23 Ways To Speed Up Windows Xp Aside Defragmentation

Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the performance and reliability of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of them will cost you nothing.
1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system.

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.


Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed drive.

Google chrome crashes due to winhttp.dll

Google chrome crashes due to an issue with winhttp.dll, for a few.Though Google chrome initialized and started up properly, after disabling sandboxing using “--no-sandbox” option and thereby fixing the application failed to initialize (0xc0000005) error, Google chrome crashed on browsing any web page.On further verification, the crash seems to have been caused by winhttp.dll.

The fix for this issue was to add “--new-http” option towards end of the “target” line i.e. Right click the shortcut to “Google Chrome” and click Properties. Then in the target text field, add a space then add “--new-http” (without the double quotes) right after the ending quotation mark.Note that I am adding this option by leaving a space after the “-–no-sandbox” option.Also note that there are two dashes before new.Refer image below.

What this effectively does, is it creates a new instance of winhttp.dll, from your windows operating system environment, and thereby overrides the winhttp.dll that comes packaged with Google chrome.

Now, I did experiment to remove these options in the shortcut to Google chrome and started browsing web pages Fix the crashes due to winhttp.dll with “--new-http” and enjoy browsing with google chrome.

Update 2: If you remove the options, google chrome will throw the same errors on a restart.So you should live without the sandboxing effect until Google resolves this issue permanently.

Free services that let you store / send large file to other users.

1. SendOver | File Size : 2000 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 7 Days
2. MegaShares | File Size : 1500 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 25 Days
3. mooload | File Size : 500 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
4. Uploading | File Size : 500 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
5. zUpload | File Size : 500 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
6. FileFactory | File Size : 500 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 15 Days
7. Spread-It | File Size : 500 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 14 Days
8. CyberUpload | File Size : 500 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 7 Days
9. Bigupload | File Size : 300 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
10. RapidUpload | File Size : 300 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days

A few more Free Online File Storage/Transfer Services

1. ShareBigFile | File Size : 300 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 21 Days
2. UpDownloadServer | File Size : 250 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 9999 Days
3. FileCache | File Size : 250 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 31 Days
4. MegaUpload | File Size : 250 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
5. XtraFile | File Size : 250 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 15 Days
6. bonpoo | File Size : 250 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 10 Days
7. BIGfileupload | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 9999 Days
8. Upload.Sc | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 9999 Days
9. myShareBox | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
10. RapidShare | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
11. Store and Serve | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
12. TheUpload | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
13. zSHARE | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 10 Days
14. Content-Type | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 7 Days
15. Easy-Sharing | File Size : 75 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
16. Turbo Upload | File Size : 70 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 9999 Days
17. FileHD | File Size : 60 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
18. SaveFile | File Size : 60 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 14 Days
19. RapidSharing | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 60 Days
20. FriendlyShare | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
21. UploadFront | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
22. UploadHut | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
23. UploadSend | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
24. Momoshare | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 15 Days
25. SupaShare | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 14 Days
26. MyTempDir | File Size : 40 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 21 Days
27. UltraShare | File Size : 30 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
28. UploadTemple | File Size : 30 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 21 Days
29. SendMeFile | File Size : 30 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 14 Days
30. Upload2 | File Size : 25 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 365 Days
31. UploadTown | File Size : 20 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
32. Hyperupload | File Size : 10 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 9999 Days
33. WebFileHost | File Size : 10 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unlimited | File Life : 30 Days
34. QuickDump | File Size : 100 (MB) | File Download Limit : Download bandwidth limit of 500MB per hour | File Life : 30 Days
35. SendSpace | File Size : 1200 (MB) | File Download Limit : Download bandwidth limit of 100GB | File Life : 14 Days
36. SceneWorld | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : 1000 Downloads | File Life : 50 Days
37. Snaggys | File Size : 500 (MB) | File Download Limit : 999 Downloads | File Life : 15 Days
38. orb-z | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : 200 Downloads | File Life : 15 Days
39. Supload | File Size : 200 (MB) | File Download Limit : 30 Downloads | File Life : 7 Days
40. YouSendIt | File Size : 1000 (MB) | File Download Limit : 25 Downloads | File Life : 7 Days
41. TransferBigFiles | File Size : 1000 (MB) | File Download Limit : 20 Downloads | File Life : 5 Days
42. Send File | File Size : 40 (MB) | File Download Limit : 10 Downloads | File Life : 10 Days
43. FileHost | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unknown | File Life : 9999 Days
44. FreeUploader | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unknown | File Life : 9999 Days
45. ushareit | File Size : 50 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unknown | File Life : 9999 Days
46. 11MBIT.in | File Size : 20 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unknown | File Life : 9999 Days
47. Refrozen | File Size : 20 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unknown | File Life : 9999 Days
48. KeepMyFile | File Size : 15 (MB) | File Download Limit : Unknown | File Life : 9999 Days

Note: all the websites are in .com domain e.g www.keepmyfile.com

How do I upload my files using an FTP program?

