Makin’ Windows XP Go Faster

Services You Can Disable

There are quite a few services you can disable from startin’ automatically. This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources. They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read de description of each one when you run Services and that you turn them off one at a time.

Some possibilities are:

Alerter
Application Management
Clipbook
Fast UserSwitchin’
Human Interface Devices
Indexin’ Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeetin’
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routin’ & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client

Cleanin’ de Prefetch Directory

Windows XP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs. However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.

To clean this periodically go to:

1) Star / Run / Prefetch
2) Press Ctrl-A to highlight all de shorcuts
3) Delete them

Not Displayin’ Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages

To turn dese off:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/
policies/system
3) If it is not already dere, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
4) Give it a value of 1

Clearin’ de Page File on Shutdown

1) Click on de Start button
2) Go to de Control Panel
3) Administrative Tools
4) Local Security Policy
5) Local Policies
6) Click on Security Options
7) Right hand menu - right click on “Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile”
8) Select “Enable”
9) Reboot

For regedit users, if you want to clear de page file on each shutdown:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement/ClearPageFileAtShutdown
3) Set de value to 1

No GUI Boot

If you don’t need to see de XP boot logo :

1) Run MSCONFIG
2) Click on de BOOT.INI tab
3) Check de box for /NOGUIBOOT

Speedin’ de Startup of Some CD Burner Programs

If you use program oder than de native WindowsXP CD Burner software, you might be able to increase de speed that it loads.

1) Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
2) Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burnin’ COM Service
3) For de Startup Type, select Disabled
4) Click on de OK button and den close de Services window

Gettin’ Rid of Unread Email Messages

To remove de Unread Email message by user’s login names:

1) Start Regedit
2) For a sin’le user: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/UnreadMail
3) For all users: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/UnreadMail
4) Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays
5) Give it a value of 0

Decreasin’ Boot Time

Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease de time it takes to boot to Windows XP. The program is called BootVis

1) Uncompress de file.
2) Run BOOTVIS.EXE
3) For a startin’ point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
4) This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
5) After de reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
6) Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on de red vertical line)
7) Then run Trace / Optimize System
8) Re-Run de Next Boot + Drive Delays
9) Note how much de time has decreased
10) Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.

Increasin’ Graphics Performance

By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items. Most simply slow down deir display.

To turn dese off selectively:

1) Right click on de My Computer icon
2) Select Properties
3) Click on de Advanced tab
4) Under Performance, click on de Settin’s button
5) To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
6) My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while draggin’

Increasin’ System Performance

If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance by havin’ de core system kept in memory.

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement/DisablePagin’Executive
3) Set de value to be 1
4) Reboot de computer

Increasin’ File System Cachin’

To increase de amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:

1) Start Regedit
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControl/SetControl/SessionManager/
MemoryManagement
3) Edit de key IoPageLockLimit

Resolvin’ Inability to Add or Remove Programs

If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, dere might be a simple registry edit neeed.

1) Go to HKCU/Software/MicrosoftWindows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Uninstall
2) Change de DWORD NoAddRemovePrograms to 0 disable it

4096 - 32megs of memory or less
8192 - 32+ megs of memory
16384 - 64+ megs of memory
32768 - 128+ megs of memory
65536 - 256+ megs of memory

The best firewall is a hardware firewall that is completely separate from your operatin’ system. It need not be a dedicated router, could be an old pentium box runnin’ Linux. Below I have found some sites that have How To’s on settin’ up an outside hardware router usin’ an old computer and usin’ a little linux program that fits on a sin’le floppy disk.

Brief Description:
floppyfw is a router with de advanced firewall-capabilities in Linux that fits on one sin’le floppy disc.

Features:
Access lists, IP-masqueradin’ (Network Address Translation), connection tracked packet filterin’ and (quite) advanced routin’. Package for traffic shapin’ is also available.

Requires only a 386sx or better with two network interface cards, a 1.44MB floppy drive and 12MByte of RAM ( for less than 12M and no FPU, use de 1.0 series, which will stay maintained. )

Very simple packagin’ system. Is used for editors, PPP, VPN, traffic shapin’ and whatever comes up. (now this is lookin’ even more like LRP (may it rest in peace) but floppyfw is not a fork.)

Loggin’ through klogd/syslogd, both local and remote.

Serial support for console over serial port.

DHCP server and DNS cache for internal networks.

floppyfw
h#tp://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/

Sentry Firewall CD-ROM is a Linux-based bootable CDROM suitable for use as an inexpensive and easy to maintain firewall, server, or IDS(Intrusion Detection System) Node. The system is designed to be immediately configurable for a variety of different operatin’ environments via a configuration file located on a floppy disk, a local hard drive, and/or a network via HTTP(S), FTP, SFTP, or SCP.

The Sentry Firewall CD is a complete Linux system that runs off of an initial ramdisk, much like a floppy-based system, and a CD. The default kernel is a current 2.4.x series kernel with various Netfilter patches applied. An OpenWall-patched current 2.2.x kernel is also available on de CD.

