Start up really slow

[Kelly_g]

My start up is really slow, ive ran all antiviruses malware and adaware killers...im up to date on all updates... i ran a highjack this ..posted it in this forum and was told it was a clean log......i went into msconfig and took off all the things i dont need in start up.....i went to regedit HKEY_CURRENT_USER/control panel/desktop/menu show delay..and changed the default settings from 400 to 50...im told changing the value of the prefetch has little or no effect so i left that alone...im running windows xp pro....i have a 80 gig hard drive thats less than 1/2 full....i have 1 gig of ram....im running a AMD Sempron, 2 gig....ive defraged and ran disk cleanup....then ran scandisk to check for errors...ive ran ewido, adaware se, cc cleaner, window washer, registry mechanic and a few others......i know theres more tips and tricks to get your start up faster...hoping someone knows a few.....thx!!!!!.

[Jacob Roman]

You also need to goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run to knock out most of the things that run on bootup.

[litlewiki]

Go to msconfig and disable all non Microsoft services that are running .Uninstall apps that you don't use regularly.

[eSPiYa]

Daily defragmenting your harddisk will help you.
Windows XP's built-in disk defragmenter isn't enough, I suggest O&O Defragmenter.
My PC became 6x faster after I did a full defragmentation of my harddisk and I did it daily.
At first, the defragmenting is very slow but if you do it everyday the process will be around 3 minutes. You need to defrag daily is the drive where Windows resides.

[rory]

Defragging everyday is not generally required. It is definitely a must, but there are other things that also make a huge difference with XP.

if it is that slow even after a one off Defrag, then it is more than likely something else.

-take EVERYTHING off startup in the MSCONFIG Startup section.

then see if it is still slow. Put back on your device drivers such as Scanners, All in one printers, and any Anti virus if you must.

-Get rid of nortons and install AVG Free.

-you've used CCleaner, well forget the normal XP Disk Cleanup as you dont need it now that you have CCleaner. CCleaner is great for general cleanups, but for a fresh cleanup download and run "Windows Cleanup!" from the following link. Use the "Thorough Cleanup" option, but first backup any important files. http://www.tucows.com/preview/405276

-Disable any services you dont need.
There are many that dont really need to be running, but are by default.

-In Control Panel, System, Advanced tab, change the Performance level to Best. This is only a partial fix but will make a big difference anyway. In Display Properties under Appearance, Effects; uncheck everything. (see tweakui below also)

-Disable Indexing on any NTFS drives.

-You should have Windows on one partition, and your data files on another.
Put your Temp folders on another partition too if you really want to go all out.

-If you hard drive is going bad, things will slow right down also.

-In Control Panel, System: Disable System Restore and Automatic updates (do them manually if you must).

-Download Tweakui (the original one)
http://www.download.com/Tweak-UI/300...4-2830963.html

There you can also set the menu speed under "Mouse", and also set he double click speed to "2" if you are using that. Under "General", uncheck everything but "Beep on errors". Under "IE", uncheck the first 3 (Add New Documents to Start menu, and the 2 Active Desktops), if you really want to go all out, Uncheck "Shell Enhancements".

-In Explorer's Tools, Folder Options, Use Classic Folders. See below for other explorer tweaks.


there are quite alot of things actually to do to make XP faster, it is slow anyway by default. Here is a small list that I do for CCTV XP DVRs. Some of the tweaks need to be done in the registry, i made a program that does all of the below automatically, if you want it. I have approx 60+ more documented tweaks to add yet. If you have what sounds like should be a relatively fast system, then you dont really need to do all of the following, mainly just the Services and the Effects. Some of them are explained above already.

There may also be some other software you installed that could be causing it to "feel" slow. Eg. HP all in one printer software, ITunes, MSN Live Messenger, IE 7.0, etc .. among many others. Ofcourse some of these would be on start up.

