Speed-up log-in tremendously!

If like me you've tried everything else and your log-in and log-off to XP is still tremendously slow then you might try this little trick. First, if there are any other users on your computer see if they have a similarly long log-in. If they don't the problem might be your roaming profile, which is a folder where XP stores your settings you can access them from anywhere in the network. Since these profiles can get really bloated(as in my case) and are not really necessary unless you log-in from different computers in a large network, you should disable it. Here's how:
1. Right click on My Computer, select the Manage option.
2. From the Management Console, select the Local Users and Groups option.
3. Double-Click on the Users folder that appears on the right panel.
4. Right click on the account with the slow log-in and select Properties.
5. Click on the Profile tab of the Properties Window.
6. Erase(but keep note a not of this) whatever path appears for Profile Path under User Profile and Local Path under Home Folder: LEAVE THESE LINES BLANK.
7. Reboot. Try to log-in into the problematic account, you should see a significant speed-boost, the computer might warn you once or twice that your Roaming Profile is not available, ignore it and it will go away, good luck!
Note: You also will not have your settings and files that a roaming profile provides across a network.

System Settings for a Game Machine

If you are a hard core gamer then the below tweak is for you. Below are a list of windows services that we reccomend you change to the manual setting. If you do not know how to do that, refer to our tweak on disabling windows services by clicking here. Routing and Remote AccessAlerterApplication Layer Gateway Service** (only if firewll is not used)Application ManagementBackground Intelligent Transfer ServiceClipBookCOM+ System ApplicationDistributed Link Tracking ClientDistributed Transaction CoordinatorHelp and SupportIMAPI CD-Burning COM Service** (only if do you not use the cd-rw xp record suport)IPSEC ServicesLogical Disk Manager Administrative ServiceMS Software Shadow Copy ProviderNet LogonNetMeeting Remote Desktop SharingNetwork DDENetwork DDE DSDMNetwork Location Awareness (NLA)NT LM Security Support ProviderPerformance Logs and AlertsPortable Media Serial NumberQoS RSVPRemote Desktop Help Session ManagerRemote Procedure Call (RPC) LocatorRemote RegistryRemovable StorageServerSmart CardSmart Card HelperSSDP Discovery ServiceSystem Restore ServiceTelnetThemesUninterruptible Power SupplyUniversal Plug and Play Device HostVolume Shadow CopyWindows Image Acquisition (WIA)Windows InstallerWindows Management Instrumentation Driver ExtensionsWireless Zero ConfigurationWMI Performance AdapterFast User Switching Compatibility ** (only if fast user shiching is not used or the machine have one user only)Protected StorageWindows TimeTCP/IP NetBIOS HelperTask SchedulerSecondary LogonPrint Spooler ** (only if the pc do not have or use a printer)Indexing ServiceError Reporting ServiceComputer BrowserInternet Connection Firewall (ICF) / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)Have Fun!

Intel Application Accelerator - speed up disk access

It would be great to download drivers that sped up your hard-disk access by 10's of percent wouldn't it? Well perhaps you can, Intel has made their Application Accelerator (IAA) available since last September. It reduces storage sub-system bottlenecks apparently. If you have a compatible Intel chipset (810 to 860) and a Pentium Celeron, III , 4 or Xeon chip then get on down to :http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaaRead through everything before you start downloading and installing. You may need to pre-install the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility if you have XP running on a 830 or 845 chipset. Intel also provide a chipset identification utility if your unsure of what you have - it's linked from the same page.Intel claim very significant increases in boot times and application speed. On a personal note, on my P4 2GHz, applications do start a lot faster. I suggest you do some benchmarking first (a stopwatch is an easy way to measure boot time). I would be interested in results people have had. This also works for 98SE,ME,NT4 and 2000.
NOTE: IAA works well for most, but not all. Judge for youself. It's easy enough to uninstall if you don't like it.

Correcting System Hang at Startup

If your system hangs about 2 or 3 minutes at startup, where you can't access the Start button or the Taskbar, it may be due to one specific service (Background Intelligent Transfer) running in the background. Microsoft put out a patch for this but it didn't work for me. Here's what you do:1. Click on Start/Run, type 'msconfig', then click 'OK'.2. Go to the 'Services' tab, find the 'Background Intelligent Transfer' service, disable it, apply the changes & reboot.

This problem with the Background Intelligent Transfer Service should have been corrected in Windows update Q 314862, part of Service Pack 1. (yoyo)

Convert FAT32 To NTFS

To change from FAT 32 to NTFS file system for more stability, security and less fragmentation, open the command prompt and type:
Convert C: /FS:NTFS
"C" being the drive you wish to convert. Make sure there is a space between the C: and the foward slash (/). Once you press enter it will ask you for confirmation and press Y. Then press Y and enter once more to reboot.. This also works for windows XP Home

Clean your prefetch to improve performance.

This is an unique technique for WinXP. We know that it is necessary to wash registry and TEMP files for Win9X/ME/2000 periodly. Prefetch is a new and very useful technique in Windows XP. However, after using XP some time, the prefetch folder can get full of rarely used or obsolete links which can slow down your computer noticeably. My suggestion is: open C(system drive):/windows/prefetch, delete all files (or at least those more than 3 weeks old), reboot. I recommended that you do this every month

Adjust Graphics for Speed

Windows XP has a lot of new cool looking visual elements, however, those new elements take up more RAM and cause your computer to be less responsive. By tweaking your graphics settings, you can increase the performance of your computer.
To get started, Let's reduce the color quality. This setting determines how many colors are displayed on your screen.
Right click on your desktop and select properties.
Click on the settings tab and adjust the color quality drop down box to Medium (16 Bit).
Click OK.
Next, let's use the windows performance settings to optimize your computer for performance. This will revert back to the old Windows 2000 look as well as take away a lot of the fancy graphics effects. However, if you are really into performance, this is the price you have to pay.
Right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop or in your start panel and select properties.
Next, Click on the Advanced tab and hit the setting button under performance.
On the visual effects tab, select Adjust for Best Performance and hit OK.
Hit OK once more to exit system properties.
Now your computer will run slightly faster!