How To Make Windows Xp Faster And More Efficient

Steps

1
Remove Spyware and Viruses. Spyware and viruses are leading causes of slowdown because y'all may have several spyware cookies or trojans that are taking upwards your processor time for reading and storing and reporting your activity to several spy databases. Read How to Remove a Virus to larn how to remove them and speed up your system. Update and run your spyware and virus software every week.
- If you practise not have tools installed to protect against malware and spyware then you tin can download Spyware Blaster, and for viruses, download a gratuitous copy of AVG - "Anti-Vir Guard" or this one Avira - "Anti-Vira guard" (all 3 of those are free "For Personal Use"), all three are also available in Business or Pro versions. Also, Microsoft's Windows Defender is a widely-used anti-spyware tool that is currently distributed freely for users with a "18-carat" verified copy of Windows. "Windows Defender" is besides included with other Microsoft services and products such equally "Live OneCare" and "Vista."
- Download and install Mozilla Firefox, Opera or Google Chrome. It will allow you to import all of your Internet Explorer settings, and is much less decumbent to malware than Microsoft Cyberspace Explorer. Information technology will prompt yous with a "Set as Default Browser" message. Cheque "Don't show this once again" and click "Yes". Firefox too has a cool feature to delete cookies, cache, and temporary internet files each time you close it. You are strongly recommended to use this pick. It tin speed upwardly your internet experience. Y'all should as well check Google Chrome which is noticeably faster and less decumbent to virus attacks from cyberspace Chrome.
- If you have a really complicated virus infection, try using the Quick Virus Remover. It is a free utility, though non a replacement for commercial products but can be helpful for removing some of the almost common viruses infecting your system.
2

Regularly use CCleaner to clean your figurer. Over time, your reckoner may become cluttered with unnecessary files that can slow it down. CCleaner is a free plan which can remove these files for free. CCleaner too comes with a free registry cleaner, although Microsoft recommends non to use registry cleaners.

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iii
Perform a deejay make clean up. Clean upward your disk quickly to remove unnecessary files.
- Click Start in the lesser left corner, so click Run.
- Type, "cleanmgr.exe" in the text field.
- Click OK to start Disk Cleanup.
4
Remove unwanted/unneeded software which may exist the reason for slowdown.
- Click Start, so click Command Panel.
- Click Add together/Remove Programs.
- Right click any unnecessary software and click "Remove".
5
Defragment Your Calculator . This will place similar files physically closer on the hd and will help better load speeds.
- Click Start then click Run.
- Blazon, "dfrg.msc" in the text field.
- Click OK to open up Windows Deejay Defragmenter.
- Click Clarify to determine whether you need to defrag your disk and click Defrag to defrag the deejay.
- Do not defrag solid state drives.
6
Finish unnecessary start-up programs. Limit the number of programs that automatically start when your computer turns on.
- Click the Start button and so Run.
- Type "msconfig" and click OK to open up Organization Configuration.
- In System Configuration, go to the Startup tab and uncheck whatever programs which are non required.
  - If yous are not sure what some of the programs listed are, you tin can search them up online to run into if they are safe to disable.
- Click OK on the System Configuration window to save the changes.
  - If you encounter problems later disabling some startup programs, re-open Organisation Configuration and cull "Normal Startup" from the Full general tab.
- Programs tin can as well schedule unnecessary tasks to launch automatically when Windows starts. To stop such tasks, utilize Windows Task Scheduler. To open Windows Task Scheduler, click Start, click All Programs, point to Accessories, betoken to System Tools, and then click Scheduled Tasks.
- Disable all Services yous practice non use or demand. Open Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and select Services. Right click the services y'all desire to disable and select "Properties", and so set the start-upwards blazon to manual to disable them. Disabling the wrong services may lead to serious problems that y'all may not notice correct away. You should non disable services if you lot are not experienced in this area.
7
Free upwardly graphics resource. Turning off the fancy Windows XP graphics volition noticeably increase the speed of your estimator.
- Become to Commencement, right click Computer in the Start carte du jour, and click Properties.
- Go to the Advanced tab. Click the Settings push under Performance.
- Select the "Adjust for best performance" option, then click OK.
eight
Set Page File size.
- Go to Start, right click Computer, and select Properties.
- Get to the Advanced tab. Click the Settings button under Functioning.
- Now switch to the Avant-garde tab of the new dialog box that opens and click on '"Change" under Virtual Memory.
- You will see "Initial Size (MB)" and the "Maximum Size (MB)".
- Change 'Initial Size' to the same value as 'Maximum Size' then click set.
- Note: When your computer consumes your computer's hard drive and uses it as RAM, information technology is referred to as thrashing. Thrashing is bad for your computer and ownership RAM (it's not that expensive) is much more than worthwhile.
9
Set Priorities. Press Command+Alt+Delete at the aforementioned fourth dimension or right click your job-bar and select Chore Manager. In one case Task Manager opens, click the Processes tab. Now, find "explorer.exe", right click information technology, and set the priority to real-time. This makes your computer focus on explorer.exe, which is Windows Explorer (the program yous view files on your computer in and your job-bar and Start menu). This method greatly increases speed of Windows Explorer and if other programs you apply are slow, y'all tin also fix their priority.
- Upgrade your RAM. More RAM allows programs to start and run faster.
- Upgrade your CPU. Doing so increases program performance.
- Upgrade your graphics. Video editors, gaming, photo editors, etc will benefit from this.
- Upgrade your HDD/SSD. A larger HDD/SSD and a faster one will speed upward your computer.
- If yous're considering a new estimator, do your research before deciding what to buy. A wrong choice may cost you more than money or go you a worse computer.
10

