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 reliability of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of
them will cost you nothing.
1.) To decrease a system's boot time and
increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying
defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just
fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA
hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.
2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory.
This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that
can dramatically improve system performance.
3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure,
here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon,
right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties.
Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data.
Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK.
At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key.
This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and
virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS.
I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability,
and efficiency with larger disk drives.
4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents
and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index.
" As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.
The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document,
should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the
document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these
kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer.
The OS has to open each file at the time of the reque
5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers.
Also, update and configure the BIOS.
For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly,
see this article on my site.
6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so.
Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently.
This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user.
That's fine. But over time,
the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications
no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system
performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder,
and the entire contents are safe to delete.
7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon.
Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties.
Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and
delete all temporary files.
8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device,
and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to
the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel.
Then click the Advanced Settings tab.
Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1.
Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.
9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves,
the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent.
Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors
properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets.
A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle
connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives,
these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential.
11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using
the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG,
and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start
when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library.
It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and
explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or
another Web search engine.
12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of
the Control Panel.
13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact,
for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different
settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control
Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under
Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you
can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.
14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry,
try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.
15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates
labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.
16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis.
Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus
software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.
17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer.
The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles
fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts --
20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for
updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster
speed. Best of all, it's free.
21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your
customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for
your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.
22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking
the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer,
click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to
"Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option.
You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.
23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris.
While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly.
Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks.
For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena,
you can read numerous articles on my site.
Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to the
performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag
a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in
the event of a crashed drive.
