Step 9 – Boot

The final optimization you should make with Windows XP is for the boot process. Everything needs to be installed and updated before you proceed for optimal results.

Time to display list of operating systems- Setting used to adjust the time the boot menu is shown if you have multiple operating systems installed.
Instructions - Go to "Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "System", "Advanced" tab, in the "Startup and Recovery" section select "Settings", in the "System Startup" section uncheck "Time to display list of operating systems". (If you do have multiple operating systems installed leave this enabled)

BootVis - Download- BootVis is a boot performance trace visualization and optimization tool. This tool invokes the built-in Windows XP boot time optimization process when you run it, instead of waiting for it to be scheduled at some unknown time (roughly every three days) by Windows. You will notice immediate improvement in boot performance for this reason.

Instructions - Download and Run. In the menu go to "Trace", select "Next Boot and Driver Delays". A "Trace Repetitions" screen will appear, select "Ok" and Reboot. Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system's boot process. When it's done, in the menu go to "Trace" and select "Optimize System" and Reboot. This time when your system comes up, wait until you see the "Optimizing System" box appear, continue to wait until the process is complete.
Notes - BootVis requires the following services be enabled and the system rebooted before using the "Optimize System" function:

• Task Scheduler - Automatic
• COM+ Event System - Automatic

If you are running a performance trace on a Pentium 4 system with Hyper-Threading enabled you need to have SP2 installed (821581). Unfortunately this program is not publicly supported by Microsoft anymore. If you experience any issues relating to it, no support is available

Step 8 – Windows Internet

TCP/IP Optimizer - Download- Speakeasy Speed Test- Application to optimize your Internet connection.

Instructions - Download and run. Under the "General Settings" tab select your Connection Speed (Kbps), which is your Maximum Download Speed. If you do not know what it is, contact your ISP and ask them. Make sure the value you get is in Kbps. (Exact capitalization is important, uppercase K, lowercase b ect...) Otherwise use the Speed Test and select the Closest City to get a rough idea of what it should be, then round this value (Download Speed) up to the closest size in TCP/IP Optimizer. Under "Network Adapter" choose the Network interface you use to connect to the Internet, select "Optimal settings", then "Apply changes" and "Yes" to Reboot.
Notes - Setting the Connection Speed higher then your Maximum ISP Download Speed will NOT improve performance and may actually hurt performance. Whatever your ISP claims is your Maximum Download Speed should always be used regardless of what the Speed Test shows. Maximum Download Speeds are theoretical and not always attainable for various reasons. It is normal for them to fluctuate. However, drastic differences in what your ISP claims you should get and what you are actually getting should be brought up with your ISP. It is your money after all and you would want to get what you paid for.

SP2 TCP/IP Slowdown Fix (Event ID 4226 Patcher) - Download - Forums- Windows XP SP2 limits the number of simultaneous incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts per second to 10 from an "unlimited" number (16777214) in SP1. With the new implementation, if a P2P or some other network program attempts to connect to 100 sites at once, it would only be able to connect to 10 per second, so it would take it 10 seconds to reach all 100. In addition, even though the setting was registry editable in SP1, it is now only possible to edit by changing it directly in the system file tcpip.sys. Keep in mind this is a cap only on simultaneous incomplete outbound connect attempts per second, not total connections. Servers and P2P programs can definitely be affected by this new limitation. The purpose of this is an attempt to limit the speed at which Viruses and Worms spread. However this does absolutely nothing to improve YOUR security. It merely attempts to slow the spread of a Viruses and Worms from your computer to others AFTER you have been infected. Remember it is a limit on OUTBOUND not Inbound connections. I recommend installing this patch for optimal network and Internet performance.

Instructions - Download, unzip and run. To change it back to "unlimited" Type "C", then "16777214", press Enter, type "Y" and finally Enter again. A "Windows File Protection" window will come up, ignore this by selecting "Cancel" then "Yes" and Reboot. This warning is normal since you are editing a protected system file.
Update - Windows Update MS05-025 (6/14/05) resets the TCP limit, if you installed MS05-025, you will need to run the SP2 TCP/IP Slowdown Fix (Event ID 4226 Patcher) again.

