Trying to Improve XP's Performance

[Klaw117]

I know what you're going to say: Go get Windows 7. I'm trying to do some maintenance on my aunt's computer and she has Windows XP Home Edition on it and the computer is so old that I don't think it can handle Windows 7 (and we don't want to spend the money to upgrade this since my aunt doesn't do anything really intensive on this computer). Therefore, I want to try to increase the performance of this computer. I've uninstalled all the unnecessary stuff she doesn't need, did a Disk Cleanup and Defragment, and installed all the latest updates. Is there anything else I should do? I noticed that the startup time is really slow on this computer, so that's the biggest issue I'm having right now.

Also, can Windows Media Player 11 with K-Lite Codec Pack play DVDs? If so, I might uninstall InterVideo DVD and RealPlayer. However, with RealPlayer, I try to uninstall it in Add and Remove Programs, but it keeps saying it may have already been uninstalled and if I want to remove it from the list. However, I know for a fact that RealPlayer has not bee uninstalled, so if I don't need RealPlayer, can someone tell me how to uninstall it? I went on Google and noticed that some people used programs like RevoUninstaller. Should I use this too? I wasn't sure if it was ok to use this, so I wanted to ask you guys first.

 

[smackheadz]

yes revo is good and free.get rid of the programs you want first then the people here will need the system specs to give any real good advice.just noticed this is the chillout room and this thread should be in performance and maintenance. or maybe not as i notice it's xp

 

[Coolness]

I know what you're going to say: Go get Windows 7. I'm trying to do some maintenance on my aunt's computer and she has Windows XP Home Edition on it and the computer is so old that I don't think it can handle Windows 7 (and we don't want to spend the money to upgrade this since my aunt doesn't do anything really intensive on this computer). Therefore, I want to try to increase the performance of this computer. I've uninstalled all the unnecessary stuff she doesn't need, did a Disk Cleanup and Defragment, and installed all the latest updates. Is there anything else I should do? I noticed that the startup time is really slow on this computer, so that's the biggest issue I'm having right now.

Also, can Windows Media Player 11 with K-Lite Codec Pack play DVDs? If so, I might uninstall InterVideo DVD and RealPlayer. However, with RealPlayer, I try to uninstall it in Add and Remove Programs, but it keeps saying it may have already been uninstalled and if I want to remove it from the list. However, I know for a fact that RealPlayer has not bee uninstalled, so if I don't need RealPlayer, can someone tell me how to uninstall it? I went on Google and noticed that some people used programs like RevoUninstaller. Should I use this too? I wasn't sure if it was ok to use this, so I wanted to ask you guys first.

The best way is to do a complete re-install. This will eliminate things like cookies, spyware and trojans. These really slow computers down.

 

[Klaw117]

System Specs:
Dell Inspiron 8200
Windows XP Home Edition SP3
Intel Pentium 4 Mobile 1.70 GHz
512 MB RAM
I don't think I need to go into the graphics card and wireless card and stuff like that.

Also, there's a new problem. Microsoft Office XP Word keeps telling me "Compile error in hidden module: WinFaxPrintAndMerge." I Googled around and I manged to figure out that it's a template issue because running this ("C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\WINWORD.EXE" /a) brought up no error. However, in this website (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316033), I went to the section that says "Remove templates from the Startup Folder" and did all the steps there. The Startup folders are completely empty (which doesn't make sense because something is obviously trying to start when Word starts up) and fixing the Normal.dot file didn't help. Does anyone know how to fix this?

EDIT: And doing a reinstall is not a viable option.

 

[Coolness]

Alright, but if youre anyway going to uninstall massive amounts of stuff, its just easier to uninstall everything, and then install stuff you need back. You asked what is the best way to imporve the performace, and i told you that clean install is the best way. Sorry if my answer didnt help you.

 

[Klaw117]

I would consider a reinstall if this was a desktop, but it's a laptop and I don't have all the drivers for the special buttons and the mouse pad, so I think I may end up doing more harm than good. Still, thank you for attempting to provide a solution.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I would consider a reinstall if this was a desktop, but it's a laptop and I don't have all the drivers for the special buttons and the mouse pad, so I think I may end up doing more harm than good. Still, thank you for attempting to provide a solution.

Does it have a "hidden" recovery partition, in computer do you see a "D: Recovery" partition?

 

[Coolness]

I would consider a reinstall if this was a desktop, but it's a laptop and I don't have all the drivers for the special buttons and the mouse pad, so I think I may end up doing more harm than good. Still, thank you for attempting to provide a solution.

Does it have a "hidden" recovery partition, in computer do you see a "D: Recovery" partition?

Dont think XP has that kinda stuff?

 

[jfar]

Here this might speed up the Startup at least.

Go here.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I would consider a reinstall if this was a desktop, but it's a laptop and I don't have all the drivers for the special buttons and the mouse pad, so I think I may end up doing more harm than good. Still, thank you for attempting to provide a solution.

Does it have a "hidden" recovery partition, in computer do you see a "D: Recovery" partition?

Dont think XP has that kinda stuff?

It's not an XP thing, it's added by the OEM.

 

[Fantail]

System Specs:
Dell Inspiron 8200
Windows XP Home Edition SP3
Intel Pentium 4 Mobile 1.70 GHz
512 MB RAM
I don't think I need to go into the graphics card and wireless card and stuff like that.

