Tewak of the month:Make Xp Faster

Make XP faster
Everyone wants their machine to run faster. We have compiled all the special tweaks we've made into this one handy article. We focus on settings that improve the performance of Windows XP and not on user interface tweaks.
Note: You can disable most of XP's user interface candy and increase performance!

These tweaks are designed for Windows XP both Home and Pro. Make sure you have at least 256 MB of RAM, any less and your machine will lag due to use of the hard drive as memory. 512MB is preferred. Backup your System before attempting any of these modifications! Microsoft covers performance in Windows XP. PC magazine found
general application performance is faster on XP than on Windows ME.
BIOS
You need to ensure that you have configured your BIOS correctly. The BIOS is software embedded on your motherboard that loads and configures hardware before the operating system. Failure to do so can easily slow down CPU and disk performance. Consult your computer or motherboard's manual to ensure that all CPU caches are enabled, memory timings are set correctly, and that IDE data transfer modes are set correctly. You can speed up the boot process by enabling "Rapid Bios Boot" or "Fast/Quick boot". Also turn off auto detection of IDE devices and detect them manually. Set System and Video BIOS Cacheable to OFF as well as Video RAM cacheable to off, as these are legacy operating system DOS settings. Test CPU performance with PC
Magazine's benchmarks. Test drive performance with HDtach benchmark.
Drivers
You need to ensure that you have the latest versions of all your hardware drivers. The ones on the original Windows CD-ROM are usually out of date. Updated Video and SCSI drivers can significantly improve the performance of your computer.
Video Performance
If you experience slow screen redraws and you are running the latest drivers for your video card, try selecting a lower quality video resolution. In the Display icon of the Control Panel, select the Settings Tab. If the system is set for True color try lowering it to High Color (16-bit). Many LCDs cannot show a full 32-bit color pallet. You can also reduce the Desktop Area. Upgrade to a new video card if this does not help. Using the latest Microsoft DirectX drivers can increase game performance. Reducing XP's screen effects will also speed up performance.
Goto My computer, Properties, Advanced Tab, Performance Settings, Select adjust for best performance.
Hard Drive Port
Make sure your hard drive is not connected to the same IDE port as your CD/DVD-ROM. Each IDE port is programmed to operate at the slower of the two devices on the port,so you could be slowing down access to your primary hard drive by leaving a CD-ROM on the same channel. Put your CD/DVD-ROM on the Secondary IDE port. Intel Application accelerator lets you independently set tranfer rates for devices on the same cable.
(To be concluded in the comming posts...)