Here are 23 practical skills that can greatly improve computer performance and make WinXP run faster and more reliable. I hope it will help you:
1) Installing Ultra- 133 hard disk acceleration expansion card or 8M cache ATA hard disk in the system can effectively reduce the startup time of the system.
2) Increase the memory to more than 5 12M.
3) Ensure that Windows XP uses NTFS file system. Check method: double-click "My Computer" and right-click drive C: select "Properties" to check the file system type. If it is FAT32, convert it to NTFS by backing up all important data, then select Run in the Start menu and enter CMD to confirm. At the prompt, enter convert c:/fs: NTFS and enter. In this process, it is best not to interrupt abnormally in the middle and ensure that there is no virus in the system.
4) Turn off the file indexing function. Windows indexing service should extract information from a large number of files on the hard disk and create a "keyword index". If there are thousands of files on the hard disk, this function can speed up the search for information from these files. But it takes a lot of time for Windows to create this index, and most people never use this function. The closing method is: double-click "My Computer", right-click on the hard disk and the subfolder below, select "Properties", and cancel "Find files quickly by index". If a warning or error message (such as "Access Denied") appears, just click "Ignore".
5) Upgrade the drivers of the motherboard and graphics card, and upgrade the BIOS.
6) Empty the Windows read-ahead folder (Windows\Prefetch) every three months or so. Windows stores frequently used data in a pre-read folder, and when it needs to use these data again, it can greatly speed up the reading. But after a long time, there will be a lot of useless junk data in this folder, which will increase the reading time of Windows and affect the system performance.
7) Run the disk cleaner once a month to delete temporary and useless files. Methods: Double-click "My Computer", right-click the mouse on disk C, select "Properties" and click the "Disk Cleanup" button.
8) Double-click the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller in Device Manager and set the transfer mode of all connected devices to use DMA in the primary/secondary IDE channels (if available).
9) Update the wiring. After adopting a new hard disk, all IDE devices should be replaced with 80-wire Ultra- 133 cables at the same time. If only one hard disk is installed, the hard disk should be installed at the top of the cable, not at the interface in the middle of the cable, otherwise the signal may be abnormal. For Ultra DMA hard disk drives, these abnormal signals will affect the best performance of the drive.
10) Remove all spyware. There are many free softwares, such as AdAware, which can accomplish this task. After cleaning, all software containing spyware will not work properly. If you really need one of the softwares, please reinstall it.
1 1) Delete unnecessary programs in the startup group. Methods: Select Run from the Start menu, enter msconfig, enter the Start tab, and cancel the items that you don't want to load when the system starts. For uncertain projects, please check the WinTasks Process Library, which contains descriptions of known system processes, applications and spyware. It can also be found in online search engines such as Google.
12) Enter the "Add/Remove Programs" item in the control panel to delete unnecessary and unused programs.
13) Close all unnecessary animations and active desktops. Methods: Click the "System" icon in the control panel, enter the "Advanced" tab, and set the "Performance". On the Visual Effects tab, select the "Customize" radio box to set the related user interface functions to a disabled state.
14) Edit the system registry with Tweak-XP software to further improve the performance.
15) Visit the Microsoft Windows update website regularly and download all the updates marked with "Critical".
16) Update antivirus software every week. It is best to install only one set of antivirus software in the system, and installing multiple sets of software will adversely affect performance.
17) Do not install more than 500 fonts. Too many fonts will slow down the system.
18) Don't partition the hard disk. Windows XP's NTFS file system will run more efficiently on a larger partition. In the past, in order to facilitate data organization or reinstall the operating system, people would partition the hard disk without formatting the whole hard disk. In the NTFS file system of Windows XP, there is no need to reformat the partition when reinstalling the operating system, and data organization can be completed through folders. For example, you don't need to put a lot of data on another D: disk, but you can create a folder named "D disk". Putting the data in this folder will not affect the system performance, but also play a good organizational role.
19) Test whether the memory module (RAM) is in good condition. It is recommended to use the free program MemTest86. First, use this program to make a startup disk. After starting the computer with this disk, the program will run 10 different tests on the memory stick, and each test will be conducted three times. If you encounter an error in the test, turn off the computer, unplug one of the memory modules (if there is more than one) and try again. Replace the bad memory stick with the good one.
20) If a CD or DVD burner is installed on the computer, sometimes upgrading the driver can make the burning speed faster.
2 1) Cancel unnecessary services. Windows XP calls many services that users may not use at all. These services not only affect the running speed, but also are very unfavorable to protect the system security. Therefore, unnecessary system services can be disabled as needed. Methods: Select "Run" in the Start menu, enter "Services.msc" to open the Service Management Console, and start or stop the service by changing the startup type of the service.
22) If you think that the single-window browser of Windows is slow, you can open "My Computer" and click "Tools"->; "folder options"->; View, and select Open Folder Window with Independent Process. This can prevent slow devices from affecting the response speed of the user interface.
23) Open the case at least once a year to clean up the dust and sundries. At the same time, check whether all fans are working normally and whether the capacitor on the motherboard is expanding or leaking.
So far, all 23 moves have been used. Are you more satisfied with your system?
Reminder: Although "defragmentation" has a limited effect on improving computer performance, a hard disk without fragments always consumes less power than a hard disk full of fragments. And once the hard disk is damaged, it will be easier to recover if the data on the hard disk is stored continuously. Therefore, it is recommended to "defragment" the hard disk every once in a while (from several months to one year according to the usage of the machine).
The computer configuration is too low, and the most direct way to speed up the operation is to upgrade the hardware. After being optimized by super rabbit and optimization master, there is actually little difference. The name of this software is too big to be realistic. As for what operating system to use, it has a lot to do with it. If you can use win98, don't use win2000 or winXP. If you use winXP, try not to use those fancy visual effects, which is very resource-consuming.
If you use 98 system, I am here to provide you with a set of system optimization scheme, hoping to help you.
Fully optimize Windows 98
(a) Optimizing CMOS settings
By optimizing CMOS settings, the system starts faster and the resource utilization rate is higher. Different machines have different optimization methods. But generally there are:
1. Accelerate the system detection process.
Turn off unused hardware, such as redundant IDE channels and USB devices; Turn off redundancy test, such as setting "Memory test above 1MB" to "Disabled"; Set the hard disk according to the actual parameters, instead of setting the hard disk parameters to "automatic", so as to reduce the time for detecting the hard disk parameters at startup.
Increase the speed of CPU
Set the CPU L 1 cache, CPU L2 cache or external cache and internal cache to enable, set the L 1 cache update and L2 cache update to WB, and set the system startup CPU speed to high.
Increase the speed of hard disk
Set IDE HDD block mode and IDE 3-bit transfer mode to enabled, and set IDE Ultra DMA mode to automatic or enabled.
4. Improve the startup speed
Set the quick POST to enabled, set the boot sequence to C, A or C, A, CD-ROM, set the boot floppy search to disabled, and so on.
5. Improve the display speed
Set video BIOS cacheable, video RAM cacheable, video BIOS shadow, c8000-cbfff ~ dc000-dffff to Enabled, and so on.
6. Improve system performance
Set "System BIOS Cacheable" and "System BIOS Shadow" to "Enabled" and so on.
(B) Optimize the system startup process
1. Simplified self-startup procedure
Although some self-starting programs can simplify the user's operation (such as Scanregw.exe, Registry Checker, etc.). ), a considerable number of self-starting programs are rarely used or not used at all, thus occupying system resources in vain and reducing system performance. In Windows 98, there are four main types of self-starting programs, namely, programs loaded in Config.sys and Autoexec.bat, self-starting programs in Win.ini, self-starting programs in the "startup" group and self-starting programs in the "HKEY _ local _ machine \ software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ current vision \ run" location in the registry, which can be improved by simplification. The implementation method is: click Start → Programs → Accessories → System Tools → System Information, select Menu Tools → System Configuration Utility, and then click each tab to cancel different types of self-starting programs accordingly.
