When I'm cleaning Windows

One of the problems with Windows operating systems is that, when they're installed, they are never that streamlined, which isn't surprising when you see that the basic installation of Windows XP is around 1.5Gb.

However, it's not just XP that has built-in settings and applications that, if left as they are, can slow your system down. Windows 9x, ME and 2000 also contain a number of similar settings that, once disabled, you'll wonder why you hadn't done it before.

Some of the suggestions made here will need you to edit the Windows Registry. This is the place where every application that has been installed on your system stores its configuration information.

This information can be edited, although you should take great care when doing this, as mistakes can affect your system in unpredictable ways.

To edit it, you need to run the built-in Windows Registry editor by typing regedit into the Run box. If you're at all wary of doing this, then we recommend that you stick to modifying less potentially dangerous areas.

New look

One of the first things that you'll notice if you're new to Windows XP is that it looks different. This is because Microsoft has put a great deal of effort into making it visually appealing.

However, in our experience, many users aren't that impressed. As with Windows 2000, XP uses graphical effects on the drop-down menus and in the start menu, where items fade in and out and things that aren't used very often are temporarily hidden.

All this slows your system down, though, particularly with under powered graphics cards.

There are various effects that can be deselected if you want. These are generally accessed by selecting the Appearance tab on the Display Properties. However, there's a quicker way to get rid of all the effects that can slow your system down.

For instance, if you click on the Advanced tab in the System Properties tab (Control Panel - System) and then the Performance button, XP gives you various options to change how it looks.

If you choose Best Appearance, it keeps the default settings and if you select Best Performance, it changes to what Microsoft calls Windows Classic, making it look like Windows 2000.

Turning off all the effects does make a noticeable difference and it's one of things we always do to any PC before we benchmark it.

There are a lot of things you can do to the Windows desktop, but one thing you should try is to keep it as clear as possible. This is because it takes up system memory, which is constantly having to be refreshed by the graphics subsystem.

Animated desktops are particularly hard on a system's core resources. However, any side effects from having a cluttered desktop will only really be noticeable if your system has less than 128Mb of Ram and an older processor.

If you're running a Pentium 4 with 256Mb or more, any changes will probably have so little effect that you needn't really worry about it.

Slow running

If your system is running slowly and you're not sure why, the most likely reason is that you have too many applications running in the background hogging system memory.

Many will show themselves as icons in the System Tray at the right-hand edge of the Task Bar. However, others aren't so obvious. One way to see exactly what's going on is to launch Task Manager.

In Windows XP and 2000, this can be done in two ways: hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del (it won't shut your system down unless you press it again) or right-clicking the start bar and selecting Task Manager. You can then see all the applications and system processes that are running.

If you want to shut down any applications you don't need at that time, you can highlight them and click End Task. The same can be done with processes but, unless you know exactly what the process is that you want to stop, we'd advise you to leave well alone.

Another way to speed your system up is to manage the way that it boots. Windows 9x, ME, 2000 and XP all come with a System Configuration Utility (SCU) that's launched from the Run box by typing MSCONFIG.

Within the utility, you can alter several start-up parameters and the BOOT.INI tab allows you to change how Windows boots.

However, it's much easier to change items under the Start-up tab. The best thing about the SCU is that, even if you disable applications, it isn't permanent so, if you have any problems, you can just go back in again and change it.

However, if you want to permanently delete the software, you can go into the Windows Registry and remove the applications from there if you decide that you definitely don't need them. They are normally located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run.

Hidden files

Some files in XP are hidden and can't be removed in the usual way. These include Microsoft Messenger, which can be annoying if you don't use it. To get around this problem, you have to edit Windows' SYSOC.INF file.

This is located in the Windows Directory, but you have to tell Windows that you want to see all hidden files. To do this, click on the View tab in Folder Options, then on the radio button next to Show hidden files and folders.

Next, launch notepad, open the inf folder and select sysoc. Look for the msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7 listing, then delete the word hide, but leave the rest intact before saving and closing the file.

Messenger should then appear in the Control Panel_Add/Remove Programs_Add/Remove Windows Components dialog box, from where you can uninstall it.

Even when you uninstall an application, not all its Windows Registry data is always removed. This can lead to your Windows Registry becoming bloated and full of unnecessary data.

It's a very good idea to clean it out on a regular basis so that your system doesn't slow up. You can do this by hand, but it can be rather time-consuming.

There's software available that can do it for you, such as McAfee and Norton Utilities, but if you don't want to pay a lot for them there are numerous freeware/shareware cleaning applications available for download, such as EasyCleaner (www.savagearena.com) and RegVac (www.superwin.com).

TOP TUNING TIPS

• If you aren't worried about the various effects that Windows applies to your desktop, turn them off.
• If your system doesn't have much memory - 128Mb or less - try not to clutter your desktop.
• Every now and again, clean up your Windows Registry, but make sure that you've archived any important documents first.

See also:

Microsoft sets date for XP service pack

First update available from 9 September  02 Sep 2002

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