Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Optimizing XP the COMPLETE guide

Ive been reading some bad guides about tweaking xp and know alot of people are struggling with older systems in laggy pain.Most of these tweaks should work for vista as well.I am also making a vista guide as well if you can wait,

First the essential software CCleaner will be needed. Its free and can be found at http://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/.

First your gonna clean out all the junk bloating your HDD. When you open this software first thing you should do is go to Options/advanced and untick only delete files in Windows Temp after 48 hours. Then go back to Cleaner and hit Run Cleaner. Also CCleaner has a registry cleaner which you can use as well..But before using it i reccomend backing up your registry. You can do this by going to run dialog,type in regedit and press on the My Computer Icon.Then go to file and export..Name it backup.reg or something...

Next step will be configuiring your startups which can also be done in CCleaner.Just go to tools and startup. Delete all entries which you dont need starting up when windows boots.

Now will be the real silver bullet. Go to Services.msc and disable services you dont need. http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm has a good list of some you will or wont need. I reccomend you going with SAFE config if your not confident or Power User if you are.

Defragmenting
This is also very crucial to getting your system back to speed. At the moment im using Diskeeper 2008 which is a great piece of software but it isnt free. A good alternative soloution is Defraggler which is free. I reccommend you defrag once a week or if you've just finished installing big pieces of software or games.

Tweaks
http://www.sendspace.com/file/dm1mbq
This contains a few tweaks ive compressed. For most of them double click them and click yes. For the last shutdown tweak just double click and it should work.
While given in good faith i cannot guarntee this will work for your system and cannot be liable for any damage done to your Computer. If anyone does seem to happen them tell me and ill try to help.

Boosting SATA drives
go to device manager (run dialog type in devmgmt.msc and press enter).
Then expand disk drives. Click on your disk and go to policies tab. Tick enable write caching on this disk. And if you have a SATA drive enable advanced performance..

Drivers
You should update your drivers every month or so. Drivers mean more stability and reliability.Also download the latest DirectX update.

Programs
A few good free tweaking utilites are Cachemen,CCleaner,Defraggler and Advanced Windows care personal. A few good ones which arnt free are Tune up utilies 2008,Diskeeper 2008, Registry Mechanic 7 and O&O defrag 11.

Viruses
Viruses cause A HUGE peformance downgrade. I reccommened using Zone Alarm/Avast as a Firewall/Anti Virus combo. Zone alarm free edition is good and AVG Antivirus is free and good as well..Also scan your comp with spybot search and destroy. Its a great Anti-Spyware.

Heat
Heat causes resistance which causes lower performance..This might lead to your comp restarting all the time/artifacts in games etc. I reccomend cleaning out your computer (the case) every 3 months. Use a tissue and a bottle of compressed air. Clean out under the fan and stuff get all dust out and the most gunked place should be you CPU HSF. Its the one fan sticking out with the metal heatsink under it. If you know how then taking it off and applying some thermal paste before cleaning the heatsink/fan out is optimal.but if your not sure just clean it out using a tissue...a fan to blow out dusk?..

Yearly Format
Every year i suggest a Format of your hardrive and a fresh installation of your OS (XP). It should give a big performance boost. Although it will also delete all your files and software. So back your stuff up to a external HDD or something.

Upgrades are cheap these days and $500AU can easily get you something really good.This is considering you build your computer buy yourself and get the parts at a decent store. A $500 comp +monitor you get will probably equate to $750ish if you get a decent LCD and if you browse catalogues Dell or other companys will be selling for $1000+ for the same system or a lesser one. Although if you dont want to overhaul your system upgrades are cheap...Good Graphic cards(boost gaming performance) are cheap this is a small chart for what id buy with the cash ($AU)
But check whether your comp is AGP/PCI-E slot before upgrading..Check the card you want is the same slot as your motherboard takes
$50-100/Old second hand 7 series? Or a new 7600GT
$100-150/ New 8600gt/2600xt.
$150-200/strech budget bit for HD3850 (worth the extra) or id go for 8600GTS
$200-250/ HD3850
$250-300/ Try to find cheap HD3870
$300-350/8800gt/HD3870
$350-400/8800gt?
$400+ 512mb 8800GTS (NOT 640mb Version)

Ram is a great and very cheap these days. THey will speed up overal use. Check what type your motherboard takes (DDR400,DDR2,SDRAM) and what frequency itll take up to (400mhz,600mhz etc)...Also check your all your ram slots havnt been used...Download and CPU-Z (Free)

Done for the meantime ill continue updating as i think of tweaks..Im also finishing a few guides..
Optimizing Vista
Making your XP look like vista for FREE..

If you enjoyed the guide please donate to my paypal account which is taliban_remix@hotmail.com

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