Mustang Boards - A few PC tweaks to make your computer faster

Disable uneeded winxp graphics/animations:
Included in winxp are a bunch of useless fancy graphics and animations that no one cares about, and use put extra stress on the cpu/gpu

Control Panel>System>Advanced Tab>Performance

Make sure custom is checked and uncheck everything in the below list, except use visual styles on windows and buttons click apply.

If you feel something you liked is missing, check it and click apply.
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Disable uneeded windows services:
Included in winxp is a list of services that handle certain events that may happen on your computer, unless in a business environment, most of them are useless and consume vasts amount of resources.

Start>Run>Type Services.msc
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Use this list and disable the services you dont need based on your habits.

Services that I like to disable to increase performance.

Indexing: The search service, you can still use the search function. But everything just wont be indexed.

Error reporting: Its just annoying, and can cause additional freezing on an already backed up system.

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Delete temp files:
Most of them are useless, take up space, and need to be deleted.
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My computer>type %temp% in the address bar

Highlight them all and click delete, some may not be deleted because theyre in use, but thats ok. Ignore them.

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Disable uneeded startup items:

Start>Run>type msconfig

Unless your on a new machine most computers have many useless startup items, many can be disabled and free up some boot time, and plenty of everyday performance.

They are almost always sorted like this:
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/2...board014vc.gif

Reference this list, and disable the ones you dont need. I reccomend keeping antivirus/drivers that are required.
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Defragment your harddrive:
Fragmentation of files can lead to a large loss in performance. And can be corrected by a simple tool included in windows called disk defragmenter

Start>All programs>Accessories>System tools>Disk defragmenter

Click the partition, and click defragment

It usually takes a few hours, and renders the computer slow until it is finished. So try using it while sleeping.
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/2...board030jf.gif

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Registry Tweaks
This section will reference the registry many time, to access the registry:
Start>run>type regedit
Note: The registry can be dangerous if you mess around, so please follow the guide exactly.
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Deleting thumbnail caching in windows Explorer:
Windows normally stores images that appear in Thumbnails view in cache memory so that it can redisplay the images quickly each time you reopen a folder in Thumbnails view. Disabling the cache can free up memory, but it might cause delays when you open folders with large amounts of thumbnail images.

Expand the following folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\ Explorer\Advanced
find DisableThumbnailCache and double click it. Type 1 in the data box.

If the key doesnt exist follow these instructions
Right click the right pane, and right click, click new > dword value. Name it DisableThumbnailCache
right click the new key and click modify. type 1 in the data box.

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Delete pagefile on shutdown:
The pagefile stores all the information that was used as memory on your harddrive for swap, and as a result can build up useless information over time. To clear it on shutdown do the following.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management

Find ClearPageFileAtShutdown and double click it. type 1 in the data box.

If the value doesnt exist, right click and click new > dword value name it ClearPageFileAtShutdown and in the data box, put 1.

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Automatically close not responding applications on shutdown:
When an application fails to respond during shutdown a dialog box is displayed prompting the user to either end it now or to wait. Enabling the value AutoEndTasks will take care of the non-responding application without user intervention. This is often referred to as “Force Exit”.

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop

find AutoEndTasks and type 1 in the data box.

If the value doesnt exist, right click new > string value name it AutoEndTasks and input 1 in the data box.

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Prefetch value:Prefetch tweak removed due to the presence of new information - TEB
Note: Anyone who followed this step in the guide should immediately return theyre prefetch parameter setting back to 3 and reboot.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

This value cannot not exist so just find EnablePrefetcher and input one of the following.
[0 = Disabled (Not reccomended), 1 = Application Prefetch, 2 = Boot Prefetch, 3 = Prefetch All (This is defualt)

I hope this helps ya'll out.
If you dont know much about computers, do not do the registry part. If you mess up in this process you could mess up your computer.

Just follow the instructions and your computer will be faster.