Windows Vista has been available for a while now, but still lots of people are using Windows XP on their machines, either due to limitations of their computer, an enforced corporate IT policy or simply personal preference.  I still use Windows XP, but it can be a bit slow at times, especially on older machines full of videos and images.  Below are 8 ways to improve the performance of an aging XP machine.

1. Uninstall Unecessary Programs
   First of all, go to Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and go through your installed applications, one by one, and decide if you need them.  This frees up some of your hard disk space, and can also increase the amount of operational memory you have available and speed up your system startup time (depending on the program and how it runs).  It also makes your system less cluttered by removing Start menu items and desktop icons you don’t use.  If you are unsure if you need a program or not, a quick Google search should be able to tell you what it does and how necessary it is.  If you are still unsure what it is, then leave it alone.  It may be a hardware driver or utility vital to your system’s smooth running.
2. Update Your Drivers
   If you have never attempted to update your hardware drivers, then do it now!  Hardware drivers are often updated after their initial release, usually to fix performance or compatability issues.  The result is often a faster, more stable system.  The mechanism to update your drivers can vary from device to device, but one way to go to Control Panel -> System and then go to the Hardware Tab and click on the Device Manager button.  Then expand one of the categories (Display Adapter is a good place to start) and right click on one of the items that appear.  In the submenu, select Update Driver… and follow the instructions.  Repeat for as many of the hardware items you want, but I would suggest doing it for your display and sound cards, network adapters and any major peripherals that are usually connected.  It is also worth checking the manufacturer’s websites for updates.
3. Memory and Hidden Programs
   You can never have too much RAM in your machine.  Personally I think XP machines should have a minimum of 1GB of RAM to operate at a decent speed, but the more you have the better.  However, older machines will not always allow you to upgrade the memory chips to this level so what are the alternatives?  First of all, make sure you are not running any programs in the background that you don’t need.  These can be real memory hogs and are often running without you knowing.  The biggest culprits are freeware and shareware programs you’ve tried in the past and either left them installed, or tried uninstalling them but a bad script has left pieces behind.  To disable these, select Run from the Start menu and enter ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes) and press Enter.  Select the Startup tab and you will see a list of all the programs that are configured to start when Windows starts.  These can be disabled by clearing the tickbox to the left of each program.  Again, some items are a little obscure, but remember, Google is your friend!  When you’re done, click Ok and you will be prompted to restart your machine to see them fruits of your labour.
4. Processor Scheduling, Memory Usage and Virtual Memory
   Here’s another quick check you can do while you’ve got the System Properties open.  Go to the Advanced tab and press the Settings button under the Performance section.  Go to the Advanced tab here and you’ll see three sections.  In the first two, Processor Scheduling and Memory Usage, I’d recommend selecting Programs if its not already selected.  In the third section, Virtual Memory, press Change.  This is where you can change the amount and location of the disk space XP uses for its virtual memory (VM).  If you have more than one hard drive then its best to set the VM to use the disk that the Operating System isn’t stored on (usually C:).  This is because it shares drive activity across two disks instead of one.  The size of the VM is often recommended to be 1.5 times the amount of RAM you have (i.e. if you have 512MB, then your VM size should be 768MB).  If you set the VM size yourself then its advantageous to set the Initial Size and Maximum Size the same - this stops the VM file growing as needed and fragmenting across the disk.  OK through all of the dialog boxes and restart your machine.
5. Disk Space
   Your system performance will degrade as you start to fill your hard disk.  You should never allow your free disk space to go below 10%-15%.  Some programs and tasks will require disk space for writing temporary files.  Also, if you do have a virtual memory file that doesn’t have a fixed size, performance will be compromised if it cannot grow.  There are a couple of things you do to help fix this problem.  First of all, delete any files you don’t need any more.  Check your My Documents folder and subfolders for any old downloads you no longer want.  Remember, video files take up a lot of disc space so if you don’t need them ditch them.  Remember to empty your Recycle Bin afterwards as well!  You can also try the Disk Cleanup tool (Start menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools) which will get rid of any temporary files and other rubbish from your hard drive.  It can also compress old files for you, but it can take a while.
6. Defragmentation
   As files are created, modified and deleted on a hard disk, they start to fragment.  This means that the disk drive has to work harder to find and read files, especially larger files, which subsequently impacts upon the performance of the system.  This can easily be rectified by running the Windows Disk Defragmenter tool (Start menu -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools) regularly.  This should be one of the last things you do after you’ve performed all of the previous steps because many of them are disk activity intensive and would end up fragmenting the drive again.  It also needs a fair bit of disk space to run - it will warn you if it doesn’t have enough.  Just follow the instructions and you’re away, but this is another long task.  If you have a huge hard drive (or several) its an overnight job!
7. Antivirus/Spyware Checkers
   Now, I’m not saying in anyway you should disbale your Virus and Spyware programs, but make sure they are working as well as they can be.  They can be notorious resource hogs.  Check to see if you have the latest version or if there are any patches for them.  Also make sure the scanners are working the way you want them to - exclude directories if you need to, or disable intensive scanning.  Schedule scans to happen overnight (or whenever you don’t use the computer!).  Finally, consider switching software.  Some work better than others on certain systems, and if you are limited by memory then its worth looking at alternatives.
8. Tweaks
   If you are still looking to get that little bit of extra speed from your setup, then try these:
   1. Reduce the resolution and colour depth of your display (Control Panel -> Display -> Settings)
   2. Turn off Visual Themes and other display options (Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Settings -> Visual Effects -> Select “Adjust for best performance”)
   3. Increase your memory using a USB stick or memory card!  Windows Vista has a feature called Ready Boost which does just this, but using a utility called eBoostr, XP can also replicate this.  The free trial version quits after 4 hours, but will start again when you reboot.  The full version costs $29.00 and includes 2 years upgrades and tech support.  I’ve only used the trial version but even so it performed well using a 1GB memory stick.
   4. Disable unecessary services, but only if you know what you are doing.  There are many articles on the web that discuss which services can be safely disabled and what each of them do, so I’m not going to go into them here, but you can claim back a substantial amount memory and CPU load by disabling some.

So there you go 8 (or so) ways to speed up your less-than-speedy XP machine.  Let me know if these tips work for you, and if you have any more tips to speed up XP then please leave them in the comments.

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