Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve
Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that
will. Each can enhance the performance and reliability
of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of them
will cost you nothing.
1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase
system performance, use the money you save by not
buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows
defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip
the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard
drive with 8-MB cache buffer.
2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM,
add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and
easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.
3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing
the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how
to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon,
right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties.
Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32,
then back-up any important data. Next, click Start,
click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt,
type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This
process may take a while; it's important that the computer
be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used
by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS.
I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability,
and efficiency with larger disk drives.
4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing
service extracts information from documents and other
files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable
keyword index." As you can imagine, this process
can be quite taxing on any system.
The idea is that the user can search for
a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should
they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not
know the file name of the document they want. Windows
XP's built-in search functionality can still perform
these kinds of searches without the Indexing service.
It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at
the time of the request to help find what the user is
looking for.
Most people never need this feature of
search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate
environment where thousands of documents are located
on at least one server. But if you're a typical system
builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses.
And if your clients have no need for this search feature,
I recommend disabling it.
Here's how: First, double-click the My
Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then
select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service
to index this disk for fast file searching." Next,
apply changes to "C: subfolders and files,"
and click OK. If a warning or error message appears
(such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore
All button.
5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard
chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS.
For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly,
see this article on my site.
6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder
every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch"
portions of data and applications that are used frequently.
This makes processes appear to load faster when called
upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch
folder may become overloaded with references to files
and applications no longer in use. When that happens,
Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance,
by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder,
and the entire contents are safe to delete.
7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup.
Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then
right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click
the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of
the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.
8.) In your Device Manager, double-click
on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure
that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected
to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by
double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the
Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set
to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and
Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary
IDE Channel.
9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive
technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve
these performance boosts have become more stringent.
Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your
IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to
the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single
device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a
single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable
will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives,
these signaling problems will prevent the drive from
performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these
cables inherently support "cable select,"
the location of each drive on the cable is important.
For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning
is explicitly clear.
10.) Remove all spyware from the computer.
Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot
Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed,
be sure to check for and download any updates before
starting your search. Anything either program finds
can be safely removed. Any free software that requires
spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware
portion has been removed; if your customer really wants
the program even though it contains spyware, simply
reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware
visit this Web Pro News page.
11.) Remove any unnecessary programs
and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the
MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click
Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp
tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start
when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit
the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system
processes, applications, as well as spyware references
and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching
for the filenames using Google or another Web search
engine.
12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused
programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the
Control Panel.
13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary
animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for
optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows
XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's
how to do it: First click on the System icon in the
Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select
the Settings button located under Performance. Feel
free to play around with the options offered here, as
nothing you can change will alter the reliability of
the computer -- only its responsiveness.
14.) If your customer is an advanced user
who is comfortable editing their registry, try some
of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak
XP.
15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update
site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical.
Download any optional updates at your discretion.
16.) Update the customer's anti-virus
software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they
have only one anti-virus software package installed.
Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster
for performance and reliability.
17.) Make sure the customer has fewer
than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The
more fonts they have, the slower the system will become.
While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently
than did the previous versions of Windows, too many
fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably
tax the system.
18.) Do not partition the hard drive.
Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently
on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate
partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall
an operating system. The same excuses people offer for
using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For
example, instead of putting all your data on the D:
drive, put it in a folder called "D drive."
You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that
a separate partition offers, but without the degradation
in system performance. Also, your free space won't be
limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will
be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This
means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever.
That task can be time-consuming and also can result
in lost data.
19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure
it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program
called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable
CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive
tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot
to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until
at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed.
If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug
the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you
have more than one), and run the test again. Remember,
bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.
20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder,
check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated
firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the
recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.
21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows
XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely
does not need. To determine which services you can disable
for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows
XP configurations.
22.) If you're sick of a single Windows
Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of
your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My
Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click
on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder
windows in a separate process," and enable this
option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this
option to take effect.
23.) At least once a year, open the computer's
cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're
in there, check that all the fans are turning properly.
Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging
or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor
phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.
Following any of these suggestions should result in
noticeable improvements to the performance and reliability
of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag
a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make
your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed
drive.
|
