XP Maximized: Cool Tweaking Tips To Make Sure XP Behaves!

Here are some general maintenance guidelines that will keep your PC running smooth and efficiently.

General XP Maintenance

Over time, your computer will probably start to get slower. As with all machines, your computer need maintenance.

Step 1: Clean out the startup list

When you install a program the program will probably put itself in the startup list so that it runs when the computer starts up. Chances are that you're not going to use the new program every time you turn on your computer. I recommend you get rid of it:

Click Start->Run Type "msconfig" (without quotation marks) Under the "Startup" tab, uncheck any programs that you don't need. Common examples are NeroCheck, Acrobat assistant, etc etc etc.

Make sure that you do not remove the check mark for your antivirus program. You can check under the "Command" column where the program that is being run is located. Don't uncheck anything that has your antivirus install directory listed.

When prompted, don't reboot. There are still a couple more things to do.

Step 2: Clear out the Temp folder

Go and get CleanIt. CleanIt is a small tool that will run at startup (yes, you want this one to run) and it will delete all the files in your temp directory. Temp files are used by programs, as the name implies, temporarily. Installers are notorious for placing a file in the temp directory and leaving it there.

On the next boot, CleanIt will ask you for the path to your temp folder. Just make sure that the directory leads to your documents folder (that's where the default Temp folder is located). CleanIt will then remove any temp files on every boot, potentially saving you hundreds of megabytes in disk space.

Step 3: Run Disk Cleanup

Click on
->Start
->Programs/All Programs
->Accessories
->System Tools
->Disk Cleanup.

Click OK for C Drive. Select all options except for "Compress old files". Click OK.

Step 4: Clear out the Prefetch folder

Open up My Computer and browse your way to
C:\Windows\Prefetch

Select everything in this folder and delete it. Over time, Windows keeps track of the programs that you use and will make a list of files needed to start that program. When you start your computer, Windows will "prefetch" part of that program so that when you do load it, it loads up faster. Over time, Windows will keep track of installers, programs you no longer need, or even some of the spyware that you removed previously. By deleting all the files here, you're giving Windows a clean start to build it's file list on. All the files you truly need will come back after about 2-3 reboots.

Step 5: Defragment the Hard Drive

Click on:
->Start
->Programs/All Programs
->Accessories
->System Tools
->Disk Defragmenter

Select the drive in the top window, and click on "Defragment". Depending on how fragmented your hard drive is, this may take a while.

If you want a better defragmenting program, check out Executive Software's Diskeeper. They've got a great defragmenting tool that will speed up your computer even more.

Step 6: Remove any unneeded/unwanted services (Optional, but recommended)

I would strongly recommend downloading and running the free version of the SiSoftware Sandra. If you want to know what services you can safely shut down this program is what you need.

That's pretty much it for the basics of keeping your system healthy. The one last thing that I would recommend is a clean install of Windows every year or so. Despite all the cleaning and maintenance you perform, Windows still manages to slow down over time. There's nothing like a fresh install of Windows for the ease of mind.

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