Ensuring a speedy computer at all times!

robjf

robjf

robjf

Soldato
Joined
31 Oct 2003
Posts
4,577
Location
Derby, UK
Afternoon guys!

I was just wondering what the standard measures are to ensure your XP installation is always nippy etc. Ive never really paid any attention to any 'speedup' software nor do i regularly defrag (silly i know!) so just wondered what the norm is for this sort of thing?

Any software that i should be aware of?
Cheers guys, Rob :)
 
Dont let anyone use it :P

I only have a few steps that keep it at optimum performance:

* Disable any unnessecary services - Google blackvipers site for a great guide

* Only install the bare minimum programs and their respective features.

* Defrag after writing largish amounts of files to disk (i.e installing programs etc. - Defraggler is free, perfect disk isnt.

* Clean the registry/temp files after uninstalling anything - ccleaner can do this

* Disable uneeded hardware (like onboard) from BIOS

* Perform weekly antivirus/anti-malware scans to make sure you don't have any nasties

That's a load off the top of my head. There are plenty of OS specific tweaks depending on what you use. Check Tweak guides for 2 guides (XP/Vista) that seem pretty cmprehensive.
 
Your best bet is to read a good tweaking guide and do it by hand.

The various "windows optimising" proggies out there do not have a magic wand, and basically just do stuff you could do without them, like changing reg keys and control panel settings.

Basic tips
Abandon themes, use the windows classic look.
Look into tuning NTFS (you can stop it writing access times for every file it opens which provides quite a reduction in HD lag, as well as preventing filesystem damage if the machine chokes while only reading a drive).
Run MSconfig (windows-R, type msconfig), and get rid of anything you don't need from the startup tab. 90% of apps that install tray icons do not actually need them at all, they just waste resources, same with little tray icons for this or that little USB flummy you installed. If you kill something off in msconfig, and it DOES bother something you make use of, turn it back on, no biggie.

Oh, and if you use mouse drivers, don't. (unless it's some ubergadget9000 gaming mouse, all the drivers will do is make your machine flakey, they are the WORST thing you can install. If you DO have an ubergadget9000 mouse, the drivers are probably required, and a bit less mental.)
 
Here, Ethics.
Take a look here....
www.sospubs.co.uk

And do a search for windows services.
I read an article (in the paper edition) where they, for a studio machine, went on a service purge, killing off something like 43 of them. The result was that they saved no noticable CPU overhead, 40ish MB of RAM, and made the system bonkers.

The moral being, that there's no point getting too carried away, just kill off the REALLY odious time wasters like system restore and indexing, and maybe a couple of others, and you're good to go.
 
install what you need from day 1, never install anything else, don't install office unless you actually use it..

use firefox with adblock plus instead of IE, and set it to clear it's temp files on close

schedule ccleaner to run daily

don't install av software
 
That's a good point.
AV software usually does more harm than good.

I install it from time to time, scan everything, and then uninstall it again.
Having a clue when you install stuff from anywhere you do not 100% trust, or when you surf the backroads of the web, is better than any AV.
 
Cheers Goonden, can't read it while i'm at work (can just about get away with OC forum ;) )

It depends what services you kill off, if they are redundant ones just sitting there waiting for input then fair enough they're not going to do anything. If they are indexing etc. i'd expect a fair amount of difference when disabling them.

No AV is a possibility, it depends who and what the machine is used for.

There are plenty of online scanners and standalone executables. Nod32 has one as does ClamAV (Clamwin). These are good for running scans every so often. Especially when mounted read only on a possibly infected system with no AV. Just have to make sure you keep the definitions uptodate

Firefox with adblock is a good idea, using noscript as well will reduce load times. However clearing all temp files on exit is a great step towards privacy but will slightly increase load times of non-dynamic pages you regularly visit (i can't think of any of the top of my head, except google, and their design is peachy anyway)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom