Yet another XP speed up thread

[SheikZ]

I recently recovered my pc and ever since it hasn't booted as fast as it used to. I had optimized it to boot in under a minute (with 4 bars going by) and now it's well over a minute (with 9-12 bars). I've searched all the boards I went to then and new ones and i haven't been able to find any particular optimization that would bring me back to where I was. This is very frustrating in the fact that hte boo is slower and that the disk has more on it than it did when I started taking names to my programs and backing up files (which didn't help because my friends doens' know how to restore). I've defragged every boot up, cleaned the disk, ran scans and a chkdsk. Could someone recommend something more than what's obvious?

 

[Cabbs]

Spyware/virus scans, and google ccleaner, it cleans up your registry. I've used it and it helps.

 

[SheikZ]

I've got that...

 

[Cabbs]

What about background tasks/programs/processes, anything unneeded?

 

[Raffaz]

Try defragging in safe mode. Also use msconfig and remove unwanted programs from the startup tab. If your unsure of what each program does, then google it or use startup inspector.

 

[Xiggy]

yeh man just msconfig.exe and then go to the startup tab...and uncheck stuff you dont want starting up....my windows loads in up 20 seconds..which it alwasy did..but now when it gets there it doesnt have to wait a second for messengers or stuff like that!

 

[SheikZ]

*sigh* It's not the startup after Windows boots, it's the time when windows is actually loading. I have nothing loading at startup and I've defragged till everything is defragged, the master file, the paging file, and all general files. The time from welcom to everything on the desktop is about a second or 5, but the windows (splash screen, is it?) takes up all of the loading time from shutdown to startup.

 

[Raffaz]

Take a look here, some good tweaks
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1786122,00.asp

 

[SheikZ]

Now I've done everything on that site and I"m quite frustrated that I can't find the optimization to bring me back to where I was.

 

[Raffaz]

Have you done AV and spyware scans in safe mode? What AV and spyware software are you using? Have you ran hijackthis?