Windows Disk Maintenance & Services

Chkdsk - Home Page
Built-in Windows file system repair utility.

Instructions - Go to "Start", "My Computer", right-click on the "C:" drive, left-click "Properties", select the "Tools" tab, click "Check Now...", check "Automatically Fix File System Errors", then click "Start", "Yes" and Reboot. Repeat this for any other hard drive partitions in your system. Only the drive partition with s.zip"> Autoruns - Download - Home Page
Utility to display and control startup applications. Disabling unnecessary startup applications improves boot up time and overall system performance.

Instructions - Unzip and launch Autoruns.exe, wait until it says "Ready" in the bottom left corner, then select the "Logon" Tab. Next select "Options", check "Hide Microsoft Entries" and press the refresh button or press the "F5" key. The remaining items are third party applications. Uncheck all that are not needed, this will disable them from loading at Windows startup. AntiVirus and Firewall applications are necessary applications that should be running on startup. If you are unsure of what something is, highlight it, select "Entry" then "Google" to launch a search for more information regarding the highlighted application. You can permanently remove items by deleting them. Do not "Delete" anything unless you are 100% positive you do not need it. Disabled (Unchecked) items can be activated again by rerunning Autoruns, checking the item and restarting Windows.

Notes - You can control the startup applications for separate user accounts by selecting "User" and the account you want to edit. This is a much more powerful tool then the built-in System Configuration Utility (msconfig).

XP-Antispy - Download - Home Page
Disables all the known 'Suspicious' Functions in Windows XP.

Instructions - Check most of the boxes and select "Apply". Leave the following unchecked:

[Miscellaneous Settings]
_ Clear pagefile at shutdown - This causes Windows XP to take longer to shutdown but is a good idea for security.
_ Hide Computer in Network - This would prevent your Computer from showing up in Network Neighborhood.
_ Deny starting regedit.exe - This will prevent future use of the very useful regedit tool.
_ Deactivate Scripting Host - This will cause features to stop working in web browsers and e-mail.
_ Always show *.lnk suffixes - This adds .lnk to desktop shortcuts.
_ Always show *.url suffixes - This adds .url to web browser bookmarks.
_ Don't autostart CD's - This will prevent CD's from running automatically when put in the CD/DVD drive.
[Internet Explorer 6]
_ Disable automatic updates - This will prevent Windows Update from checking for and downloading updates.
_ Disable scheduled updates - This will prevent Windows Update from installing updates.
_ Disable Javascript - This will cause some web pages to lose their menus or functionality completely.
_ Disable ActiveX Controls - This will cause some web pages to lose their menus or functionality completely.
_ Clean website cache on shutdown - This causes Windows XP to take longer to shutdown but is a good idea for security.
[Services]
_ Disable auto-updates service - This will prevent Windows Update from running Automatically.
_ Disable task-scheduler service - BootVis and Norton AV require this service to be running.
_ Disable firewall/connection sharing service - This will disable the Windows XP firewall.
_ Disable Security Center - This will prevent necessary security warnings.
[Microsoft Messenger]
_ Uninstall completely - If you use or plan on using Microsoft's Instant Messenger leave this unchecked.
[Regsrv32 dll's]
_ Disable ZIP Functionality - Only select if you have another .Zip program installed such as WinZip.

Cacheman v5.50 - Download - Home Page
Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

Instructions - Go to "Show Wizard", "All" and run all the wizards by selecting "Next" or "Finished" until you are back to Cacheman. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing. Then under "Options" uncheck "Load Cacheman on Windows Startup", Exit and Save Cacheman, Restart Windows.

Notes - This version is free for home users, has no time limit and none of the features are disabled. CachemanXP is the newer shareware version that includes an updated real time memory recovery feature. No performance benefit has been noticed using this feature. All the necessary cache tweaks to improve system performance are in Cacheman v5.50.

Download - Home Page
This Windows XP PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Instructions - Under "Mouse" slide "Menu Speed" to "Fast", under "Explorer" check "Use Classic Search in Explorer" (Gets rid of the Dog).

Services

Windows XP has a lot of extra services running by default that most people will never use. By disabling these services you will increase available memory and processing power thus improving system performance.

Shoot The Messenger - Download - Home Page
Disables Windows Messaging service. This will prevent online spammers from abusing this and causing message Pop-ups during normal system operation.

Notes - Installing SP2 will disable the messenger service for you.

Unplug n' Pray - Download - Home Page - Details
Disables Windows potentially dangerous and exploitable Universal Plug and Play networking capability.

BlackViper's Windows XP Services Guide - Home Page - Mirror - PDF File (Acrobat Reader Required)
Using this guide will increase available memory by disabling useless Services turned on by default in XP. Run XP-AntiSpy, Shoot The Messenger and Unplug n' Pray first before going through this guide since those utilities will disable some of these Services for you. Use the Guide in combination with the following list. If you are not 100% sure about a service leave it on its default state.

Instruction - Go to Start, Run, type "services.msc" and press enter. Left-click on the status bar twice to filter all the started service to the top. Double left-click on the Service Name you wish to change. Change the "Startup Type" to either Manual or Automatic, then select "Apply" and "OK", repeat for all of the following:

The following is a list of Services that you can Disable on most systems for increased performance:

Alerter
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger - (Shoot the Messenger and installing SP2 will disable this)
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Registry Service
Secondary Logon
SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n' Pray will disable this)
Telnet
Upload Manager
Wireless Zero Configuration - (If you are on a wireless network leave this enabled)

The following is a list of Services that should always be set to Automatic:

Automatic Updates - (Required by Windows Updates)
Background Intec="images/Automatic.jpg" border="0" width="10" height="10"> COM+ Event System - (Required by BootVis and other Applications)
Cryptographic Services - (Required to confirm the signature of Windows system files, Protected Root Services and Key Services)
DCOM Server Process Launcher - (Required by Disk Defragmenter)
DHCP Client - (Required for Cable/DSL connections and Routers)
DNS Client - (Improves Internet Performance)
Event Log - (Required by Windows and cannot be Stopped)
Logical Disk Manager- (Required to manage and update your Harddrives)
Network Connections - (Required by Network Connections)
Plug and Play - (Required by your System Hardware, Never Disable This!)
Print Spooler - (Required by Printers)
Protected Storage - (Required to protected sensitive data and to prevent access by unauthorized services, processes, or users.)
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) - (Required by Windows, Never Disable This!)
Security Accounts Manager - (Required to store security information for local user accounts)
Security Center - (Notifies you of you Firewall and Antivirus Status)
Shell Hardware Detection - (Required by the AutoPlay feature)
System Event Notification - (Required by various Applications)
System Restore Service - (Required by the System Restore feature)
Task Scheduler - (Required by the Prefetcher and BootVis)
Themes - (Required by the new look of Windows XP)
Windows Audio - (Required for Sound)
Windows Management Instrumentation - (Required by Windows, Never Disable This!)

Notes - Windows Updates can enable services that you have previously disabled. Check which services are running after a future Windows Update is completed. If applications stop working after using this guide it is usually due to being to aggressive with disabling services. Enable the services you disabled one at a time until the application works. In the future leave this service on automatic. If you run into any problems set all services back to their Defaults and start over.