2. Simplify the system configuration file
As we know, Io.sys and Msdos.sys are necessary system boot files for Windows 98. The former includes some default settings of Config.sys (such as HIMEM.sys, Ifshelp.sys, Setver.exe, Dos=High, Umb, Files=60, etc.). ), which includes some settings that control the startup process. Therefore, in Windows 98, the system configuration file Config.sys and the automatic batch file Autoexec.bat are unnecessary. Without them, the performance and startup speed of the system can be partially improved, otherwise the performance of Windows 98 may be affected (for example, when real-mode drivers are loaded). If you really need these two files, you can also delete the default settings in the Io.sys file to improve the startup speed of the system, and pay special attention not to leave the driver of the CD-ROM drive, so as not to add a CD-ROM drive detection process when starting. When the CD is not in use, it should be taken out of the CD-ROM drive in time, otherwise it will increase the reading time when it is started.
Step 3 avoid using passwords
If the computer is only for personal use, don't set passwords, including boot password and Windows 98 login password, otherwise it will not only waste the time of entering passwords, but also increase the password detection process of the system and affect the startup speed. The implementation method is as follows: the power-on password can be removed from CMOS, and the system login password can be modified by "Password" in the control panel (select the item "All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop settings"); If "Microsoft Network Client" is installed in the system, you can delete the user name file with the suffix "pwl" in the system installation directory.
4. Skip the startup screen
Windows 98 usually displays the startup logo when it is started (that is, blue sky and white clouds plus Microsoft flag and Microsoft Windows 98). Skipping this startup screen can speed up the startup process of the system. The implementation method is: hold down the Esc key when the system starts, or directly open the Msdos.sys file in the root directory and add a line in the [Options] section: Logo=0.
5. Temporarily disable some external devices.
Windows 98 needs to detect and start many external device drivers when it starts, which slows down the startup speed. However, by temporarily disabling some external devices (such as "Advanced Power Management Support" and "Standard Floppy Disk Controller"), the number of peripherals that need to be started can be reduced, thus improving the startup speed of the system. To do this, right-click the "My Computer → Properties" command to open the "System Properties" dialog box. Under the Device Manager tab, double-click the device you want to disable (such as Standard Floppy Disk Controller). Under the General tab, select Disable in this hardware profile in the Device Usage box, and then restart.
(3) Optimize each drive
1. Improve floppy drive performance
In a computer, the slowest reading and writing speed is probably the floppy disk drive, which is not only due to its physical characteristics, but also related to the default use of "FIFO" mode to manage the drive and the lack of background storage management function in the system, but we can also modify this mode. The implementation method is: click HKEY _ local _ machine \ system \ current control set \ service \ class \ FDC \ 0000 value item in the registry editor, create a new DWORD value named "ForeFifo" and assign it to "0".
2. Let the hard disk and optical drive use DMA (direct memory access).
Generally speaking, your hard disk and CD-ROM already support Ultra DMA 33 mode (of course, many hard disks support Ultra DMA 100 at present), and its maximum instantaneous transfer rate is 33.3MB/s, which takes up less CPU time, so why don't we use DMA to speed up? Unfortunately, in the default settings of Windows 98, this function is disabled and needs to be turned on manually. The implementation method is as follows: in the control panel, click System → Device Manager → Disk Drive → Universal IDE Disk Type 47 (the value on different machines may be different) → Properties → Settings (for hard disks) or System → Device Manager →CDROM→ATAPI CD-ROM-DRIVE-52X (the value on different machines may be different).
If this item is gray and unavailable, it means that the motherboard chip does not support DMA；; And if you restart after selection, it becomes unselected, indicating that the hard disk or optical drive does not support DMA).
3. Let the hard disk and CD-ROM drive use more memory for caching.
As we all know, caching can significantly improve system performance. Don't even need a first-level cache, a second-level cache or even a third-level cache for CPU? The cache on the hard disk and CD-ROM drive can't be changed, but we can make the hard disk and CD-ROM drive use memory as cache, and then optimize the read-ahead performance of the CD-ROM drive to make them run faster? However, there are two points to note: First, in order for the following changes to take effect, the system must use 32-bit CDFS. But please rest assured that Windows 98 has been used by default. Second, the physical memory is set here. Only when the memory is above 32MB can the effect be more obvious, otherwise it may be self-defeating. Let's take a look at its implementation method:
(1) hard disk: use notepad to open the System.ini file in the system directory, find the [Vcache] section, and write MinFileCacheSize=xxxx, MaxFileCacheSize=xxxx, ChunkSize=yyyy below. Where xxxx is the size of the cache in KB. If you have 16MB memory, you can take 2048, if you have 32MB memory, you can take 4 124, if you have 64MB memory, you can take 4096, and so on. Yyyy is the size of each cache block, which is generally set to 1024.