The following article explains how to upload your website to different servers through an FTP (File Transfer Protocal) program. There are a large number of programs you can choose from. The basic idea is to first establish a connection with a server and your computer and then upload the files. This will transfer your website to the servers so that others can view your site on the internet.
To upload your files using an FTP program, please follow these steps:

1. Open the FTP program.
2. Enter the following information in the connection bar:

* Address/Host Name: this will be your domain name or IP address. Some programs may require you to enter http://, but most do not.

* User/Username: this is the "username" that was issued to you when you signed up with the hosting company.

* Password: this is the "password" that was issued to you when you signed up with the hosting company.

* Port: the default port number for FTP is 21. For Most FTP programs you will not need to add this information. It will use port 21 by default.

Entering the above information should open a connection to your websites folder on our the hosting server. You should also see a folder that represents your home machine.

Navigate through the folder of your home machine to find your files. Select each file and drag it to the folder that represents the hosting server. This should upload your files into your websites folder on your hosting server.

Note: in order for your site to show up when you type in your domain name or IP address into a web browser, the first page or the home page must be named one of these file names:

* index.html (standard HTML extension)
* index.htm (standard HTML extension)
* index.shtml or shtm (standard SSI extension, used with server side includes)
* index.asp (standard "active server page extension)
* default.html (standard HTML extension)
* default.htm (standard HTML extension)
* default.shtml or shtm (standard SSI extension, used with server side includes)
* default.asp (standard "active server page extension)

If you require a different home page name (called a "default document"), you can update it through the Control Panel or we can accommodate your needs. Please let us know what name you require. In most cases it is easier to rename your home page to one of the documents above. Please note that some file names (such as .asp and .shtml) are reserved for specific types of web applications. If you are unsure of which file extension to use, you can probably safely use .htm or .html.

Also, these documents carry an "order of precedence" as they are listed above. For example, if you have both an index.html file and a default.html file, the index.html file will show up when viewing your site with the domain name or IP address.

Hope this information was very helpful to you. Do have a most lovely day!

FASTEST WEB BROWSER

From the advent of Internet, web browser is the most commonly used software in the Web World, There have a great variety of web browsers on the internet, the most important web browsers include Internet Explorer, FireFox, Opera, Maxthon, Netscape, Google Chrome and Safari, then which is fastest web browser? There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, because Internet content is always changing, the web pages load times may get different timings when you run these tests.

For Windows platform, Internet Explorer is most popular web browser, but for many people, Internet Explorer is too strong and too big, it will become slower and slower, there have too many plug-ins and spams launched with Internet Explorer, it will become hard to use and slow very much. Program can use the newest IE8 core, it is a vast improvement over old version, especially in performance.
Fastest Web Browser


This program is titled "Fastest Web Browser", developed based the IE core, one tiny and full features web browser for Windows OS. As its name show, it is one quick and handy web browser, can launch and browse Internet content rapidly. Program base IE browser core, it customizes the IE core to make it be quicker than normal IE. It can be seemed as one lite version for Internet Explorer, light and handy, small and fast. It is completely free software; everyone can use it for free.

Fastest Web Browser is one tab browser, it allow you to view multiple web pages in the same browser without the need to open a new browser session. Each tab functions like a Browser window to display distinct content, but you can switch back and forth between tabs without opening more Browser windows, tabbed browsing lets you view many different websites at one time.

Main Features

* Fast - quickly browse and launch;
* Small - standalone program, no installation need, can run from Flash Disk (only 820KB);
* Tabs browser - browse multiple web pages in the same browser;
* Free - one completely freeware;
* Easy to use - no need install;
* Support all Windows versions (98/XP/2000/2003/Vista);
* Program can run a 64-bit version of Windows;
* Windows 7 compatibility;
* 100% Clean, no spyware or adware

Download this beautiful and fastest web browser from: http://www.fastestwebbrowser.com