Windows XP Slowing You Down?

Speed it up by eliminating bloat and trimming fat from your system so you can actually enjoy some of XP's new features.

People all over are asking about uninstalling Windows XP - most complaining that it's so slow that their fast new computers are just as slow as the one they replaced. Before you attempt to remove XP (which is very time-consuming) spend a few minutes toning it up - once you've gotten it into shape, you may not want to do without some of XP's handy features.

Why Windows XP is Slow

Windows XP includes a lot of new features; some useful to the end user and others useful only to Micro$oft. Handy features can be useful or even necessary, but like water in the body, too much quickly becomes bloat. Each operating system M$ releases includes more useful features and is more bloated than the last. In addition, most computers today include foistware (programs you'll probably never use but which run constantly in the background.) In the body, foistware is analagous to fat - it can go unnoticed for a long time, though it's slowing you down all along. Add to that the spyware (which bears a striking resemblence to leeches, tapeworms and other parasites) that comes preloaded on most systems, plus any virii present and you have an awful lot of overhead. The key is to eliminate the extraneous junk, leaving the system lean but strong.

A few of XP's most useful features:

  • Stability Because it's based on the NT kernel, XP is immensely more stable than Windows 9x. I push my system pretty hard, which caused Windows 98 to crash. Windows XP rarely has any problems and when an application does fail, it only crashes that program - not the entire OS. In other words, I don't have to restart my whole system because one program crashed.
  • Choose Details Windows XP allows you to choose which details to display - and in what order - when using Explorer in details view. Especially useful in music and image folders, this allows you to sort MP3's by bitrate, or pictures by resolution.
  • Built-in Zip Support for Zip archives is integrated into XP, so you can browse the contents of zip files just like regular folders in Windows Explorer. To create archives, I still like the additional control that comes with third-party zip programs.
  • Compatibility Mode Although most of my software has worked with XP, some programs misbehaved - Dreamweaver 4 kept quitting unexpectedly. To solve this, I just run it in compatibility mode for Windows 98 or Windows 2000. Of course, this trick won't work on low-level processes, so I had to get an XP compatible version of Nero for burning CDs, but it's great for most apps.
  • Remote Assistance Users can ask a friend or tech support for help by email or IM. When connected, it's similar to programs like PCAnywhere, with both the user and the expert seeing the desktop. Integrated chat capability allows communication if the phone is in use by the computer.
  • Remote Desktop (Pro only) Once enabled on a Windows XP computer, Remote Desktop enables remote control of a computer from any computer running Windows 98 or higher; to connect from a non-XP system, the client software must be installed from the Windows XP CD. When connected, it's as though you were sitting at the remote computer.
  • It's so Stable! I know I mentioned this, but to those switching from Windows 98, the difference really is that big. In the past year and a half, my computer has yet to display the familiar BSOD (blue screen of death.) Of the XP systems I have seen that did blue screen, about 75% were infected with a virus, and the rest had hardware or BIOS problems.

XP Performance Boost

Visual Styles

The new appearance was probably the first thing you noticed about Windows XP and, unless you like XP slow, it should be the first thing you change. The processing power consumed by 'features' like the animated menu fades is substantial, even on a fast new system.

If you prefer the look of previous versions of Windows, you can get that back by running Windows XP in classic mode (selected in the display properties.) Alternatively, if you like the new 3D appearance, you can turn off most of the extraneous animations while keeping the overall XP style. Here's how:

  • Open the Display Properties window
  • Select the Appearance tab
  • Click Effects
  • Deselect the first option, 'Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips'
  • I generally uncheck all options unless I am using a laptop or a desktop with an LCD screen, in which case I may use font smoothing. Experiment with what options suit you best - the first one has the biggest impact on performance.
  • Click OK twice to close Display Properties
  • Open System Properties
  • Select the Advanced tab
  • Under performance, click the Settings button
  • Clicking 'Optimize for best performance' will deselect everything. If you leave it like this, you will have the classic Windows appearance
  • If you want to keep Windows XP's rounded 3D look on windows, make sure the last option 'Use visual styles on windows and buttons' is checked.