Is your XP-running computer  slow to be of much use or frustrating? It
may not be your computer's fault. Windows XP, when used correctly,
could be speedy, efficient, and fun to make use of. Here's how to
speed up your XP method.

1. Convert your hard drive to NTFS. If your drive is using FAT16 or
FAT32, you can gain performance by converting it to NTFS.

2. Remove Malware from your method.. adware comes bundled with loads
of free application found on the net. It can slow your machine down to
a crawl. Download and install Spybot Search & Destroy[1], start your
computer in Safe Mode and give your machine a full scan for adware.
For more free security programs

To do so, click on the start menu, go to Run, type cmd. type "CONVERT
C: /FS:NTFS" (without quotes). Follow the instructions and your drive
will be converted to NTFS. Bear in mind that NTFS drives can only be
accessed by Windows 2000/NT/XP and Vista. Older versions of Windows
are only compatible with fat, FAT16 and FAT32.

4. Disable the Indexing Service. The indexing service scans your hard
drive and indexes files to help speed up searching. It runs in the
background using up memory and processor time, and is usually thought
to be unnecessary by most nerds and/or geeks. It can also wake you up
if your hard disk is noisy and you leave your machine on at night. To
disable the Indexing Service, open My computer, Right-click on the
hard drive, go to properties and click on the check box to clear the
check mark next to "Allow indexing service to index this hard drive
for quicker searching". Click OK. It may take some time for the
operation to complete.

3. neat registry database. Cleaning of registry can always speed up
windows xp significantly as there's thousands of calls to registry
file by windows and other programs in  one sec means file needs to be
compact.

5. Reduce Visual Effects Reduce Windows XP can look nice ...but
displaying all the visual items can waste method resources. To
optimize, go to Start, right click My computer, and go to the Advanced
tab in the Performance area click Settings, and choose "Adjust for
best performance". in case you still need to keep the look of Windows
XP, you can leave the last 3 check boxes chosen. it is recommended
that you do uncheck these boxes when installing a sizable or graphics
heavy program (like the Adobe programs). Sometimes unchecking these
will help rendering pics, movies or listening to music.

6. To speed up folder browsing: Open My computer > click on the Tools
menu Folder Options, look for View tab>Uncheck the Automatically
search for network folders and printers and Launch folders in a
separate method check box > Click Apply > Click OK.

7. To increase computer download speed go to: google.com and type in
to the search bar tcp optimizer and click the first link. Download the
program and run it. one time open go to File > Backup current settings
and save it. one time saved adjust your speed to what your max net
speed it suppose to be. Than click on optimal settings than apply and
reboot. Then your download speed ought to increase.

8. To make menus load quicker, go to Start, click on Run, and then
type regedit and press Enter/Return. Now find
"HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop", Select MenuShowDelay, right
click and choose “Modify’, reduce the number to around 100, but not
less.

10. Speeding up Folder Access, disable Last Access Update. Go to Start
and then Run... and type regedt32, click through the file method until
you arrive at “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlFileSystem”,
Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and choose
DWORD Value to generate a brand new DWORD Value. Call it
NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate and then Right click on the new value and
choose alter, change the worth information to 1, and press enter.

9. Disabling unnecessary services. Windows XP offers loads of services
and there run lots of programs that take up method resources and you
may seldom need those programs. Below is a list of services that can
be disabled on most machines: Alerter, Clipbook, computer Browser,
Distributed Link Tracking Client, Indexing Service, IPSEC Services,
Messenger, Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing, transportable Media
Serial Number, Remote Desktop Help Session Manager, Remote Procedure
Call Locator, Remote Registry, Secondary Logon, Routing & Remote
Access, Server, SSDP Discovery Service, Telnet, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper,
Upload Manager, Universal Plug and Play tool Host, Windows Time
wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable in case you use a wireless
network). To disable these services go to Start Run... and type
services.msc, double click on the service you need to change, change
the startup type to Disable.

12. Improve swapfile performance. (Note: some people say that this
only helps on Win9x and is useless for Windows NT based systems,
including WinXP and Win2000). It fundamentally makes sure that your
computer makes use of every last drop of memory (faster than swap
file) before it starts using the swap file.Go to Start, click Run,
type msconfig and then press Enter. Click on the method.ini tab, and
expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the and sign. click on new then
in the blank box type ”ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1". Press enter, and
restart your computer to see the changes taking place.

11. How to improve boot times Go to Start Menu and Click Run, then
type in regedt32 then press Enter. Find
“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftDfrgBootOptimizeFunction”,
Select “Enable” from the list on the right, right click on it and
choose alter, change the worth to Y to enable, and press enter, and
close the window. Now click on Start, click on Run, type in msconfig
and click OK. Click on the Startup tab and uncheck every item you
don't need. Do NOT disable entries added by antivirus and antispyware
programs as doing so will make your computer more vulnerable to
viruses and malware.

13. Improve your XP's shutdown speed. This tweak reduces the time that
XP takes before automatically closing any jogging programs when you
give it the command to shutdown. Go to Start, run, and then type
regedt32 and press Enter. Find "'HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl
PanelDesktop", right click WaitToKillAppTimeout and choose ‘Modify’
and then change the worth to 1000, and press enter. Right click
HungAppTimeout and choose alter. Change the worth to 1000. Press enter
and find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControl", right
click WaitToKillServiceTimeout and choose ‘Modify’ and then change the
worth to 1000, and press enter.

14. Removing the background picture on your desktop. Right click the
Desktop click Properties, and go to the Desktop Tab. change the
wallpaper to None. This will greatly speed up windows xp and while
your at it go to the Settings Tab, Colour Setting, and change it to
Medium (16 bit).

Tips

15. Removing undesirable programs Go to Start, Control panel click Add
or Remove Programs, remove undesirable programs and free up some
space.

Warnings

it is advisable to make a back up for your disks before beginning this
because in case you mess up it can do loads of destroy to your
computer's hard drive.
Most changes happen after you reboot.
you can easily make a restore point in Start/Accessories/System
Tools/System Restore. It will then give you the option to generate a
restore point or return to one you created earlier. This will be nice
if something happens to your computer while you are trying to speed it
up and you need to return to when you made the point. This may be
different in Vista but in case you put method Restore in the search
box, you ought to be able to still get there.
The Wireless Zero Configuration can be disabled if a program other
than Windows monitors wireless connectivity.
Deleting your temp files will also help a tiny. To do that  go to
"Start", click "Run", in the window that comes up type temp and start
deleting.
To open the "Run" dialog in Windows Vista or Windows 7, type "Run" in
to the search box, then press enter.
it is a nice idea to defragment the drive after you do the other steps.

WarningsPlease be  cautious! in case you don't know what you're
actually doing, don't do it, you may  well slow down your computer,
change something you cannot basically change back, or even destroy
your method.
There may be steps on this page that don't work for, or even break
your operating method.
Make a back up copy of your disks.
Follow every instruction  carefully.
Only get Spybot Search and destroy from safer-networking.org.Other may
be fakes and/or be adware themselves.
Spybot is not related to SpywareBot which is adware.
Before editing the registry, backup the registry first.