Step 6 – Utilities

Autoruns - DownloadUtility to display and control startup applications. Disabling unnecessary startup applications improves boot up time and overall system performance.
Instructions - Unzip and launch Autoruns.exe, wait until it says "Ready" in the bottom left corner, then select the "Logon" tab. Next select "Options", check "Hide Microsoft Entries" and press the refresh button or press the "F5" key. The remaining items are third party applications. Uncheck all that are not needed, this will disable them from loading at Windows startup. AntiVirus and Firewall applications are necessary applications that should be running on startup. If you are unsure of what something is, highlight it, select "Entry" then "Google" to launch a search for more information regarding the highlighted application. You can permanently remove items by deleting them. Do not "Delete" anything unless you are 100% positive you do not need it. Disabled (Unchecked) items can be activated again by rerunning Autoruns, checking the item and restarting Windows.
Notes - You can control the startup applications for separate user accounts by selecting "User" and the account you want to edit. This is a much more powerful tool then the built-in System Configuration Utility (msconfig).

Cacheman v5.50 - Download -Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.
Instructions - Go to "Show Wizard", "All" and run all the wizards by selecting "Next" or "Finished" until you are back to Cacheman. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing. Then under "Options" uncheck "Load Cacheman on Windows Startup", Exit and Save Cacheman, Restart Windows.
Notes - This version is free for home users, has no time limit and none of the features are disabled. CachemanXP is the newer shareware version that includes an updated real time memory recovery feature. No performance benefit has been noticed using this feature. All the necessary cache tweaks to improve system performance are in Cacheman v5.50.

Chkdsk - Built-in Windows file system repair utility.
Instructions - Go to "Start", "My Computer", right-click on the "C:" drive, left-click "Properties", select the "Tools" tab, click "Check Now...", check "Automatically Fix File System Errors", then click "Start", "Yes" and Reboot. Repeat this for any other hard drive partitions in your system. Only the drive partition with Windows installed will require a reboot

Disk Defragmenter -Built-in Windows defragmenter, a lite version of Diskeeper. File system performance is maximized when files are contiguous on the disk. This means that all of the data in each file would be located consecutively on the Hard Drive. Instead of fragmented into separate parts all over the disk surface, causing the Hard Drive to work harder (slower) to read and write your files. While "Disk Defragmenter" is better then nothing it does not fully optimize your hard drive performance, runs 300-500% slower, cannot be scheduled without a third party application and includes no advanced features. Since the built-in "Disk Defragmenter" is very I/O intensive your system is not usable while it is running. There are no Free Defragmenters that do a better job, in which case you have to purchase a Commercial Defragmenter such as Diskeeper.
Instructions - Double-click "My Computer", right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, Example: Local Disk (C:), and then left-click "Properties". On the "Tools" tab, select "Defragment Now", then "Defragment". The following service needs to be enabled:

DCOM Server Process Launcher - Automatic
Alternate - Go to "Start", "Run", type "Dfrg.msc". Select the volume that you want to defragment, then select "Defragment".

StartDefrag - Download - Automates the scheduling of the built-in Disk Defragmenter to run at a set time everyday or once a week.
Instructions - Install and run. Select the "Configuration" tab, under "Scheduled Day" either select a specific day during the week or "Everyday". Then under "Scheduled Hour" select a time when you will not be on the computer but the computer will be on. This is important since the built-in Disk Defragmenter will consume most of the system's resources while running and will not be usable until it is finished. Finally select "Save Changes" and "Exit".
Notes - Do not use this with Diskeeper, which includes a much more advanced and efficient real-time scheduling option. If you install Diskeeper delete the StartDefrag scheduled task and uninstall StartDefrag. To delete the scheduled task, go to "Start", "Programs", "Accessories", "System Tools", "Scheduled Tasks" and delete the task. If it is the only scheduled task listed it will be called "AT1".

Diskeeper - Purchase - Diskeeper does a much better job then the built-in "Disk Defragmenter". It includes enhanced features that Defragment your computer faster and more thoroughly such as a High Speed Defragmentation Engine that runs 300-500% faster than the built-in defragmenter, "Set it and Forget it" operation makes fragmentation-related problems simply go away, Intelligent Smart Scheduling actively schedules defragmentation as needed based on how you use your PC, Defragmenting in the Background with I/O Smart and never have your application performance interrupted, Pause and Resume Defragmentation, Screen Saver Mode Defragmentation and more features. Hard Drives are the slowest component in your PC, do not let Disk Fragmentation slow it down even more. You will notice improved performance after Defragmenting with Diskeeper over the built-in "Disk Defragmenter".
Instructions - Install and run. Go to "Set It and Forget It", select "Primary Defragmentation Job Properties". For each volume under "Job Schedule", check "Enable the Primary Defragmentation Job..", "Smart Scheduling", "Every Day" then "Apply". Under "Defragmentation Methods", Select "Recommended Defragmentation", check "Efficiently defragment large files" then "Apply". Under "Disk and CPU Priorities", check "Enable I/O Smart.." then "Apply" and "OK". Next go to "Analyze and Defragment Now" and for each volume select "Manually Defragment" one at a time. Look at the "Volume Map" tab to see the progress. Diskeeper will run until "Volume Map - File Performance" is optimized. Finally go to "Set It and Forget It", select "Boot-Time Defragmentation Job Properties". For each volume select "On Next Manual Reboot", "Put all folders together..", "Run Chkdsk..", "Defragment the paging file", "Defragment the MFT.." then "Apply" and "OK". Reboot, be patient and let it finish.
Notes - Manual defragmentation with Diskeeper is only needed to be run the first time, "Set It and Forget It" Smart Scheduler will take care of all the rest of your fragmentation problems automatically. Every few months you may want to run another Boot-Time Defragmentation Job. Disk Defragmenter's user interface is superseded by Diskeeper upon installation. Other Commercial Defragmenters leave it accessible, adding to the confusion and allowing for potential undoing of disk optimizations by running the inferior built-in "Disk Defragmenter" after the Commercial one.

PageDefrag - Download -Defragment the Page File and the Registry. "One of the limitations of the Windows 2000/XP defragmentation interface is that it is not possible to defragment files that are open for exclusive access. Thus, standard defragmentation programs can neither show you how fragmented your paging files or Registry hives are, nor defragment them. Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system."
Instructions - Download, Run, Look at the "Fragments" column if any of the items is in more then one fragment select "Defrag at next Reboot", then "Ok" and Reboot.
Notes - If you readjust the Page File size, rerun PageDefrag, otherwise this only needs to be run once. On badly fragmented hard drives with a lot of files, PageDefrag may take a long time to run, be patient and let it finish.

TweakUI - Download + Control Panel -This Windows XP PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
Instructions - Download, install, add to the Control Panel and run. Under "Mouse" slide "Menu Speed" to "Fast", under "Explorer" check "Use Classic Search in Explorer" (Gets rid of the search Avatar).

XP-AntiSpy - Download -Disables all the known 'Suspicious' Functions in Windows XP.
Instructions - Install and run. Go to "Profiles", select "Neutral", then check most of the boxes and select "Apply". Leave the following unchecked:

[MediaPlayer Functions]

• Do not acquire licenses automatically - This prevents Windows Media Player from downloading any necessary licenses.
• No automatic updates - This prevents Windows Media Player from automatically updating.
• Disable automatic codec downloads - This prevents Windows Media Player from downloading required codecs.
• Don't get meta data from the internet - This prevents Windows Media Player from getting CD/DVD information.

[Miscellaneous Settings]

• Clear pagefile at shutdown - This will cause Windows XP to take much longer to shutdown but increases security for the paranoid.
• Disable integrated Firewall - This will disable the Windows XP firewall.
• Hide Computer in Network - This prevents your Computer from showing up in Network Neighborhood.
• Deny starting regedit.exe - This prevents future use of the very useful regedit tool.
• Deactivate Scripting Host - This will cause features to stop working in web browsers and e-mail.
• Always show *.lnk suffixes - This adds .lnk to desktop shortcuts.
• Always show *.url suffixes - This adds .url to web browser bookmarks.
• Don't autostart CD's - This prevents CD's from running automatically when put in the CD/DVD drive.

[Internet Explorer 6]

• Disable automatic updates - This prevents Windows Update from checking for and downloading updates.
• Disable scheduled updates - This prevents Windows Update from installing updates.
• Disable Javascript - This will cause some web pages to lose their menus or functionality completely.
• Disable ActiveX Controls - This will cause some web pages to lose their menus or functionality completely.
• Clean website cache on shutdown - This will cause Windows XP to take longer to shutdown but is a good idea for security.

[Services]

• Disable auto-updates service - This prevents Windows Update from running Automatically.
• Disable task-scheduler service - The Windows Prefetcher, BootVis and Norton AV require this service to be running.
• Disable firewall/connection sharing service - This will disable the Windows XP firewall.
• Disable Security Center - This prevents necessary security warnings.

[Microsoft Messenger]

• Uninstall completely - If you use or plan on using Microsoft's Instant Messenger leave this unchecked.[Regsrv32 dll's]
• licdll.dll - Only select this if Windows is already activated.
• Disable ZIP Functionality - Only select if you have another .Zip program installed such as WinZip.

Notes - It is highly recommended to leave the profile on "Neutral" and adjust the values manually. The presets included such as the "Suggested" profile will disable important Windows features such as Windows Updates, the Security Center and Internet Explorer settings like Javascript and ActiveX. This will break common web page features such as menus and forms and prevent critical security patches from being applied. The color coding of check boxes can be further explained in the Help file under "Signs and Symbols".