So after it just came up in a thread, for those of you still holding out with XP, here are some tips that can seriously increase the performance of your system. It's not going to make miracles happen but it can let you get a few more years out of that old pony yet.

Now firstly, before the tips, you need at least a solid system to start with so, by that I mean there's not much point doing this if you haven't formatted it 5 years and it's chocked full of virii from all your pr0n binges.

Best of all is a fresh install of XP and then the updates/service packs, then your audio software, and because software manufacturers love to make background tasks, the less other non music programs you have the better. However it's not neccesary for a system in OK shape that's had a least occasional maintenance done.

Another EXTREMELY important point is to make sure your system has all the most up to date drivers from the manufacturer's website - often the microsoft driver for that hardware is just a working solution and the correct driver for that hardware will yield much better overall system perfomance and far less bottle necking. I can't stress how important this is, especially with your soundcard, chipset drivers, hard disk controller, video card drivers, or CPU optimisation drivers which are common with many mainstream brands.

On to the tips.....

For consistency, before carrying out the tuning tips suggested below, switch to classic view in the control panel. To do this, Start > Control Panel > "Switch to Classic View".

Then, switch to classic view for the menu. To do this, Start > Control Panel > Taskbar and Start Menu > Start Menu Tab > Classic Start Menu.

Quote:
1. Processor scheduling should be set to background services and not Programs.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced Tab > Background Services


2. Visual effects should be set to a minimum.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Visual Effects Tab > Adjust for best performance


3. Switch Off Desktop Background Image

Right Click Desktop > Properties > Desktop Tab > Background None


4. Disable Screen Saver

Right Click Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > None


5. Disable Fast User Switching

Start > Settings > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change the way users log on or off > Untick Use Fast User Switching


6. Switch Off Power Schemes

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Always On > Turn off monitor and turn off hard discs to Never


7. Switch Off Hibernation

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate > Untick Hibernation


8. Disable System Sounds

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds Tab > Sound Scheme to None.


9. Do Not Map Through Soundcard

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Hardware Tab > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properties > Audio Devices > (highlight your soundcard from the list) > Properties, and check the "Do not map through this device" checkbox.


10. Disable System Restore

Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > System Restore Tab. Tick the "Turn off System Restore on all Drives"


11. Disable Automatic Updates

Switch off Automatic Updates by going to Control Panel, System, Automatic Updates and ticking the box labelled "Turn off automatic updating. I want to update my computer manually.".


12. Startup and Recovery Options

Right click My Computer and click on Properties > Advanced > Start Up & Recovery Settings and uncheck "Automatically Restart".


13. Disable Error Reporting

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced TAB > Error Reporting > Click the Disable Error Reporting box (Tick the "But Notify Me When Critical Errors Occur" if you prefer)


14. Disable Remote Assistance

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Remote > Untick "Allow Remote Assistance Invitations to be sent from this computer"


15. Fixed Swap File (Virtual Memory)

Select the Advanced tab of the Systems applet and then select the Performance settings button. Then select the Advanced page. In here it is possible to customise the Virtual Memory. For custom size, this is often recommended to be 1.5 to 2 times the amount of your total RAM for both initial and maximum size. Set this to a fixed minimum and maximum value according to your existing RAM


16. Speed Up Menus

You can use this tip to speed up the Start Menu in Windows XP. You can customize the speed of the Start Menu by editing a Registry Key. Click Start, and then click Run. Type Regedit in the box, and then click OK. Expand the menu in the left panel and select the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop folder. Scroll down in the right panel and double click on the MenuShowDelay file. In the Value Data box, change to default value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser number, such as 1. Click OK.


17. Disable Offline Files

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Folder Options > Offline Files > Untick "Enable Offline Files"


18. Disable Remote Desktop

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Remote > Untick "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer"


19. Disable Internet Synchronise Time

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Date and Time > Internet Time > Untick "Automatically synchronize with an internet time server"


20. Disable Hide Inactive Icons

Start > Settings > Taskbar and Start Menu > Taskbar TAB > Uncheck "Hide Inactive Icons"


21. Disable Automatic Desktop Cleanup Wizard

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Desktop > Customise Desktop > Untick "Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard every 60 days"


22. Disable NTFS Last Access Time Logging (NTFS Only)

Start > Run > regedit > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CURRENTCONTROLSET > CONTROL > FILESYSTEM Add a new DWORD value - "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate" (without quotes) and set the value to 1. Then reboot to make changes effective


23. Disable Notification Area Balloon Tips

Click Start , click Run , type regedit , and then press ENTER. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced Right-click the right pane, create a new DWORD value, and then name it EnableBalloonTips . Double-click this new entry, and then give it a hexadecimal value of 0 . Quit Registry Editor. Log off Windows, and then log back on.


24. Disable CDROM Autoplay

One of the very important (and well documented) tweaks in Windows 98SE, was to disable CDROM autoplay (auto insert notification). Disabling CDROM autoplay no longer offers a significant performance benefit in Windows XP, and therefore you do not need to disable it. Just don't insert a CD during a crucial recording.

However, if you really want to disable it then here a few different methods.

Method 1

Start > Run > Regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom

Set autorun to 0.

Method 2

Open My Computer Right Click on each CDROM and choose Properties Click on the Auto Play tab In the drop down box you can choose the Action for each choice shown in the drop down box

Method 3

Go to Start->Run->gpedit.msc Computer Config -> Administrative Template -> System Double click Turn off Autoplay Enable it.


25. Disable Disc Indexing

Text below taken from XP help.

Indexing Service is a service that extracts the information from a set of documents and organizes it in a way that makes it quick and easy to access that information through the Windows XP Search function, the Indexing Service query form, or a Web browser.

This information can include text from within a document, (its contents), and the characteristics and parameters of the document, (its properties), such as the author's name. Once the index is created, you can search, or query the index for documents that contain key words, phrases, or properties.

Last but not least, do a defrag. Then do it again. Then again.

Now do a disc cleanup. No do a restart.

You should see at least a 10% increase in performance and in some cases (mine on my old AMD PC), I saw roughly about a 30% increase and a lot less stuttering when things got complex.

hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions about the tips!