How to remove Windows XP Logo and see operations

Are you havin’ boot up problems and would like to know what it goin’ on behind that Windows Loadin’ Logo? To find out, you can disable de splash screen by makin’ a small change to de Boot.ini file.

Follow dese steps (carefully!):

1. Open de “System Properties” dialog box ( Settin’s - Control Panel - System)

2. On de Advanced tab, click de Settin’s button in de “Startup And Recovery” section.

3. In de “Startup And Recovery” dialog box, select de Edit button in de “System Startup” section.

4. The Boot.ini file will open in Notepad; locate de line that ends with de /fastdetect switch.

5. Position your cursor to de right after de parameter, press de spacebar, and add de /SOS switch.

6. Save de Boot.ini file, and close Notepad.

7. Click Cancel to close both de “Startup And Recovery” dialog box and de “System Properties” dialog box.

8. Restart de computer to see de effect.

Once de computer restarts you will notice that de Windows Splash Screen is no longer present. Instead you can observe some of de boot up operations that Windows XP performs durin’ de startup stage.

To renable de splash screen, follow de same procedure but remove de “/SOS”.

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