(2) For optical drive: click the current control settings of HKEY local machine system.
Trol\FileSystem\CDFS value item, you can see two primary keys "CacheSize" and "Prefetch" in the right window. Among them, the cache can be added to the optical drive by modifying the size of the previous key value, and the pre-reading performance can be optimized by modifying the size of the last key value, both of which can improve the reading and writing speed of the optical drive. If you use the 4x speed settings recommended by Windows 98, their values should be hexadecimal: 6b, 02, 00,00 and hexadecimal: e4, 00,00,00. We can modify these two key values separately as needed. For example, for "CacheSize", the value hex: D6,04,00,00 is generally appropriate. In order to maximize the speed of the optical drive, the value hex: AC,09,00,00; Can be taken; For "prefetch", if it is a 4 times speed optical drive, it generally does not need to be modified; 8 times the speed of the optical drive, and the available values are in hexadecimal: C0, 0 1, 00,00; 16 times speed CD-ROM drive hexadecimal available values: 80,03,00,00; ; Hexadecimal available values for 24 times speed CD-ROM drive: 40,05,00,00; ; An optical drive with a speed of more than 32 times can take hexadecimal: 00, 07, 00, 00.
However, it should be noted that if the above two key values are modified, the CD-ROM drive cannot work normally, and it can be reduced by one level respectively.
4. Let the hard disk use FAT32
When partitioning, designate the hard disk to use FAT32 or use some conversion programs to convert the hard disk from FAT 16 to FAT32, which can not only store data more efficiently and save disk space (about 10% ~ 15%), but also improve disk performance and make the running speed of programs increase by 50% with less system resources. The implementation method is: in Windows 98, click "Start → Programs → Accessories → System Tools → Drive Converter (FAT32)", and then follow the operation instructions step by step.
5. Keep the hard disk and optical drive in 32-bit working mode all the time.
For some reason (such as virus infection or loading some real mode drivers, etc.). ), Windows 98' s hard disk and optical drive will work in MS-DOS compatible mode, which seriously affects its reading and writing speed. At this time, we should try to restore their 32-bit working mode. To do this, first delete the real-mode driver in the Config.sys file, and then in the control panel, click System → Performance → File System → Troubleshooting, and check whether the "Disable disk drive in 32-bit protection mode" check box is selected.
If selected, cancel and restore the 32-bit working mode; If it is not selected, the 32-bit disk driver in the system is missing or faulty. The solution is: in the control panel, click System → Device Manager → System Device → Plug and Play BIOS, click Delete button, and choose to restart the computer. Then the system will automatically run the "Add New Hardware Wizard" to re-equip the detected hardware with drivers, including hard disk, floppy disk drive and CD-ROM drive, so that the 32-bit working mode of the disk can be restored. However, in this process, it should be noted that Windows 98 is required to install CD-ROM when installing drivers for new hardware, but the CD-ROM drive is not available at this time (the system cannot support it automatically), which requires you to either configure Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files (add CD-ROM drivers to them) or copy the files on the CD-ROM drive to the hard disk first.
6. Regularly organize the file fragments on the hard disk.
Hard disk is one of the most commonly used components in the system. A large number of file operations (such as creating, copying, deleting, etc. ) will make the file storage discontinuous, resulting in longer and longer file reading time. At this time, it is necessary to use the "Disk Defragmenter" provided by Windows 98 to sort out the files and unused space on the hard disk, which can not only rearrange the files, speed up the reading of the files and the running of the programs, but also monitor the frequency of loading various software, and accordingly put the most commonly used applications.
Implementation method: Click Start → Programs → Accessories → System Tools → Disk Defragmenter. In the Select Drive dialog box, click the Settings button and select Reorder program files to make the program start faster.
