Make Windows XP Run Faster! - Comments Page 2

I changed my Virtual Memory to System managed size and it helped a lot.

I followed most the steps ( not the last 3 ) and my computer is running ALOT faster. Great advice...thanks!!!

Well i have a much easyer and even better approch. REFORMAT YOUR COMPUTER. you can run all the programs you want you will never get your computer running as well as it did when you first got it with our restoring it with a reformat. All you do is put in your windows disk, or restore disk. You run the setup making sure to delete the old partion.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Not recommended! This drastic approach will wipe out ALL your personal files, ALL your installed software, and ALL your security updates. You will start from scratch, as if you just installed Windows on a new hard drive. It will take many hours to re-install your software, download & reapply the security patches, and restore your personal files.

Thanks, almost bought a new computer since mine is a dinosaur (3 years old). Did what you said and up'd to over 1 gig RAM. I honestly can't believe the difference. In fact, I told a friend that I could speed up his computer if he wants me to. Now I'll have an "owe me one" thanks to you.

I followed the steps mentioned in your advice and find my computer running faster. Thanks.

Gregory, AVG Free is in fact... well... free. I use it on my home machine and don't recall the last infection I had, well ok, the last infection I had was tonsillitis (I don't recommend it) but my PC has been fine. Reformatting has it's place but the essence of Bob's article is speeding your machine up without having to go through that process.

Great summary Bob, one thing I might have added, with the adage that prevention is better than the cure, is also to warn people about downloading and installing bits and pieces willy nilly. The internet is swarming with this app and that app that you can download and install. I think often people get sucked in by the fact that so much of it is free. If it isn't going to drastically change your experience, why bother. Keep your installs to a minimum and hopefully your machine won't get clogged up again for a while. Of course, even still just through general usage, some sludge is inevitable. Ick.

Bob, you forgot one. You should clear out the prefetch area (c:\windows\prefetch) periodically.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Nope, I didn't forget that one. I didn't mention it because it's a myth and will probably DECREASE performance. See http://www.askbobrankin.com/windows_prefetch.html

I must admit that's a world of difference in performance for my PC using the tips on your last newsletter. Before tuning 5 minutes were needed to boot my system and webpages with Quicktime took an eternity to load.

Now it's takes about more than a minute to boot and the same webpages load almost instantly. You're an angel coming from heaven. ;-) There's only one drawback. My system crashes when I try to install RegSeeker.

Hi Bob, I read somewhere that another way to help speed up your system is to thin out all the fonts that you don't need. Is this just the case with older versions of windows, or is it still a valid point for XP also. If this cleaning out fonts does make a difference, how does it actually help.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I don't think it makes an appreciable difference in newer versions of Windows. Here's a link with more info: http://desktoppub.about.com/od/fonttechnologies/f/toomanyfontswin.htm

I found that Norton Security caused utter havoc on my computer - did strange things to the view, regularly gummed up my Internet connection (I have a DSL line), and caused things to crash. My brother the techno geek spent a chunk of time trying to figure out the cause, with no luck. After a VERY unsatisfying call to its help desk (which was really hard to find), I uninstalled it. Every problem I'd had disappeared - I had no idea Norton had been causing the problems. After some on-line digging (during which I found comment after comment about the problems Norton can cause), I found a great free program called Avast. (I ended up upgrading, because I was so impressed with it.) I can't recommend this program enough - Bob you should plug it in a Tourbus mailing!

www.avast.com