[Deji]

Okay, here to explain some more things you might not know about XP that can help you make your PC that extra bit speedier.

If you haven't already, I suggest reading this topic for some more tips.

25 Seconds Faster Bootup?

This may or may not work for you well. I find that when you first install Windows, the bootup speed is considerably slower. But why? Most of the time it's not because it is actually loading... It's waiting for you to do something.

When your system first starts up... You go through the BIOS loading etc... Then it gets to a point where it usually asks you to choose your operating system. Note that even if you only have one OS installed, it usually displays this option for 30 seconds before loading the default Operating System.

Now, with some computers, this option never actually shows on-screen due to certain BIOS settings hiding stuff (to save confusion for certain people). So for 30 seconds, your computer wants you to do something and you may not even know it! Pressing ENTER during this stage would also work, but in case you want to just switch on your PC and hear nothing of it until Windows actually starts, here's what to do...

Click Start > Run > type"msconfig" (no quotes) > BOOT.ini tab > Change "timeout" option to 5 seconds.

Changing this to 5 seconds reduces the bootup time by 25 secs. If your option is already this low (or lower), you may leave this. I like to leave a good 5 seconds as I use multiple OS's and often find myself requiring other options available from this menu. Although you may put 1 second in instead. Just remember that if you ever want to see this option during bootup, either change the time or hold F8 down after the initial BIOS loading.

Speed Up XP Menus

This is a very simple tip that I personally find a big timesaver. You may notice that when you hover over menus to open them up (start menu, for example), it takes a while for them to open. I'm a somewhat impatient person myself and find it's better if they open up faster as I can open an application deep in several folders of my Start Menu in a matter of seconds!

To do this, you need to edit the registry. Open up regedit:

Start > Run > Type "regedit" (no quotes)

I would suggest making a backup of the whole registry before you go editing stuff in it unless you know what you're doing!


To make a backup: Right Click "My Computer" in the left pane of the regedit window > Click "Export" > Select a place to backup registry > Wait for the exporting to finish.


You have now backed up your entire registry and can revert to it if you ever mess up your registry badly. I'd recommend doing this every time you plan on making a change.


Now, to speed up the menus, you will have to find the right registry entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Once you are there, look in the right pane and find the key: MenuShowDelay

Double-click it to change it's value to something lower. I do not recommend setting it below 50. I'd set it at about 100. It will speed up the rate of menus.

You must restart your PC for changes to take effect.

NTFS

I am guilty of not following this rule myself (although not entirely by choice), but if you need to chooe a file-system for a drive, choose NTFS as it's the most secure and safest for Windows. It also has better reliability, so if you're able you can Format your HD to change the file system.

Prefetch

Prefetch is something that Windows does to speed up the time it takes to open a program. Each time you run a program Windows adds information to a folder that saves it time upon the next application startup. But after a while, this could start to actually slow your PC, because Windows often doesn't clear out any Prefetch data when it uninstalls programs, or when you simply stop using those programs. Since there is no need to store Prefetch data when you aren't using the program often, you can delete these yourself to speed up Windows a bit more.

Note that if you have the program called CCleaner, it will usually clear out this folder for you, so you don't have to do it. To ensure this happens when you run CCleaner, make sure the Advanced > Old Prefetch Data option is ticked on the Cleaning menu before cleaning your computer.


To clear out old Prefetch manually, navigate to your Windows folder (usually C:/WINDOWS) and click "Prefetch". Now simply delete all the data inside. Your done!


I recommend to only do this every 30 days (unless you're using CCleaner) as it will slow down some program startups temporarily.

More be coming...

Reason for edit: Updated: 26th October 2009 - 1 Additional Tip

[Spider-Vice]

You have a false statement there. NTFS is NOT the fastest, it only has the capacity to compress stuff and be compatible with mass storage drives. FAT32 is the fastest and may/will always be but NOT recommended to use.

[Deji]

ooh, look at you mr. smartass guess yeh got me on that one. ugh, both my hard drives seem to be dying at the moment... am having to make loads of backups.