(D) Optimize the file system
1. Optimize the file system
By changing the file system settings, system performance can be significantly improved. The implementation method is as follows: in the control panel, click System → Performance → File System, and in the hard disk tab, change the main purpose of the computer to network server, and adjust the pre-reading optimization to all; In the "floppy disk" tab, cancel "Search for a new floppy disk drive every time you start the computer" (because by default, the floppy disk driver will scan for new devices every time you start Windows 98, but the system can start faster by prohibiting the floppy disk drive from being checked when the system starts); In the CD tab, adjust the Additional Cache to the maximum, and select quadruple speed or higher as the best access method; In the Removable Disks tab, select Enable cache after write on all removable disk drives.
2. Let the file system also use the cache.
The system should access the file allocation table when reading and writing files, and the file system cache can store the path and file name of the file just accessed in memory to speed up the next access. The setting method is as follows: click HKEY _ local _ machine \ software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ current version \ fstemplates in the registry editor. In the file system properties dialog box, there are three primary keys named desktop, mobile and server, which correspond to desktop, portable or connected system and network respectively. If you use the desktop, you can modify the strings "NameCache" and "Path Cache" in Desktop: Name Cache = "8000000" (which can buffer 128 folders) and Path Cache =" 00 100000 "(which can buffer 4096 8.3 file names).
3. Optimize the graphics hardware
By specifying the acceleration level to be set for the graphics hardware, you can improve the graphics display. To do this, in the control panel, click System → Performance → Graphics, and then set the hardware acceleration to all.
4. Optimize virtual memory
If there are two different types of hard disks on the computer, and one of them can read and write faster than the other, then the system can manually set the faster hard disk as virtual memory, which will improve the system performance. But this step must be used with caution. If you are a "novice", let Windows 98 manage virtual memory. It will choose the default setting according to the size of available hard disk space. The implementation method is: in the control panel, click System → Performance → Virtual Memory → User-defined Virtual Memory Settings, and then select the hard disk and set the maximum and minimum values of virtual memory according to the actual situation of your machine.
(5) Disable some flashy functions.
1. There is no active desktop.
Although IE's active desktop function can display Web components, it has the most obvious impact on the processing speed of CPU. Research also shows that the active desktop is the main source of performance degradation of Windows 98. Therefore, the response speed of the system can be significantly improved by prohibiting the use of the active desktop function. Right-click the desktop, select the "Properties" command, click the "Web" tab, and cancel all the options of "View the active desktop as a web page" and "IE channel bar".
Or simply modify the registry to completely disable the active desktop function: in the registry editor, click HKEY _ current _ user \ software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ current version \ policy \ resource manager, and add the key value "no activated desktop = hex: 01000,000".
2. Close the desktop theme
Desktop themes generally occupy a lot of system resources, which will obviously reduce system performance after opening. At the same time, don't set wallpaper (especially "stretch" display mode), because wallpaper will also take up a lot of memory and increase the time to adjust the screen when the system starts.
3. Close the animation display menu, window and list.
The default window minimization and menu display in the system are not completed at one time, but slowly slide out at intervals, just like animation. Turning off this function can improve the performance of the system. The implementation method is: click HKEY _ Current _ User \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ Window \ Measure in the Registry Editor, find the "MinAnimate" item, and change the value from 1 to 0. Or right-click the desktop, choose the Properties command, click the Effects tab, and then cancel Animated Windows, Menus and Lists.
4. It is forbidden for thumbnails to display icon files.
Some users like to display icon files in the form of thumbnails in the resource manager, which facilitates the operation and management of icon files, but also increases the overhead of the system. By disabling this function, the response speed of the system can be improved. The implementation method is: click HKEY _ Local _ Machine \ Software \ Class \ Drawing. Change the default key value of Picture \ Defaulticon in the registry editor from "%1" to "C:\Windows\Mspaint.exe, 1".
5. Delete redundant fonts
Fonts are loaded every time the system starts. If there are too many fonts (especially Chinese fonts), it will take up a lot of system resources and slow down the startup speed. Moving unused font files out of the system folder (Windows\Fonts) or deleting them directly will also improve the performance of the system. The implementation method is: double-click the font icon in the control panel to observe which fonts are installed in the system, and then transfer or delete the redundant fonts.