Windows XP Setup

by Howard
(Dublin, Ireland)

Taskbar Setup

Taskbar Setup

Getting the key configuration settings correct is essential to a stable Windows XP. This is how I set up my Windows XP Computers. Each option below is enabled:

Display Properties
- Theme: Windows Classic
- Desktop: No wallpaper
- Screensaver: Windows XP. Wait 30 Minutes
- Power Scheme: Minimal Power Management

Taskbar Appearance
- Lock the taskbar
- Keep the taskbar on top of other windows

Notification Area
- Show the clock

Start Menu: Classic Start Menu
- Display Run
- Enable dragging and dropping

The reason I chose these options is to maximize the performance. My computer is not exactly the most up-to-date machine around, and I don't want unnecessary things slowing it down.



Thank you, Howard, for your insight. The choices you make in your configuration makes a big difference in overall performance.

I suspect many of the remaining Windows XP users across the world much prefer to sacrifice performance improvement in favour of an impressive wallpaper, or modern Theme based on their favourite pop star etc.

Nothing wrong with that. The flexibility to customize the Operating system to your own personal taste is good.

However, you have a business mind thinking about performance. That is impressive!

There are also several other things you can do to improve the performance of your Windows XP Computer.

One thing is to use the Autoruns< tool:-

Autoruns is a Sysinternals tool that enables you to improve the start-up time of your computer by removing certain programs from the start-up process.

Certain device drivers and other programs such as Adobe Reader add certain tools into the start-up process. Lots of these are unnecessary.

Use Autoruns to untick or delete the programs you want to avoid running at start up. A word of caution, NOT to delete anything you are unsure of!

Another thing you could look at is the Performance Options in System Properties.

For example, if you set the Visual Effects to Adjust For Best Performance, all the settings such as fading out menus and animating windows when minimizing and maximizing are disabled.

Each of these options takes up computer processing power and memory. Windows XP won't be as slick, but you do get a performance boost.

That is the performance trade off.

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