Here are some quick tips, I compiled, to improve the performance of your computer / laptop:
- For quicker bootup time, in the BIOS setup, (a) enable Quick Boot Mode, (b) set boot device priority to hard disk instead of CDROM drive, (c) disable floppy drive seek
- Uninstall all the softwares that either are unnecessary, or rarely used. Start > control panel > add or remove programs. If you have a install CD of any software that you use rarely, i suggest you remove such softwares from your system, and install it when needed.
- Run disk cleanup regularly. Start > run > type cleanmgr.exe.
- Free up as much space as possible from your laptop's HDD. Tip: To free up space, move all (or at least downsize) the data, videos, photos, songs to an external HDD or copy them into CD/DVDs.
- Run scandisk / checkdisk in SAFE MODE. This repairs anything on disk that is at fault. start > run > type chkdsk
- Run disk defragmentor. Schedule it to run periodically. Start > run > type dfrg.msc
- Remove or stop the startup programs which are less or not important. Go to start > run> type msconfig. Select 'startup' tab - uncheck any program you don't want to run when you start windows. Here's an exhaustive list of start up programs with explanation.
- Similarly convert all automatic services to manual. Note: do not use "msconfig" to disable services, type "services.msc" instead. Here's how you can manage the services.
- Change the virtual memory page. go to control panel - system - advanced - advanced - virtual memory. At the bottom of that dialog, you will see recommended sizes. Suggest you to increase the 'initial size' to 1023*4 and maximum size to 1023*8. This allocation depends on the capacity on the HDD. Make sure you have more than 8GB of free space for this allocation.
- I never realized this, but to keep the system from heating up to abnormal temperatures, we need to keep the orifices of the laptops clean (for example, by spraying cleaning duster from office depot into the orifices and forcing the dust/dirt out - Be careful while spraying for the solution is harmful). This improves the laptop performance.
- Use an antivirus.
- Move all the fonts from the fonts folder to a different location except for the ones that are commonly or regularly used, because fonts take a while during boot up. NOTE: in the event that you ever want to use one of those fonts again, you just have to copy it back to the fonts folder.
- Download Tweak UI from Microsoft and run to configure your microsoft provided apps and services to an optimal level.
- Create a guest account with limited privileges so that you prevent virus or spywares installing themselves. The user of that laptop should be logging (into windows) using guest account. use normal login account for administrative purposes only.
- If required, use some tools to manage the memory usage: (RamCleaner, RamOptimizer, MemMonster, Free Up Ram, SuperRam, RamSmash, MemZilla, MemoryWasher). I have not tried any of these, though.
- After all these steps, if your laptop still crawls, you may want to upgrade RAM. Note: if you are adding RAM, add no more than 3.25GB, for, 32 bit windows uses only that much.
- Finally, consider buying new cheaper laptops
To improve performance during runtime or while using the laptop,
- Minimize all windows, except for the one that you are using. that way, the memory usage for minimized windows goes down automagically.
- Close or exit all the applications that you see in your 'system tray' that are of lesser use. (like you dont need logitech app running, when you dont use your web cam).
- Disk cleanup as mentioned earlier (above).
Cool knowledge resources :
- http://oreilly.com/windows/archive/how-to-remove-startup-programs.html
- http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,1785996,00.asp
- http://www.pchell.com/support/how_to_speed_up_windows_boot_time.shtml
- http://www.3feetunder.com/krick/startup/list.html
- http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
- http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
