Windows XP tweaks guide

Windows XP tweaks

Windows XP tweaks

Step 1: Now for some tricks to gain a little more performance and usability out of your new system. First, let’s add some icons to your desktop so you can manage your computer easier. Right-click on an empty area of the desktop and select “Properties”.

Select the “Desktop” tab at the top of the window and press the “Customize Desktop” button at the bottom.

Step 2: Now, check the four boxes in the “Desktop icons” section by clicking in each box next to the icon name. Then press the “OK” button to apply the changes.

An optional performance tweak can be had by disabling some of the unnecessary GUI effects Windows uses. Do this by clicking the “Appearance” tab and pressing the “Effects…” button.

Step 3: Uncheck the top two boxes and the “Show shadows under menus” option to disable some of the effects. This will give your system a substantial performance boost, especially on slower systems.

Press “OK” to confirm your changes, and then close the “Display Properties” window by hitting “OK”.

Step 4: A good tip to keeping your machine running fast is to “Defrag” your hard drive every few weeks. To do this, first double-click the “My Computer” icon on your desktop and in the new window, right-click the hard drive “Local Disk (C:)”. Then click the “Properties” option in the menu.

Click the “Tools” tab and press the “Defragment Now…” button.

Step 5: This will now run the “Disk Defragmenter” program. Make sure the volume “C:” is selected, and click the “Defragment” button to begin the process.

Depending on how fragmented your disk is, it may take several minutes to complete the operation. You can see how much has been completed on the status bar at the bottom of the window. When it is finished, close all the windows by hitting the red “X” buttons.