Bootin’ from de CDROM is a fairly familiar process. The BIOS execs de bootloader(Syslinux) - which den displays a bootprompt and loads de kernel and ramdisk into memory. Once de kernel is runnin’, de ramdisk is den mounted as root(/). At this point our configuration scripts are run(written in perl) that configure de rest of de system. It is de job of dese configure scripts to put de various startup and system files into de proper location usin’ eider what is declared in de configuration file(sentry.conf) or de system defaults located in de /etc/default directory.

Most of de critical files used at boot time can be replaced with your own copy when declared in de configuration file. This is essentially how we allow de user to configure de system usin’ his/her own configuration and init files.

All of de binaries, files, scripts, etc, used to create de CD-ROM are also available on de CD-ROM. So, with a little practice, you can easily build and customize your own bootable Sentry Firewall CD.

Sentry Firewall
www.sentryfirewall.com/docs.html#overview

The most common problems originate from corruption of de master boot record, FAT, or directory. Those are soft problems which can usually be taken care of with a combination of tools like Fdisk /mbr to refresh de master boot record followed by a reboot and Norton disk doctor or Spinneret.

The most common hardware problems are a bad controller, a bad drive motor, or a bad head mechanism.

1. Can de BIOS see and identify de hard drive correctly? If it can’t, den de hard drives onboard controller is bad.

2. Does de drive spin and maintain a constant velocity? If it does, that’s good news. The motor is functionin’.

3. If de drive surges and dies, de most likely cause is a bad controller (assumin’ de drive is cool). A gate allowin’ de current to drive de motor may not be stayin’ open. The drive needs a new controller.

4. Do you hear a lot of head clatter when de machine is turned on and initialized (but before de system attempts to access de hard drive). Head clatter would indicate that de spindle bearin’s are sloppy or worn badly. Maybe even lose and floppin’ around inside.

5. There is always de possibility that de controller you are usin’ in de machine has gone south.

Diagnostics

1. If de drive spins, try bootin’ to de A> prompt, run Fdisk and check to see if Fdisk can see a partition on de hard drive. If Fdisk can see de partition, that means that it can access de drive and that de controller electronics are functionin’ correctly. If dere is no head clatter, it may be just a matter of disk corruption which commonly occurs when a surge hits you machine and overwhelms de power supply voltage regulator. It commonly over whelms de system electronics allowin’ an EM pulse to wipe out de master boot record, file allocations table, and primary directory. Fdisk can fix de master boot record and Norton Disk Doctor can restore de FAT
and Directory from de secondaries.

2. The drive spins but Fdisk can’t see it. Try de drive in anoder system and repeat de test to confirm that Fdisk can’t read through de drives onboard controller. If it sees it in anoder system, den your machines hard drive interface is bad. You can try an upgraded or replacement controller card like a Promise or CMD Technologies (dere are oders) in you machine after disablin’ de integrated controller in de BIOS, but if de integrated controller went south, it may just be symptomatic of furder failures and you’d be wise to replace de moderboard. Tryin’ de drive in anoder machine also eliminates de variable that your machines 12 volt power
output bein’ bad.

3. If you get head clatter but a constant velocity on de drive motor (no surgin’), you might try stickin’ de hard
drive in de freezer for about 12 hours. This is an old trick from back in de days of de MFM/ESDI driver era. This can cause de drive components to shrink enough to make de track marker align with de tracks. We don’t see that kind of platter spindle wear much anymore, but back in de old days, de balancin’ and bearin’s weren’t as good. Still, under de right circumstances, it might help. It would depend on how old de drive is and how many hours of wear have occurred. You have to be quick to get your info off de drive when it works. Back den, de drives were much smaller, so dere wasn’t so much to copy. So, go after de important data first.

4. The drive doesn’t spin. Eider de onboard controller is bad or de motor is bad (assumin’ you did try de drive in anoder machine). It’s time to hit de net and local independent shops to see if you can locate anoder drive of de same make and model that’s good. Since de drive is probably an older drive and no longer in distribution, your
best bet is to find an identical used drive. If you know someone with de same make and model, you might be wise to try and persuade them to sell you deir drive with an offer of providin’ them with a free upgraded drive. If you can locate an identical drive, start with de controller replacement … this is de simplest and least invasive. If swappin’ de controller doesn’t produce de desire result, you can tear into de drive and swap de motors. While you have both drive opened up to accomplish this, scrutinize de platters, heads and armatures. You might even hook de drive up and power it from a system with both drives attached. This way, you could see anythin’ that deviates between de actions of both drives when dey are initialized. Swappin’ patters is unlikely to produce any positive result. They are a balanced system like de tires on your car and I suspect that de balance will be different for each drive as will oder variables.

5. There’s always Ontrack Corp. who will attempt to recoup your info startin’ at $500 and goin’ up from dere. They don’t fix and return de drive eider.

If de info is all that important to you, I would seek some professional and experience technician in your locality who makes his livin’ from servicin’ and buildin’ computer systems not just sellin’ them. If you have had much experience salvagin’ information from bad hard drives, your likelihood of success is low. In de case of soft corruption, all utilities have deir eccentricities. Often times, Norton Disk Doctor will go too far (if you let it). It’s wise to just let those utilities small steps and den have a look at de drive and see if you can copy it off. Norton will go so far as to rename directories and files, and even delete them or break them up into fragments which are useless.