Also, there's a new problem. Microsoft Office XP Word keeps telling me "Compile error in hidden module: WinFaxPrintAndMerge." I Googled around and I manged to figure out that it's a template issue because running this ("C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\WINWORD.EXE" /a) brought up no error. However, in this website (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316033), I went to the section that says "Remove templates from the Startup Folder" and did all the steps there. The Startup folders are completely empty (which doesn't make sense because something is obviously trying to start when Word starts up) and fixing the Normal.dot file didn't help. Does anyone know how to fix this?

EDIT: And doing a reinstall is not a viable option.

1: Pound for pound for performance the old saying is true, double your memory.
512 - that's like, a starter kit.

2: Uninstall Office completely, (presuming office was not preloaded) reinstall and select only what the system needs.

3: Reinstalling is always an option, unless you don't have the recovery - install disks.

 

[Klaw117]

I managed to find figure out how to fix Office myself. All the pages on Google kept telling me the wrong folder, so I had to go searching around manually to find the right Startup folder.

Startup seems a bit faster thanks to msconfig. Thanks a lot for that!

Now the only question that remains unanswered is: Will WMP 11 with the K-Lite Codec Pack be able to play DVDs? If so, then I want to uninstall RealPlayer and InterVideo WinDVD.

 

[Cato]

My wife is now using the XP machine that I used to use and the main video program I used was Media Player Classic, and it will play DVD's.

I won't necessarily recommend it, but you may want to Google it and see what you think of it.

 

[Coolness]

I managed to find figure out how to fix Office myself. All the pages on Google kept telling me the wrong folder, so I had to go searching around manually to find the right Startup folder.

Startup seems a bit faster thanks to msconfig. Thanks a lot for that!

Now the only question that remains unanswered is: Will WMP 11 with the K-Lite Codec Pack be able to play DVDs? If so, then I want to uninstall RealPlayer and InterVideo WinDVD.

Uninstall both, and try VLC VLC media player - Open Source Multimedia Framework and Player
Its VERY lightweight, and will hardly drain any processing power, or RAM. It has all the features you could wish for, but no pretty interface, so its very lightweight. Hope you like it

 

[Klaw117]

Thanks, I'll keep the VLC Player in mind. As for everything else, I think I've done all that is possible short of increasing the RAM. Thanks for all your help!

 

[smackheadz]

Thanks, I'll keep the VLC Player in mind. As for everything else, I think I've done all that is possible short of increasing the RAM. Thanks for all your help!

I didn't ask what security was being used as some are a real drain on resources,when i was short of ram when using my xp desktop i used avira free which i've found to be about as light as they come.In the paid for security i found eset was pretty light aswell

 

[IggyAZ]

I think you've done alot but I'd like to see the startup list from msconfig as well as the task manager list for just the user. (uncheck lower left corner to turn off)

Also I just lloved a great MS program called BOOTVIS which was for WinXp and looked at our startup sequence and adjusted programs in quickest order and relocated them to the fastest part of the HD. It was a great tool for me.

LINK
Download BootVis 1.3.37.0 - BootVis - Microsoft tool to provide faster XP boot and resume times - Softpedia

 

[Coolness]

I think you've done alot but I'd like to see the startup list from msconfig as well as the task manager list for just the user. (uncheck lower left corner to turn off)

Also I just lloved a great MS program called BOOTVIS which was for WinXp and looked at our startup sequence and adjusted programs in quickest order and relocated them to the fastest part of the HD. It was a great tool for me.

LINK
Download BootVis 1.3.37.0 - BootVis - Microsoft tool to provide faster XP boot and resume times - Softpedia

Wow! Does it work on seven? If so, Wow! Rep+ m8
Why havent i been informed of this program...?

 

[IggyAZ]

I think you've done alot but I'd like to see the startup list from msconfig as well as the task manager list for just the user. (uncheck lower left corner to turn off)

Also I just lloved a great MS program called BOOTVIS which was for WinXp and looked at our startup sequence and adjusted programs in quickest order and relocated them to the fastest part of the HD. It was a great tool for me.

LINK
Download BootVis 1.3.37.0 - BootVis - Microsoft tool to provide faster XP boot and resume times - Softpedia

Wow! Does it work on seven? If so, Wow! Rep+ m8
Why havent i been informed of this program...?

Sorry to say it doesn't work on Win7. I think Win7 has a whole different design to inprove startup. It seems that it delays some services from startup at bootup and waits a minute or two then starts unimportant ones later. Anyway that's the way I see it.

But I made a lot of friends very happy when I used Bootvis on their WinXP machines. They thought I was a magician.

 

[Coolness]

I think you've done alot but I'd like to see the startup list from msconfig as well as the task manager list for just the user. (uncheck lower left corner to turn off)

Also I just lloved a great MS program called BOOTVIS which was for WinXp and looked at our startup sequence and adjusted programs in quickest order and relocated them to the fastest part of the HD. It was a great tool for me.

LINK
Download BootVis 1.3.37.0 - BootVis - Microsoft tool to provide faster XP boot and resume times - Softpedia

Wow! Does it work on seven? If so, Wow! Rep+ m8
Why havent i been informed of this program...?

Sorry to say it doesn't work on Win7. I think Win7 has a whole different design to inprove startup. It seems that it delays some services from startup at bootup and waits a minute or two then starts unimportant ones later. Anyway that's the way I see it.

But I made a lot of friends very happy when I used Bootvis on their WinXP machines. They thought I was a magician.

Arent you?