Making Windows more bearable
From Hak5
Contents |
GUI Performance
You can if you want set visual effects to “Adjust for best performanceâ€, but then it looks worse than Windows 95. It is possible to compromise between performance and 'good looks'. This is done by disabling all GUI animations but by keeping things like smooth fonts and the 'phisher price' GUI looks. You can access this menu by opening "System Properties" (Right click the “My Computer†icon and select properties), select the "Advanced" tab and click "Settings" in the "Performance" group box. By disabling the following options all animations will be disabled:
- Animate windows when minimizing (particularly useful for those who make programs in Visual Basic 6 in XP) - Animate controls and elements inside windows (Vista only) - Fade or slide menus into view - Fade or slide ToolTips into view - Fade out menu items after clicking - Show shadows under menus - Show shadows under mouse pointer - Slide open combo boxes - Slide taskbar buttons - Smooth-scroll list boxes - Use a background image for each folder - Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop
With all these turned off you lose no functionality or the 'phisher price' GUI (which is an improvement on the Windows 95 style) but increase the performance and responsiveness. You can leave shadows on if you want, they make very little difference.
Services
Services are essentially programs that are running in the background, some are needed to allow windows to run. Some are needed just to provide an occasional services, some are on by default just so people who are “Microsoft Certified†don't also have to be taught to turn them on (These services only applied to 2000, XP and 2003, most of these services don't even appear in Vista).
To access services, click on the "START" button, select run and type in at the command line:
services.msc
This will bring up the list of services that are on your system. By right clicking on the name and then selecting the Properties menu, you can turn them off and disable those you don't need or use.
Services that 99% of people won't need
Alerter
ClipBook
Error Reporting Service
Help and Support
Indexing Service
IPSEC Service (IPsec Policy Agent in Vista)
Messenger (Disabled by Microsoft in Service Pack 2 (four years too late))
MHN (Media Centre only)
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Portable Media Serial Number Service
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
SSDP Discovery Service
System Event Notification
Uninterruptable Power Supply
Windows Time
Services that people might want or need
Automatic Updates
You need this service if you prefer windows to automatically get updates for your computer. If you prefer to visit Microsofts web site when you want to get updates you can disable this.
Background Intelligent Transfer Service
If you have Automatic Updates enabled you need this service.
Computer Browser
If you have a network and you browser though “Network places†and then “Entire Network†to find the computers you need this service. If you just type in the computers IP address into explorer then you don't need this.
DHCP Client
If your computer has a static IP address on your LAN and you don't have a dialup modem, direct cable or direct DSL connection you can turn this off.
Fast User Switching Compatablility
If you use the “Switch User†feature of windows XP you need this service, other wise disable it.
HTTP SSL
You only need this if you use Internet Explorer with web sites that require the use of a SSL connection. If you use any browser that isn't Internet Explorer then you can disable this.
Human Interface Device Access
It is not clear on exactly what this is used for. It apparently used for things like USB volume control. What is recommended is disable it, but if you find some external Input devices has stopped working, enable it.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
This is needed if you write CDs with the built in burning software with windows. If you don't use it (and you use some thing like Nero or just plain don't have a CD writer) disable it.
Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
Depending on your set up you will or won't need this. If you have a direct Cable or DSL connection (i.e. No router) you might need this, if not you probably don't.
Routing and Remote Access
Part of Internet Connection Sharing, disable this if you don't use your computer as an ICS gateway.
Secondary Logon
Only needed if you use the “Run As...†functionality.
System Restore Service
You only need this service if you use system restore.
Task Scheduler
If you have scheduled tasks and you want them to run you need this service.
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
If you have computer browser enabled you also need this enabled.
Telephony
If you have a dial-up modem or have a cable modem or DSL transceiver that mimics a dial-up modem to interact with windows you need this service.
Themes
If you have turned off the 'phisher price' GUI look you may as well disable this.
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
Only needed if you either use the windows built in firewall (which sucks any way, so you shouldn't) or your computer is an ICS gateway.
Wireless Zero Configuration
Only needed if you have a wireless network connection, and you hate having to manually say “connect to my network†when you turn your computer on.
Other Annoyances
Delete confirmation
You can disable this by opening the properties of the recycle bin and uncheck “Display delete confirmation dialogâ€. It will still prompt you when deleting applications and read only file (how annoying), but usefully it will tell you when a file is too big to be moved to the recycle bin and the file will be deleted permanently.
Automatic Updates
If you open the System Properties (Right click the “My Computer†icon and select properties) and then go to the “Automatic Updates†tab you can actually select how you want Automatic updates to do things. Thus making it less anoying.
System Restore
System Restore can be useful, but at the same it can be a big pain. It can slow down overall performance and has been known to take up all available space on hard drives. It is up to you whether or not you disable it. If you want to disable it, open "System Properties" (Right click the “My Computer†icon and select properties) click on the "System Restore" tab, and disable it.
Windows sounds
Simply open control panel, then put it in “classic view†if it isn't already. From there open “Sounds and Audio Devices†go to the Sounds tab and under “Sound scheme†select “No Soundsâ€. If it asks you to save the current scheme you can, but there is no point as you will probably never use it.
Cursor acceleration
If Microsoft got nothing else right when they released Windows XP they got the cursor acceleration right, it's nice to have a very responsive mouse. You turn up cursor speed by opening “Mouse Properties†via control panel then clicking on the "Pointer Options" tab and moving the slider. On the same menu you can also disable “hide pointer while typing“. A similar approach can be used to make your keyboard more responsive. Set the "repeat delay" to short and the "repeat rate" to fast.
File Indexing
If you don't use Office applications all day then turning off file indexing can reduce the amount of time your hard drive spends on reading files. Click on "My Computer" right click on the C drive and select properties and then untick "Allow indexing service to index this disk for fast searching"
Remove uneeded programs from Startup
Try Autoruns from Sysinternals and remove uneeded junk from your startup list. Use the tick boxes rather than deleting entries in case you need to restore a program to the startup list.