What do you mean by saying Virgin?
Useful Tips for u !
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=>Make XP Go Faster
Services You Can Disable
There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically.
This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources.
They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read the 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 UserSwitching
Human Interface Devices
Indexing Service
Messenger
Net Logon
NetMeeting
QOS RSVP
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routing & Remote Access
SSDP Discovery Service
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Web Client <=
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=>Cleaning the Prefetch Directory
WindowsXP 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:
Star / Run / Prefetch
Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the shorcuts
Delete them<=
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=>Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages
To turn these off:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentV ersionpoliciessystem
If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages
Give it a value of 1<=
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=>Clearing the Page File on Shutdown
Click on the Start button
Go to the Control Panel
Administrative Tools
Local Security Policy
Local Policies
Click on Security Options
Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"
Select "Enable"
Reboot
For regedit users.....
If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSe ssion ManagerMemory ManagementClearPageFileAtShutdown
Set the value to 1
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=>No GUI Boot
If you don't need to see the XP boot logo,
Run MSCONFIG
Click on the BOOT.INI tab
Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT <=
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=>Speeding the Startup of Some CD Burner Programs
If you use program other than the native WindowsXP CD Burner software,
you might be able to increase the speed that it loads.
Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services
Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
For the Startup Type, select Disabled
Click on the OK button and then close the Services window
If you dont You should notice <=
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=>Getting Rid of Unread Email Messages
To remove the Unread Email message by user's login names:
Start Regedit
For a single user: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVe rsionUnreadMail
For all users: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentV ersionUnreadMail
Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays
Give it a value of 0<=
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=>Decreasing Boot Time
Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP
The program is called BootVis
Uncompress the file.
Run BOOTVIS.EXE
For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark
After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.
Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line)
Then run Trace / Optimize System
Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays
Note how much the time has decreased
Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.<=
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=>Increasing Graphics Performance
By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.
Most simply slow down their display.
To turn these off selectively:
Right click on the My Computer icon
Select Properties
Click on the Advanced tab
Under Performance, click on the Settings button
To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance
My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging<=
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=>Increasing System Performance
If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSe ssion ManagerMemory ManagementDisablePagingExecutive
Set the value to be 1
Reboot the computer<=
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=>Increasing File System Caching
To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSe ssion ManagerMemory Management
Edit the key IoPageLockLimit<=
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=>Resolving Inability to Add or Remove Programs
If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, there might be a simple registry edit neeed.
Go to HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPolicies Uninstall
Change the 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
Greatly Increase Your Virtual RAM
This makes your computer faster by using part of your HD space as virtual RAM. ( Takes around a gigabyte of space,when initialized. but still speeds up your computer greatly!)
If your HD has less than 20GB of free space left then don't do this.
Alright, this is how you do it:
Instructions:
1. Right Click on "My Computer" icon and select "Properties".
2. Click on the Advanced tab.
3. Under Performance, click Settings.
4. Then click the Advanced tab on the button that pops up.
5. Under Virtual Memory at the bottom, click Change.
6. Click the Custom Size button.
7. For the initial size (depending on your HD space), type in anywhere from 1000-1500 (although i use 4000), and for the Maximum size type in anywhere from 2000-2500 (although i use 6000).
8. Click Set, and then exit out of all of the Windows.
9. Finally, restart your computer.
10. You now have a faster computer and 1-2gb of virtual RAM!
I did this personally and it worked great for me.
<=
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=> Computer Maintenance... (speed up your computer!)
Most of you will find that computer performance tends to get slowed down over time!
Some simple maintenance every 2-4 weeks (depending on computer use and programs installed) will only take you about 10-30 minutes and can be performed at any knowledge level.
It will help to keep your computer running smoothly.
If you follow this guide, you are bound to see a noticeable improvement in system performance.
This tutorial is fairly basic and something all computer users should do.
Remove all programs you no longer use or knew about:
Over time, you may have installed games or utilities that you forgot about or no longer use. Why waste the space? Go to your control panel, AddRemove programs and uninstall anything you no longer use. Occasionally you will find a toolbar or other item you were unaware was there!
Cleaning your hard drive of unneeded files:
One of the biggest problems is hard drive useage. Your hard drive has more moving parts then any other part in your computer and is constantly adding, deleting and reorganizing files. Because of this, you need to clean your computers hard drive. A great tool for this is CCleaner (Crap Cleaner). Its free and available here:
Code:
http://www.ccleaner.com/
Simply open CCleaner, and the cleaner section should be open by default.
Click run cleaner and wait.
Thats it, your done!
