Getting Windows XP to Boot Faster

 

We've all had that feeling of impatience when we restart our computers. Checking our watches time and time again as they reboot. You may also notice over time that the length of time required to reboot get's longer and longer. What's going on you may ask? Is something wrong with my computer? What can I do?

Surprisingly, there are alot of things you can do, that when done correctly and checked every so often will make your computer return to it's fresh, out of the box, boot times.

1. Delete PreFetch Files: First, let me explain what PreFetch files are. Prefetch files are sort of like cached pieces of programs you had previously run. This is great if all you do is open your email, check it, and shut down. But keep in mind that anytime you open a program it saves a prefetch file. Right now, when I wrote this article, I had 45 files in my C:\windows\prefetch directory. You can go ahead and delete all of these files if you want. Windows will simply make another copy next time a program is run. You might want to kill two birds with one stone and install CCleaner, under it's advanced tab it will check for, and remove prefetch files for you. This will take care of the problem for a while, but after a while your prefetch folder will be clogged up again. There is a registry hack you can apply to solve this issue, if you are interested email me and I will give you instructions on how to do it. I just don't advise anyone messing around with their registry unless they are 100% sure what they are doing.

2. Defragment your Hard Disk: Over time, when you move, copy, delete files, pieces of them get left all over the place. What's worse is if you system's pagefile get's fragmented you can really kiss performance goodbye. The pagefile is what your system writes to disk temporarily. If it's broken into fragments things get really slow. Use the built in disk defragmenter under Programs>Accesories>Sytem Tools > Disk Defrag to perform this task.

3. Only run the programs you need: Alot of software wants to install all kinds of components that you don't need. You can use MSConfig to go through your computers start-up files and remove what you don't need. Again, be careful here, some things are required for important programs like Anti-Virus or Anti-Spyware to work. If you don't want to use msconfig, you can use a ustility called Autoruns, just be careful what you remove

4. Clean up your system: Delete your temporary files and internet files regularly. Alot of times viruses and spyware will reload after you remove them because the original file is cached in your temp files. I really recommend a program call CCleaner to help you with that. CCleaner can be found here www.ccleaner.com