Operating System Tweaks: Windows 2000/XP

Keep Core Windows Operating Data in Main Memory

This tweak forces core kernel and essential driver files to stay in the RAM, rather than being shoved into virtual memory on the hard drive. In the conversion over to virtual memory, performance can drop significantly. This transfer over to virtual memory is designed to be put into effect when the system is getting low on physical RAM, however, this occurs periodically even when the system is not low on memory. In those cases, the transfer over to virtual RAM is often not necessary. Only proceed with applying this tweak if you have at least 256MB of RAM in your system.

Open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/Session Manager/Memory Management. Double click on DWORD value “DisablePagingExecutive” and set the value to 1.

Open Folders in Separate Processes

This tweak helps avoid software crashes and lockups by keeping explorer processes separated from the program and O/S kernel processes. Note, however, that it may contribute to occasional lock ups or freezes in the explorer.exe process. This tweak is only for systems with 512MB or more. Open “My Computer” and go to Tools > Folder Options > View and check the box for “Launch folder windows in a separate process”. Reboot if prompted.

Prefetching
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Prefetching is a process unique to XP, which stores temporary settings that help load frequently accessed files and applications faster. However, after a time, the folder gets clogged up and overloaded, much like the temp directory found in all Windows Operating Systems, and needs to be cleaned out every so often. Go to %systemroot%\Prefetch, delete everything in there and reboot. This should be done as often as you normally clean out your temp directories.

Prefetching Specific Applications
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Window Media Player has an extra switch included into its shortcut to help load it faster using XP’s prefetch feature. You can try this out on some of your other applications by right clicking on the program’s shortcut and clicking “properties. Add /prefetch:1 to the end of the contents of the “Target” box.

If this switch causes loading errors in programs that you add this to, simply remove the /prefetch:1 switch from the shortcut entry.

Virtual Memory – Page File

Defragging and setting a rigid area for your Page File can sometimes drastically increase memory performance and your system’s ability to multi-task. Unfortunately, Disk Defragmenter doesn’t touch the Page File. There are two ways to defrag it.

One way to defrag the page file is to download and install PageDefrag Utility. The program’s window displays a list of files and how fragmented they have become. To defrag the page file, select “Defragment at next boot” and hit OK. The next time you restart, this program will defrag the listed files.

If you want to go the “tried and tested”, yet time consuming route without using any third-party applications, and have a separate hard drive/partition, this procedure will work every time. First, move the page file to the separate drive/partition. In XP, go to Control Panel > System > “Advanced” tab and under “Performance”, click “Settings”. Go to the “Advanced” tab and under “Virtual Memory”, click “Change”. In 2000, go to Control Panel > System > “Advanced” tab; click “Performance Options” and then “Change”. Select the drive letter that displays the Page File size. Select “No paging file” and hit “Set”. Next, select the separate hard drive/partition. Select “Custom Size” and set the Initial Size and the Maximum equal to 1.5 to 2 times greater than the total of system’s RAM. For example, if your system has 512MB of RAM, set the two values equal to 1024MB. Hit “Set” and OK after you’re done. Reboot when prompted.

Now, defrag the drive/partition your Operating System is on. It’s best if this is done in safe mode and overnight when the computer doesn’t need to be used.

After defragging is completed, go to into “Virtual Memory”, per the directions listed earlier, and select the drive letter that displays the Page File size. Select “No paging file” and hit “Set”. Now select the drive that originally had the paging file. Select “Custom Size” and set the Initial Size and the Maximum equal to what you chose to set them as when you moved it to the other hard drive/partition. Hit “Set” and OK after you’re done and reboot when prompted.