Speed Up File Performance In XP
Here is a no-cost suggestion. Assuming you're using NTFS on your Win2000 or WinXP system, you can speed things up a bit by disabling one NTFS capability, namely, the ability to always keep the directory's last access time up-todate.
Whenever you access a directory or make a change to a file in a directory, the file system updates a time stamp at the directory level that notes the time and date you accessed the directory or file. Eliminating this time stamp will reduce the overhead associated with accessing a file or folder.
On the down side, it can cause problems with applications that make use of the time stamp, such as some backup programs and data synchronizing applications. We recommend making this change to your system only if you must have the best possible performance, and you're willing to make the trade-off.
To disable the last access time stamp, you will need to edit the Windows Registry. Click Start and select Run. In the Run dialog box, type regedit and click OK or press ENTER. Select the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL \FILESYSTEM. Right-click a blank area in the right pane and select New and DWORD Value from the pop-up menu. A new DWORD Value will appear, with its default name highlighted. Type NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate and press ENTER. Right-click the NTFSDisableLastAccessUpdate DWORD you just created and select Modify from the pop-up menu. Set the Value Data to I, make sure Hexadecimal is selected under Base, and click OK. To exit Regedit, click File and select Exit.
The change will take effect right away. You may not notice much difference, but file system performance will improve because there will be fewer file structure writes for every directory or file access that occurs.
