How can I make my Windows XP run faster?

how to fasten the computer?

This question was answered on December 7, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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System Properties

Visual Effects

Windows XP contains a huge list of special effects and visual enhancements such as nimated menus, fade effects, cursor shadows, menu shadows, .. etc Disabling some of these settings can make Windows XP running faster and use less system resources

1 Open Control Panel from the Start menu and choose "System."

2 Choose the "Advanced" tab

3 Select the "Settings" button under the Performance section

4 Check the "Adjust for best performance" box and click "Apply" to apply the settings

4 Alternatively, you can choose the "Custom" open, you can then selectively enable or disable each specific effects.

Automatic Updates

Having Microsoft automatically screwing up your computer is not a good idea There are a number of reasons not to let your Windows updates itself.

1 Choose the "Automatic Updates" tab

2 Uncheck the "Keep my computer up to date..." box

OR

tick the box that says "Turn off automatic updating..."

Display Properties

Well, it is sad to say goodbye to special effects, but we want to speed up the computer

1 Open Control Panel from the Start menu and choose Display

2 Choose the "Desktop tab and set the Background to "None."

3 Select the "Appearance" tab

4 Under "Windows and buttons," choose "Windows Classic Sytle" from the drop-down menu

5 Click the "Effects" button

6 Unselect all options and click OK

7 Click OK to close the Display Properties and apply the changes.

There's more ways to speed up your XP

Start Menu and Folders

Start Menu and Taskbar

Context click (usually known as Right click) on the Windows XP Start button and choose "Properties" from the contextual menu

1 Choose "Classic Start Menu"

2 Click the "Customise" button

3 Select the "Show Small Icons in Start Menu" option

4 Unselect any other items that you don't use often.

Folder Options

1 Open My Computer

2 Open the C: Drive or any other drive

3 Choose "Folder Options" from the Tools menu

4 Select "Use Windows classic folders"

5 Select the "View" tab

6 Unselect the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" option

7 Click "Apply"

8 Click the "Apply to All Folders" button

9 Click OK.

There is another thing you can do (I've done this in XP Pro) - Enable the "Classic' theme, then right click on My Computer - Manage Then go into the services, and disable the themes service This provides a bit of a speedup, and is very useful to those with 128mb of memory and XP.

Now, you can enjoy your Windows XP faster

About the author

Posted by Henry of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on December 7, 2004

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