Improve XP shutdown speed

 This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.

 Go to Start then select Run

 Type 'Regedit' and click ok

 Find 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\'

 Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'

 Right click and select 'Modify'

 Change the value to '1000'

 Click 'OK'

 Now select 'HungAppTimeout'

 Right click and select 'Modify'

 Change the value to '1000'

 Click 'OK'

 Now find 'HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop'

 Select 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'

 Right click and select 'Modify'

 Change the value to '1000'

 Click 'OK'

 Now find 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\'

 Select 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout'

 Right click and select 'Modify'

 Change the value to '1000'

 Click 'OK' 

Following are some of the ways to speed up boot timing:-

SPEED UP BOOT TIMES I

 This tweak works by creating a batch file to clear the temp and history folders everytime you shutdown so that your PC doesn't waste time checking these folders the next time it boots. It's quite simple to implement:

 1. Open Notepad and create a new file with the following entries:

 RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\"UserName without quotes"\Local Settings\History"

 RD /S /q "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\History"

 RD /S /q "D:\Temp\" <--"Deletes temp folder, type in the location of your temp folder"

 2. Save the new as anything you like but it has to be a '.bat' file e.g. fastboot.bat or deltemp.bat

 3. Click 'Start' then 'Run'

 4. Type in 'gpedit.msc' and hit 'ok'

 5. Click on 'Computer Configuration' then 'Windows Settings'

 6. Double-click on 'Scripts' and then on 'Shutdown'

 7. Click 'Add' and find the batch file that you created and then press 'Ok

SPEED UP BOOT TIMES II

 When your PC starts it usually looks for any bootable media in any floppy or cd-rom drives you have installed before it gets around to loading the Operating System from the HDD. This can waste valuable time. To fix this we need to make some changes to the Bios.

 1. To enter the bios you usually press 'F2' or 'delete' when your PC starts

 2. Navigate to the 'Boot' menu

 3. Select 'Boot Sequence'

 4. Then either move your Hard drive to the top position or set it as the 'First Device'

 5. Press the 'Escape' key to leave the bios. Don't forget to save your settings before exiting

 Note: Once this change has been made, you won't be able to boot from a floppy disc or a CD-rom. If for some strange reason you need to do this in the future, just go back into your bios, repeat the steps above and put your floppy or CD-rom back as the 'First Device'

SPEED UP BOOT TIMES III

 When your computer boots up it usually has to check with the network to see what IP addresses are free and then it grabs one of these. By configuring a manually assigned IP address your boot time will improve. To do this do the following:

 1. Click on 'Start' and then ''Connect To/Show All Connections'

 2. Right-click your network adapter card and click 'Properties'.

 3. On the 'General' tab, select 'TCP/IP' in the list of services and click 'Properties'

 4.I n the TCP/IP properties, click 'Use the following address' and enter an IP address for your PC. If you are using a router this is usually 192.168.0.xx or 192.168.1.xx. If you are not sure what address you could check with your ISP or go to 'Start/run' and type 'cmd' and then 'ipconfig/all'. This will show your current IP settings which you will need to copy.

 5. Enter the correct details for 'Subnet mask', 'Default gateway' and 'DNS Server'. Again if you are not sure what figures to enter use 'ipconfig/all' as in stage 4.

DISABLE PREFETCH ON LOW MEMORY SYSTEMS

 Prefetch is designed to speed up program launching by preloading programs into memory - not a good idea is memory is in short supply, as it can make programs hang. To disable prefetch:

 1. Click 'Start' then 'Run'

 2. Type in 'Regedit' then click 'Ok'

 3. Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\'

 4. Right-click on "EnablePrefetcher" and set the value to '0'

 5. Reboot.