It is a very safe tool and has never damaged any of the hundreds of computers I have run it on. <=
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=>Remove invalid registry entries:
Next up is the registry. Frankly, the registry is overrated as a speed tweak, in general, but it does get large and can contain many invalid references. The registry is not an area for even the average computer user to be playing around in. The good news is CCleaner has a safe registry cleaner built in, so why not clean out old, invalid entries?
Click the issues button.
Click scan for issues.
Click fix selected issues.
Just to be safe, ensure you back up the reg at the prompt, although i have used this feature thousands of times and never had an issue!
Thats it, your done, a safe, fast registry clean. <=
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=>Startup items:
Here is a HUGE culprit of slowing down the average PC, especially at boot times.
See all those icons in the lower right corner of your screen? (System Tray), Those are all being loaded on startup, and those are not all of them either! If your wondering why you have to wait a minute to use your computer after startup, it is because all of those items are loading after Windows has started. They also use up memory just sitting there. Removal takes a bit more knowledge, or research, then the previous two steps, but you can do it!
First off, if you know what these items in the tray are and do not need them running, you can either right click an icon and look for options or a "run with Windows" option. Otherwise, you can double click any icon to open the program and look for options from there. Some are easy and common. Quicktime, AOL and RealPlayer are good examples of items that do not need to be there.(Most apps, by default, are configured to run on start up but they can easily be stopped in most of the options settings under 'tools')
CCleaner also has a startup manager (what a sensational little program this is).
Click tools, then startup. You can delete any unneeded items from there. Be careful, there is no backup, so either look up the program on Google or ask on this forum if you want to know what an item is for. Because the startup loads drivers and some programs you may need, be careful removing items you are unsure of. <=
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=>Defragment your hard drive
Now that you have removed all of this garbage, you have defragmented files all over your hard drive. Reading and writing data on a heavily fragmented hard drive is slowed down because the time for the heads to move between fragments on the disk surface can be substantial.
The files on your hard drive now probably look like a box of tacks after I open them and toss them on the ground. Defragmenting your hard drive would be like the box of tacks still sealed. All neat and tidy and easy to get at.
Microsoft includes a disk defragmentor, but it is widely known that it is not very good. A few free alternatives are available
Auslogics is an easy to use free program:
Code:
http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/index.
Heaps more available here:
Code:
http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads...ragmenter.html
These are the most secure ways possible to keep your PC running nice and smooth and as sharp as a tac!
Dont be fooled into using flashy software tweaks or apps that usually slow the whole show down even more with their overbearing surge on your memory and other system resources!
Now you should, and will, notice the difference!<=
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=>How to increase you internet bandwidth by 20%
Increase your Bandwidth by 20%
Windows uses 20% of your bandwidth! Get it back
A nice little tweak for XP. M*crosoft reserve 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes (suspect for updates and interrogating your machine etc..)
Here's how to get it back:
Click Start-->Run-->type "gpedit.msc" without the "
This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:
Local Computer Policy-->Computer Configuration-->Administrative Templates-->Network-->QOS Packet Scheduler-->Limit Reservable Bandwidth
Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab :
"By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."
So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.
works on XP Pro, and 2000
other OS not tested.<=
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=>7 Ways to Speed up and Optimize Windows XP
Quick and easy
After seeing how popular Blifaloo's guide to virus removal and prevention has become, I decided to write some more articles about taking care of your computer.
The following is a list of easy tweaks you can do to speed up the overall performance of your PC with Windows XP.
1. Disable File Indexing
file indexing
Huh? This indexing service gets info from files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index."
If you don't use the XP search feature often to look for documents, you can turn this feature off, and the difference you'll notice is a slight increase in the time it takes for your computer to find a file, but an overall increase in general speed for everything else.
How to : From My Computer > right-click on the C: Drive > select Properties.
Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Apply changes to "C: sub folders and files," and click OK.
2. Clean Up Prefetch, temp, and cache files
clean up hard drive
Huh? Windows stores a lot of temporary files that can be safely cleaned out once a month or so. This is also good to do before running virus or spyware scans, as it clears many things out of your system that would need to be scanned.
How to : Download CleanUp!
How to use CleanUp! : Download, Install, and Run.
3. Install some RAM
install ram
Huh? If you are running 128mb or 256mb of Ram, it's pretty cheap and easy to upgrade to 512mb. This is the only suggestion I will make that will actually cost money, but it's also the one that will best improve performance.
How to : Not sure how to install Ram, or even what kind you need or where to get it from?
Check out Blifaloo's article on how to Add Ram to your PC.
4. Remove Programs & files you no longer need or use
remove unused programs
Huh? Having old games or other software you no longer use can take up a lot of space on your hard drive, which can lead to an overall decrease in your PC's performance.