Avant Browser - Download- A custom Internet Explorer based browser. It has a Built-in Pop-up Blocker, Flash Animation Filter, Tabbed Browsing, Built-in Search Engine, Built-in RSS/ATOM Reader, Safe Recovery Feature, User Friendly Interface and Full 100% IE Compatibility.
Instructions - Install and run. Go to "Tools", "Avant Browser Options...", "Search Engine", "Standard Search" tab and select "www.google.com" from the drop down list then "Apply" and "OK".
Notes - Any web page that loads in IE will load in Avant Browser. You will now have less Pop-ups and more control over your settings. Avant Browser is updated regularly with new features and bug fixes so make sure you have the latest version.

Firefox -An Open Source web browser funded through the Mozilla Foundation setup by AOL and actively developed by engineers from IBM and Sun Microsystems. The volunteer community generally provides testing.
Update - People are recommending Firefox over Internet Explorer as a solution to Spyware infections. This is simply not true. Internet Explorer with Service Pack 2 installed provide the exact same level of security. SP2 includes a built-in Pop-up blocker, an ActiveX installation warning system and removes MSJVM from the system. This eliminates all the known security exploits some Spyware applications used to auto install themselves.

Google Toolbar - Download An IE Toolbar that adds a Google Search button and Pop-up blocking to standard IE.
Notes - Helps prevent Pop-ups in standard IE without a standalone Pop-up stopper running in memory.

Step 7 – (Windows Services)

Windows XP has extra services running by default that most people will never use. By disabling these services you will improve system performance such as boot times.

Shoot The Messenger - Download -Disables Windows Messaging service. This will prevent online spammers from abusing this and causing message Pop-ups during normal system operation.
Notes - Installing SP2 will disable the messenger service for you.

Unplug n' Pray - Download - DetailsDisables Windows potentially dangerous and exploitable Universal Plug and Play networking capability.

BlackViper's Windows XP Services Guide- Mirror - (Acrobat Reader Required)Using this guide will increase performance. Run XP-AntiSpy, Shoot The Messenger and Unplug n' Pray first before going through this guide since those utilities will disable some of these Services for you. Use the Guide in combination with the following list. If you are not 100% sure about a service leave it on its default state. The goal is not to turn off as many services as possible but rather to disable only unneeded services.
Instruction - Go to Start, Run, type "services.msc" and press enter. Left-click on the status bar twice to filter all the started service to the top. Double left-click on the Service Name you wish to change. Change the "Startup Type" to either Manual or Automatic, then select "Apply" and "OK", repeat for all of the following:

The following is a list of Services that you can Disable on most systems for increased performance:

• Alerter
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
• Indexing Service
• IPSEC Services
• Messenger - (Shoot the Messenger and installing SP2 will disable this)
• Portable Media Serial Number
• Remote Registry Service
• Secondary Logon
• SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n' Pray will disable this)
• Telnet
• Upload Manager
• Wireless Zero Configuration - (If you are on a wireless network leave this enabled)

The following is a list of Services that should always be set to Automatic:

• Automatic Updates - (Required by Windows Updates)
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service - (Required by Windows Updates)
• COM+ Event System - (Required by BootVis and other Applications)
• Cryptographic Services - (Required to confirm the signature of Windows system files, Protected Root Services and Key Services)
• DCOM Server Process Launcher - (Required by Disk Defragmenter)
• DHCP Client - (Required for Cable/DSL connections and Routers)
• DNS Client - (Improves Internet Performance)Event Log - (Required by Windows and cannot be Stopped)
• Logical Disk Manager - (Required to manage and update your Harddrives)
• Network Connections - (Required by Network Connections)
• Plug and Play - (Required by your System Hardware, Never Disable This!)
• Print Spooler - (Required by Printers)
• Protected Storage - (Required to protected sensitive data and to prevent access by unauthorized services, processes, or users.)
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC) - (Required by Windows, Never Disable This!)
• Security Accounts Manager - (Required to store security information for local user accounts
• Security Center - (Notifies you of you Firewall and AntiVirus Status)
• Shell Hardware Detection - (Required by the AutoPlay feature)
• System Event Notification - (Required by various Applications)
• System Restore Service - (Required by the System Restore feature)
• Task Scheduler - (Required by the Windows Prefetcher, BootVis and Norton AV, Never Disable This!)
• Themes - (Required by the new look of Windows XP)
• Windows Audio - (Required for Sound)
• Windows Management Instrumentation - (Required by Windows, Never Disable This!)

Notes - Windows Updates can enable services that you have previously disabled. Check which services are running after a future Windows Update is completed. If applications stop working after using this guide it is usually due to being to aggressive with disabling services. Enable the services you disabled one at a time until the application works. In the future leave this service on automatic. If you run into any problems set all services back to their Defaults and start over.

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".