SERVICES
------------
Automatic Updates
ClipBook
Computer Browser
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatibility
Help and Support
Indexing Service
Machine Debug Manager
Messenger
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Security Center
System Restore Service
Themes
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Wireless Zero Configuration

VISUAL EFFECTS
--------------------
Combo Box Animation
Cursor Shadows
Desktop Wallpaper
Drag Full Windows
Drop Shadows
Font Smoothing
List Box Scrolling
Menu Animation
Menu Delay
Menu Fade
Window Min/Max Animation
ScreenSaver
Selection Fade
Smooth Scrolling
Tool Tip Animation
Tool Tip Fade
List Box Animation

EXTRA TWEAKS
-------------------------
(many not performance related necessarily)

SYSTEM SETTINGS
================

Enable/Disable Low Disk Space Message
Disable Hibernate
Disable Fast User Switching
Disable Remote Assitance
Fix for DSO Exploit that Spybot complains about
Disable Windows Tour
Disables Error Reporting, but notifies when critical errors occur
Disable System Restore
Disable USB/CDRom Autorun
Disable Automatically Start CD run
Disable Windows File Protection
Make the Windows XP registration with Microsoft unnecessary
Don't search Windows Update for drivers (when new HW detected)
Remove Alexa Spyware (comes built in Windows by default) Tweak not required for XP SP2

DESKTOP
=========

Disable Active Desktop
Disable the Desktop Cleanup Wizard
Removes More Themes Online... option in the Themes dropdown box
Hide Screensaver settings

START MENU
===========

Remove "Start Here" Tip
Enable classic start menu
Disable Drag-and-Drop on the Start Menu
Disable Personalised menus
Remove Favorites
Remove My Documents
No Recent Docsmenu removes the recent documents from the start menu.
Remove "set programs access default"
Disable Highlighting New Programs on Start Menu
Sort Start Menu in Alphabetical Order

TASKBAR
========

Don't Group Similar Taskbar Buttons
Disable Automatic Hiding of Inactive Tray Icons
Remove the Toolbars on the Taskbar
Lock taskbar

EXPLORER
==========

Disable Automatic Hidden Shares
Remove Shared Documents from My Computer
Disable File and Printer Sharing
Disable all Balloon Tips
Disable the Thumbnail Cache
Use Classic Search in Explorer
Disable web content
Control Panel Classic View
Display contents of system folders and C:\ (protected folder)
Show Windows classic folders
Classic Desktop (Disable Shell Enhancements)

OUTLOOK EXPRESS
===============

Block Executable Attachments in Outlook Express
Control the Ability to Use HTTP Mail in Outlook Express

MSN MESSENGER
=============

Unbundle Windows Messenger from Outlook Express
Prevent Windows Messenger from being installed
Prevent Windows Messenger from being updated
Remove MSN Messenger From Startup
Stop MSN Messenger from Running on Windows Startup
Don't let Windows Messenger load involuntarily at every boot-up

MEDIA
======

Disable Auto Upgrade with Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player - Fit Video To Screen
Media Player EULA Auto accept (to prevent first-run on XPSP2)
Don't accept shortcuts that splat themselves all over Windows
Disable automatic codec downloads
Disable Media Player identification (track-back) through Internetsites
Do Not Receive Media Player Licences automatically without prompt
Disable Codec Downloads in Media Player
Speed-up Access to AVI Media Files
Show volume icon in the Task Tray

[krtxmrtz]

...
-Disable Indexing on any NTFS drives.
...

What's indexing and how can you disable it?

[rory]

What's indexing and how can you disable it?

Indexing is used for faster searches of your hard drives ... whenever you make changes to a file or folder it updates the index.

if you dont use it that much (most people dont) then disabling it will speed things up just a little.

Under Services in Control Panel, Admin Tools ... it is a listed service, you can disable it there.

Also, right click on an NTFS Drive in my computer, properties, and uncheck index this drive. Click apply and ok to apply to all files and folders, click ignore all when it says it cant change something. Do that for all NTFS drives.

[krtxmrtz]

Indexing is used for faster searches of your hard drives ... whenever you make changes to a file or folder it updates the index.

if you dont use it that much (most people dont) then disabling it will speed things up just a little.

Under Services in Control Panel, Admin Tools ... it is a listed service, you can disable it there.

Also, right click on an NTFS Drive in my computer, properties, and uncheck index this drive. Click apply and ok to apply to all files and folders, click ignore all when it says it cant change something. Do that for all NTFS drives.

Great, thanks.