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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 reliailit! of !our customers' P"s. #est of all, most

of them will cost !ou nothing.

$.% &o decrease a s!stem's oot time and increase s!stem performance,

use the mone! !ou save ! not u!ing defragmentation software the

uiltin Windows defragmenter works (ust fine and instead e)uip the

computer with an *ltra$33 or Serial +&+ hard drive with -# cache

uffer.

2.% f a P" has less than /$2 -# of 0+-, add more memor!. &his is a

relativel! ine1pensive and eas! upgrade that can dramaticall! improve

s!stem performance.

3.% Ensure that Windows XP is utiliing the &4S file s!stem. f !ou're

not sure, here's how to check5 4irst, douleclick the -! "omputer

icon, rightclick on the "5 6rive, then select Properties. e1t,

e1amine the 4ile S!stem t!pe7 if it sa!s 4+&32, then ackup an!

important data. e1t, click Start, click 0un, t!pe "-6, and then click

89. +t the prompt, t!pe "8:E0& "5 ;4S5&4S and press the Enter ke!.

&his process ma! take a while7 it's important that the computer euninterrupted and virusfree. &he file s!stem used ! the ootale

drive will e either 4+&32 or &4S. highl! recommend &4S for its

superior securit!, reliailit!, and efficienc! with larger disk drives.

ere's how5 4irst, douleclick the -! "omputer icon. e1t, rightclick

on the "5 6rive, then select Properties. *ncheck =+llow nde1ing

Service to inde1 this disk for fast file searching.= e1t, appl!changes to ="5 sufolders and files,= and click 89. f a warning or

error message appears ?such as =+ccess is denied=%, click the gnore

+ll utton.

/.% *pdate the P"'s video and motheroard chipset drivers. +lso, update

and configure the #8S. 4or more information on how to configure !our

#8S properl!, see this article on m! site.

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@.% Empt! the Windows Prefetch folder ever! three months or so. Windows

XP can =prefetch= portions of data and applications that are used

fre)uentl!. &his makes processes appear to load faster when called upon

! the user. &hat's fine. #ut over time, the prefetch folder ma! ecome

overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use.

When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing s!stem

performance, ! preloading them. othing critical is in this folder,

and the entire contents are safe to delete.

A.% 8nce a month, run a disk cleanup. >ere's how5 6ouleclick the -!

"omputer icon. &hen rightclick on the "5 drive and select Properties.

"lick the 6isk "leanup utton it's (ust to the right of the "apacit!

pie graph and delete all temporar! files.

.% n !our 6evice -anager, douleclick on the 6E +&+;+&+P

"ontrollers device, and ensure that 6-+ is enaled for each drive !ou

have connected to the Primar! and Secondar! controller. 6o this !

douleclicking on Primar! 6E "hannel. &hen click the +dvanced

Settings ta. Ensure the &ransfer -ode is set to =6-+ if availale= for

oth 6evice B and 6evice $. &hen repeat this process with the Secondar!

6E "hannel.

C.% *pgrade the caling. +s harddrive technolog! improves, the caling

re)uirements to achieve these performance oosts have ecome more

stringent. #e sure to use Bwire *ltra$33 cales on all of !our 6E

devices with the connectors properl! assigned to the matching

-aster;Slave;-otheroard sockets. + single device must e at the end of

the cale7 connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a

rion cale will cause signaling prolems. With *ltra 6-+ hard drives,

these signaling prolems will prevent the drive from performing at its

ma1imum potential. +lso, ecause these cales inherentl! support =cale

select,= the location of each drive on the cale is important. 4or

these reasons, the cale is designed so drive positioning is e1plicitl!

clear.

$B.% 0emove all sp!ware from the computer. *se free programs such as

+d+ware ! Davasoft or Sp!#ot Search 6estro!. 8nce these programs are

installed, e sure to check for and download an! updates efore

starting !our search. +n!thing either program finds can e safel!

removed. +n! free software that re)uires sp!ware to run will no longer

function once the sp!ware portion has een removed7 if !our customer

reall! wants the program even though it contains sp!ware, simpl!

reinstall it. 4or more information on removing Sp!ware visit this We

Pro ews page.

$$.% 0emove an! unnecessar! programs and;or items from Windows Startup

routine using the -S"84F utilit!. >ere's how5 4irst, click Start,

click 0un, t!pe -S"84F, and click 89. "lick the Start*p ta, thenuncheck an! items !ou don't want to start when Windows starts. *nsure

what some items areG :isit the Win&asks Process Dirar!. t contains

known s!stem processes, applications, as well as sp!ware references and

e1planations. 8r )uickl! identif! them ! searching for the filenames

using Foogle or another We search engine.

$2.% 0emove an! unnecessar! or unused programs from the +dd;0emove

Programs section of the "ontrol Panel.

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$3.% &urn off an! and all unnecessar! animations, and disale active

desktop. n fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations.

Windows XP offers man! different settings in this area. >ere's how to

do it5 4irst click on the S!stem icon in the "ontrol Panel. e1t, click

on the +dvanced ta. Select the Settings utton located under

Performance. 4eel free to pla! around with the options offered here, as

nothing !ou can change will alter the reliailit! of the computer

onl! its responsiveness.

$

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services !ou can disale for !our client, visit the #lack :iper site

for Windows XP configurations.

22.% f !ou're sick of a single Windows E1plorer window crashing and

then taking the rest of !our 8S down with it, then follow this tip5

open -! "omputer, click on &ools, then 4older 8ptions. ow click on the

:iew ta. Scroll down to =Daunch folder windows in a separate process,=

and enale this option. Hou'll have to reoot !our machine for this

option to take effect.