By Turning Off Display Effects

Switching off transition and
animation effects can save a
lot of system resources. These
effects are not required to run
programs and cause an
unnecessary load on the
processor and RAM. Rightclick
on an empty area of the
desktop, click Properties and
switch to the Appearance tab.
Click Effects and clear all the
checkboxes.

Choose Performance

Windows XP has some very
good features to maximise
performance. Unfortunately,
the default settings are no
good. You can choose to have
it optimise itself for faster
computing. To change these
settings, click Start, rightclick
My Computer and click
Properties. Switch to the
Advanced tab and click the
Settings button under Performance.
By default, ‘Let Windows
choose what’s best for
my computer’ is selected.
Choose ‘Adjust for best performance’
instead, and you
will almost immediately
notice a boost in speed. This
is because all graphic effects
are turned off. You can
optionally choose each type
of effect that should be
enabled from here, but if it’s
power you are looking for,
leave them all off. Note that
the behaviour and appearance
of a lot of Windows such
as the Control Panel, will
become quite different. If you
prefer the helpful wizard-like
interfaces, you may want to
sacrifice a bit on performance
and enable the option to ‘Use
common tasks in folders’.

Boot Options

If you are not booting multiple

operating systems, you can

turn off the option permanently,

until it is required. If

there is another OS on your

system, say LINUX, you

can reduce the amount of time

the option to choose which

OS to load is displayed. Rightclick

My Computer, click Properties

> Advanced and click the

Settings button under Startup

and Recovery. Here, you can

choose which operating system

to boot by default. You

can uncheck the boxes to

show the boot options, or

select the number of seconds

for which the choices are displayed.

Five seconds is usually

more than enough.

You will notice recovery

settings in case of a system failure.

Alerts and debugging

information will not be very

helpful for most users, so you

can turn these options off too.

Reset Your BIOS Password

To enter the BIOS program, hit the "Delete" key before your computer boots up. If successful, you will be taken to a menu.

Sometimes, in order to prevent unauthorized access, the BIOS menu is password protected.(See the right hand side column in the above photo)When a password is set, the BIOS settings can only be accessed by authorized access.


Since the BIOS password is a part of BIOS setting, it is stored in memory by this battery.

To Reset the BIOS password-->

1.Switch off your PC.
2. Open your computer cabinet.
3. Locate the battery on motherboard and carefully remove it.(ALL BIOS SETTINGS ARE LOST)
4.Re-insert the battery.(ALL BIOS settings are reset)
5.Switch on the PC

Increase Speed Of Your PC

5 ways to speed up your PC, from Microsoft

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. This article discusses how to use the tools available in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you're online.

01 - Free up disk space

By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.

Use Disk Cleanup to:

• Remove temporary Internet files.

• Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).

• Empty the Recycle Bin.

• Remove Windows temporary files.

• Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.

• Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

02 - To use Disk Cleanup

• Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.

• In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.

• Choose the files that you want to delete.

• Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.

• When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

03 - Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to run Disk Defragmenter

In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:

• You add a large number of files.

• Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.

• You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

04 - To use Disk Defragmenter:

• Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

Click Analyze to start the Disk Defragmenter.

• In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.

Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.

• To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button. Note: In Windows Vista, there is no graphical user interface to demonstrate the progress—but your hard drive is still being defragmented.

After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.

• To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.

• To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.

• To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

To run the Error Checking utility:

• Close all open files.

• Click Start, and then click My Computer.

• In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.

• In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.

• Click the Check Now button.

• In the Check Disk dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.

• If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Tip: Only select the "Automatically fix file system errors" check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

05 - Protect your computer against spyware

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Alternatively, there are other free anti-spyware software programs available.

Remove Your Autoplay For Drives in Windows

After formatting, your drive may show auto play with an error code"dllwi.exe"It can be removed by removing the auto play.
Remove the auto play for the drives except removable drives.

Start->Run-> (type) gpedit.msc (click ok) ->Computer Configuration->Administrative templates->System->Turn off auto play.
You can turn off updates in the same style.
Use Turn off Updates instead of Auto play.

Increase Virtual RAM - To Make Your System Faster

Follow the steps given below :-

1)Hold down the 'Windows' Key and Press the 'Pause/Break'button at the top right of your keyboard.Another way is Right-Clicking 'My Computer' and then Select 'Properties'.

2)Click on the 'Advanced' tab.

3)Under 'Performance', click 'Settings'

4)Then click the 'Advanced' tab on the button that pops up.

5)Under 'Virtual Memory' at the bottom, click 'Change'.

6)Click the 'Custom Size' button.

7)For the initial size (depending on your HD space),type in anywhere from 1000-1500 (although I use 4000), and for the Maximum size type in anywhere from 2000-2500 (although I use 6000).

8)Click 'Set', and then exit out of all of the windows.

9)Finally, Restart your computer.