Optimize Windows XP to work longer than Microsoft stops support for it

How to make XP last for the next 6 years?

• Update hardware drivers
  Always keep hardware drivers up-to-date. Download the latest official (non beta) drivers on a regular basis to keep your computer running correctly. Some driver updating programs help you update hardware drivers automatically. Driver Dective and RadarSync has a built in database of the latest drivers from tens of thousands of devices, therefore it greatly simplifies the process of driver update and saves you lots of time to find the correct drivers.
  
  
• Get Vista's security improvements in XP
  With Windows Vista, Microsoft finally got serious about security, baking many important security measures right into the operating system. Windows Defender Windows Defender is exactly the same on XP and Vista. Windows Vista is protected from spyware by Microsoft's Windows Defender -- and the same program is available as a free download for Windows XP users as well. Windows Defender is exactly the same on Vista as it is on XP, so you're not losing anything by not moving to Vista.
  
  
• Limit XP's visual effects for a speed boost.
  Disable the eye candy and save the memory for your program. All the animations and visual effects that XP uses can sap performance, particularly on low-end systems. Yes, we know we just told you ways to add more eye candy to XP, but users' tastes vary -- as do their machines' capabilities. If you prefer fast over frilly, you can turn off XP's eye candy to gain speed.
  
  Go to Control Panel --> System --> Advanced tab, and in the Performance area, click the Settings button. On the Visual Effects tab, choose the Custom option, and clear as many of the check boxes as you can stand -- the more check boxes you clear, the faster your system can run. Most people won't notice much of a difference in appearance as long as these two boxes remain checked: "Smooth edges of screen fonts" and "Use visual styles on windows and buttons." Click OK twice, and you're done.
  
  
• Remove unwanted programs from startup
  Go to Start > Run, type 'msconfig' and press [Enter]. Click on the Startup tab and uncheck any programs you dont want Windows to load at startup. Please be careful what you remove from here.If you don't know what a particular program is do a Google search (you can use the Google search at the bottom of this page) on the name of the process and then decide whether to keep it or not. View detailed instruction on how to remove unwanted programs from startup.
  
  
• Defragment hard drives
  Defragment your disk drives once a month for faster data access. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter to launch the utility. Select a drive and click 'Defragment'. This will start the defragmentation process. Click here for my another article to optimize and improve your hard disk performance.
  
  
• Limit Windows' junk file caches.
  Disk performance is a serious limiting factor for the performance of most systems. As the drive fills, it becomes slower due to the additional disk head motion required to access the files that are spread across the disk. A full drive is a slow drive, so the best way to increase performance is to uninstall unneeded applications and delete the junk files that Windows keeps around long after they have served their purpose.
  
  By default, XP's System Restore feature uses 12% of the total space on every partition to save restore point files and settings. For example, with a 200GB disk broken into two 100GB partitions, it will use 12GB on each partition to hold system-restore files. With its standard settings, XP creates a restore point every day. The actual size of a restore point varies, but they are typically something less than 50MB. That means the default settings allow for about 200 days of restore points, which is much more than anyone needs.
  
  There are quite a few System Restore settings you can adjust through Windows Registry edits, but one simple change through the user interface provides most of the benefits. Go to Control Panel --> System --> System Restore tab. Move the slider until it shows that about 1,000MB (1GB) of disk space will be used for restore points; the exact number is not critical, and it's hard to get a precise number since it's expressed as a percentage of the total disk space.
  
  
• Reduce the disk space System Restore uses.
  On today's large drives, you'll often need to move the slider to just 1% or 2%. As soon as you click the OK button, XP will delete old restore points to bring the size down to your requested disk space setting -- and it'll stay there, continually swapping out old restore points as it adds new ones but staying under the size you've set.
  
  
• Reduce the disk space for the Recycle Bin too
  The Recycle Bin is another space hog; by default, it uses 10% of the drive, up to a maximum of 4GB. It's handy to have the Recycle Bin to recover accidentally deleted files, but 4GB is overkill on most systems. If you're a compulsive desktop cleaner and tend to empty the Recycle Bin regularly, you can leave the setting as is. Otherwise, it's best to reduce the size a bit. Right-click the Recycle Bin and select Properties, then adjust the size to suit your garbage-retention needs, for example, something around 1 GB.
  
  

Tips: Use WinSysClean ^TM for automatical optimization. Fix, clean, and speed up your computer without adding hardware. Download a free trial version of WinSysClean 2009 to get the best performance of your PC.

Download WinSysClean 2009 free trial

More Windows optimization tips on 'System Optimization'

Delete Address Bar History & Keep Your Privacy A list of your previously visited websites can clutter your browser and allow others to invade your privacy. This article is on how to delete address bar history. How to Clear Browser Cache By clearing web browser cache, you can make your browser to function more efficiently and save a lot of disk space. Clear Internet Browser History Solutions for removing all you Internet surfing tracks and keeping your privacy. Optimize Windows Startup - Faster Boot Times Tips on how to optimize Windows startup and faster boot times. How to stop or kill a process in Windows XP or Vista Kill, Terminate or Stop a Windows Unresponsive, Hanged or Frozen Application or Process View all tips on 'System Optimization' >>>