How to : Removing old programs is easy. From the Control Panel click on the "Add or Remove Programs" Icon. You can safely remove programs like games, demos, and other software you no longer use. If you are not sure what a program is... don't delete it just yet. You can do an internet search to find out more about any mystery programs installed on your PC to decide to delete them or not.
Remember: Mp3 music files and videos you download can take up a lot of space. Go through your media files once a month or so and delete the ones you no longer use.
5. Turn off Windows Animations and Visual Effects
remove animations and visual effects
Huh? Fancy sliding, fading and animated effects that windows uses by default are easily turned off, and will make the reaction time of simple tasks like opening and moving windows, taskbars, etc... much quicker.
How to : From the Control Panel, click on the "System" icon. Click on the Advanced tab. Click the "Settings" button underneath "Performance". Uncheck the options related to animations, and other unneeded visual effects.
Personally, I only have 3 items checked in here: "smooth edges of screen fonts", "use common tasks in folders", and "use visual styles on windows and buttons". You can uncheck all of them if you like. But, just getting rid of all the animated features will help the responsiveness of your PC.
6. Remove unused Fonts
remove fonts
Huh? Having too many fonts can realllllllly slow down how fast programs start up. Some people say have no more than 500 fonts installed on WinXP, but I personally try to keep the number of fonts below 200. The less you have the faster your programs that use them (office software, graphic programs etc..) will load.
How to : From the Control Panel, click on the "Fonts" icon. You can delete the fonts you don't use here.
Remember: to keep the basics: Verdana, Arial, Times, Trebuchet, Courier, serif, sans-serif, Georgia, etc... Along with any fonts related to your business.
7. Get a Virus, Spyware and Malware Clean System
remove viruses
Huh? Chances are you have some sort of virus, spyware or malware on your computer.
How to : Get Adware and Spybot S&D in addition to a Firewall and Antivirus program. See our guide to virus removal and protection for more ifno.
Remember: Keep your anti-virus programs up-to-date. And always research any software you plan on downloading to "help" your PC. Some anti-virus / anti-spyware software actually have spyware<=
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=>Increase hard disk speed
Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the start & then Run command.
Expand the system.ini file window.
Scroll down almost to the end of the file till you find a line called [386enh].
Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type
Irq14=4096
Note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE!!!
Click on the File menu, then choose Save.
Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.
Done. Speed improvement will be noticed after the computer reboots.
Update: The most speed improvement is visible with IDE drives, however there are reports that this tweak also does good for SCSI disks. In any case, it won't harm your system, so why not try it yourself and let me know what you find
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=>make your processeur faster
this trick work with AMD and Intel
first go to start and then Run
and go to regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management
in the right side you will see SecondLevelDataCache clik modifier and change it to .....
writ 256 if your processeur is
Intel pentium 3 E
Pentium 4
AMD k6-3
AMD Thunderbird
Cyrix 3
Pentium 2 Mobile
writ 64 if your processeur
AMD Duron
writ 512 if your processeur is
AMD K6-2
Pentium 2
Pentium 3 Katmai
AMD Athlon
writ 1024 if your processeur is :
Pentium 2 Xeon
Pentium 3 Xeon
and 128 for processeur
Pentium Celeron
Pentium Celeron 2
THIS IS FOR NEW COMPUTER!
Actually this tweak is completely useless on newer computers, all it does is set the L2 cache size. Here's a better explanation of it:
Myth - "Adjusting the SecondLevelDataCache Registry value to match your CPU's L2 Cache size will improve performance."
Reality - "If you do not set this registry value, Windows will use the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) for retrieval of the L2 cache size automatically on boot up. If this fails, a default value of 256KB is used. This is where the myth that XP can only use 256KB of L2 cache comes from. But it's false. The SecondLevelDataCache is designed as a secondary source of cache size information for computers on which the HAL cannot detect the L2 cache. The HAL is able to retrieve the L2 cache size from any CPU using the set-associative cache design (Pentium II or newer), it's only the relatively few older processors with direct-mapped L2 caches that the HAL will not recognize. This tweak only applies to older computers (Pentium I or older) with over 64MB of memory. On these older systems, this tweak can improve performance by about 0.4%. Pentium II and later CPUs are not affected."
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=>Here is a tip on how to shutdown windows without actually shutting down the computer.
When you click on the SHUTDOWN button, make sure to simultaneous press SHIFT Button. If you hold the Shift key down while clicking on SHUTDOWN button, you computer would restart without restarting the Computer. This is equivalent to term "HOT REBOOT".
make sure you are using fast switching for user. For those who don't know here is the method :
goto control panel>> doubleclick user account>> use accounts window opens>>> click on change the way user log and log off, there you will make the changes by marking the two boxes.