Top Performance Tips

In Windows 98 and XP you can stop programs from loading into memory at startup, thus freeing up valuable system resources for other applications to use. Here's how to do it. go to the start menu. Click on the run tab. Now type in "msconfig" without the quotes.
A dialog box will open. click on the startup tab. You will see a list of every program that is running at startup. Simply uncheck the box's of the app's you want to unload. The app's will still be available, just not sitting in your ram. If you want something back just return here and put the check mark back.

You can free up hard drive space by running disk cleanup. This tool can delete temp files and compress seldom used files. Here's how to do it. In windows XP go to start programs accessories system tools then disk cleanup. From there you can select the drive to clean up.

 

When programs are stored on a hard drive, they are stored in what ever available space there is. Sometimes this means a program will be split up in segments and stored in between other programs. This segmentation means when you launch a program it must find all of these pieces, resulting in longer load times. Defraging tries to resolve this by rearranging program segments into one chain, reducing seek times and thus increasing speed and performance. Here's how its done. In Windows XP go to start programs accessories system tools then disk defragmenter. You can click on analyze to see if a hard drive needs defraging, if it does you can go back and click defrag.

Upgrading computer hardware can drastically improve system performance.Some examples are replacing the video card with a faster one with more video memory.Adding more system ram. The more ram the better. Graphic programs such as photoshop will take advantage of this extra ram. overall system is also improved, translating into faster boot times and application loading. Upgrading to windows XP can also improve boot times, if you have the hardware to support it. The minimum video ram for a good performing pc is about 32 megs. Your video card should have between 64 and 128 megs of onboard memory for improved performance in games.Finally a motherboard/ram/processor upgrade will give you the best results. because you are essentially getting a new computer sans the hard drive cdrom etc.

If your installing Windows 2000 or XP for the first time, be sure to select the NT file system over fat32 . It is more robust, stable and features file encryption in XP pro.If you already have 2000 or XP running over fat 32, you can still convert in to the NT filesytem. Be aware converting after you have an os installed can cause data lose or an empty drive if something goes wrong during the conversion .

Tweak UI is a performance enhancing app from microsoft. It has a plethora of tools and optimization options. It is available for free here.

This tool can check for file system errors and physical damage on your hard drive In Windows XP right click on any hard drive letter in my computer then select properties and finally tools and check now. If all options are selected the the test will be run when you reboot and before windows loads.

Uninstalling unused programs can free up hard drive space allowing for a larger Windows swap file for virtual memory. This translates into improved performance. Simply go to control panel then add remove programs and uninstall the game or app's you don't need.

Use these utilities to tweak your internet performance. Windows 98 users with a dialup account can tweak internet performance with this utility.

Go to this Link to learn which service you need or don't need running in windows.