Step 5 - Tweaks ()

1. Improve Windows XP Performance- Default Windows XP visual settings may look nice but they slow down system responsiveness. Here is how to keep the "look" of Windows XP while losing the sluggish feel.
Instructions - Go to "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "System", "Advanced" tab, in the "Performance" section select "Settings". Leave only the following checked:

• Show shadows under menus
• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show translucent selection rectangle
• Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons

Then select "Apply" and "OK".

2. Optimize the Page File "Virtual Memory is the space on the hard disk Windows uses as RAM. The Page File (Pagefile.sys) serves as temporary, virtual memory storage for code and data."
Instructions - Go to "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "System", "Advanced" tab, in the "Performance" section select "Settings", "Advanced" tab, in the "Virtual Memory" section select "Change". Change the values to:

• Initial size (MB): 1.5 x the amount of RAM in your system
• Maximum size (MB): 3.0 x the amount of RAM in your system (PF Size Limit = 4095 MB)

Then select "Set" and "OK" and reboot.

Notes - Windows XP by default is set to use only a Dynamic Page File that can resize during normal system operation, consuming resources and causing file fragmentation. A properly configured Page File will not resize (increase) so long as the Initial size is set large enough. Allowing the Page File to resize for rare unforeseen memory intensive situations will prevent "Out of Memory" error messages from occurring. Any resizing will reset to the default Initial size upon reboot and will not cause any permanent fragmentation of the Page File. If you experience frequent resizing of the Page File, a permanent solution is to add more RAM to your system. It is a good idea to have at least 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM in a PC today. A simple test to determine if you need more RAM is to use you PC for a whole day without rebooting, then look at the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Delete), Performance tab. If the "Commit Charge - Peak" is ever higher then the "Physical Memory - Total" your system could benefit from adding more RAM. When you change the amount of RAM in your system, you have to adjust the Page File size.

3. Disable Indexing Service- The Indexing Service in Windows XP indexes your files presumably to shorten the time needed to search your hard drive if you are looking for a specific file or part of a phrase inside a file. However, the constant indexing of files actually slows down system performance and does not benefit search performance except for extreme complex searches
Instructions - To disable the Indexing Service go into "My Computer", right-click on all your hard drive partitions one at a time, left-click "Properties". Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching". Select "Apply changes to subfolders and files". If any files cannot be updated select "Ignore All".