ou'll e a le to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. #est of all, it's free. 2$.% 6isa le unnecessar! services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that !our customer most likel! does not need. &o determine which

services !ou can disa le for !our client, visit the #lack :iper site for Windows XP configurations. 22.% .f !ou're sick of a single Windows E1plorer window crashing and then taking the rest of !our 8S down with it, then follow this tip5 open -! "omputer, click on &ools, then 4older 8ptions. 3ow click on the :iew ta . Scroll down to =Daunch folder windows in a separate process,= and ena le this option. Hou'll have to re oot !our machine for this option to take effect.