Physically upgrade your computer or go a new one. Face up it: if your computer is old and slow, tweaking Windows itself may only help to a certain extent. Sometimes, information technology may be better to upgrade your calculator or go a completely new i. Upgrading your estimator requires some experience in applied science. You might need to hire a professional if you desire to upgrade your PC merely are not willing to do it yourself.

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Question

How do I know what is safe to delete on my disk cleanup?

Ethan Mellow

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Disk cleanup shows the files that are safe to delete. It won't kill your calculator.
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How can I speed up Windows even more?

Clean out all the physical hardware with a duster can.
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You need to download information technology from the disk or from the download y'all purchased.

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Video

Practise all the higher up steps quite oft to maintain the speed of your PC.
For best results, run defragmenter last after performing all other steps and do not use your computer while defragmenter is running.
Run an alternating Windows shell to save on RAM usage and boost performance (Alternative shells for Windows). Although more expensive, installing additional RAM is a better choice. Running an alternate trounce is a compatibility risk as many proprietary Microsoft programs, such as their latest game or Visual Studio, may not function properly on a third-party trounce.
Optimize the registry with a third-party application. Many of these registry tweaking programs are available on the Internet, including freeware, shareware and commercial applications that are released as free trials. If you are non familiar with the registry, do not try to edit it manually -- the registry is vital to Windows' operation.
Download Ccleaner from majorgeeks.com. It'southward a good freeware program, and if you don't use other unnecessary programs, you will exist able to gain a lot of space. It also gives you other features such every bit:
- Startup Manager and
- Registry Cleaner.
If this is your first defrag, do it later the disk clean up twice, and so a disk defrag, and then some other disk clean up. It is suggested to defrag your hard drive weekly.
Clean your Estimator's Inside. Grit off the fans, gently wash the monitor screen, and make clean the keyboard/mouse. Dust blocking the fans and estrus sink within the estimator can cause functioning problems, including retention problems.
Likewise get to Start/Run type in %temp% and delete them all.
Although time-intensive, a re-division and re-format of the hard disk drive, along with a clean installation of Windows XP volition improve performance. Performing this task volition remove all of your existing data, and so a redundancy or file copy is recommended first. Only save the files yous created, as yous will need to reinstall each application on the new installation of Windows. If you lot did not change the default location when saving documents, information technology may be safe to re-create only the user folder and all files and folders within it (ie: "C:\Documents and Settings\(your user name)"). Typically, most users will need to be sure to copy these files:
- Documents created using applications such as Microsoft Give-and-take or similar office suite programs
- Bookmarks/Favorites from your Cyberspace browser
- Fonts installed that are not included by default with Windows (note that some fonts are installed by applications).
- E-mail in-box and folders if you use an due east-post client that does not employ an Cyberspace browser
- Any schedule data for programs such equally Outlook
- Financial records for programs such as Quicken

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Always create a restore bespeak before uninstalling software, even better before you offset any step.
Using a registry cleaning software will have very piffling improvement, if whatever. Many registry editors imply that registry problems are much worse than they are, or are spyware/adware. In general, practise non bother unless there is a problem which requires adjusting the registry.
Exist careful when using msconfig. Practise not uncheck unfamiliar items, and do not experiment with settings in any other tab. Doing so could foreclose your Windows install from booting!