Windows XP Hacks

Track System Performance with the Performance Console

Before you can hack away at things to speed up your computer, you should know how to monitor system performance in the first place. As a power user, you’ll like knowing what’s causing those slow-downs and blips in performance. The Performance Console is a great hacker’s tool for monitoring and tracking resources of all kinds.

Computers get faster every year, but somehow we still end up sometimes waiting around for them to finish a task.

Reducing Visual Effects

Windows XP’s visual effects—such as fading and sliding menus, background images for folders, and drop shadows for icon labels—make it the snazziest-looking operating system that Microsoft has yet produced. But all those effects can take their toll on system performance, especially if you have an older computer.

XP gives you the option of balancing these visual effects against system performance. You can go full-bore and use all the visual effects, you can turn them all off, you can have your system decide which to use, or you can pick and choose which effects to turn on and off. Right-click on My Computer and choose Properties → Advanced → Settings (under the Performance section). To turn off all effects, choose “Adjust for best performance.” To use all visual effects, choose “Adjust for best appearance.” To turn on and off individual effects, choose Custom, then check the effects you want to use and uncheck the ones you don’t. Experiment to see how they affect system ...