Quick overview:
The software company from Redmond promised during development that the speed would be greatly improved compared to Windows 98/NT. In plain language, this means that Windows works faster and more efficiently than in previous and alternative versions. Memory management is very powerful and ensures high speed even when several applications are running simultaneously.
Unfortunately, Windows does not deploy its hidden secret weapons here and conceals its true speed from the user. There are a few ways to get the maximum speed out of Windows and release the annoying brakes. You will notice an enormous increase in speed as soon as you have applied the following tips. For the first two tips, the following steps apply because you need to change something in the Windows registry. Click on "Start" > "Execute" in the command line "regedit" and confirm with "ENTER".
Double-click to navigate in a similar way to Windows Explorer. Now go one after the other to "Hkey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ SessionManager\Memory Management". Several values are displayed in the right-hand window with which you can carry out these tuning measures...
How to prevent Windows from swapping out the kernel
The kernel is the heart of Windows, which controls all input/output operations.
The kernel is of the value DisablePagingExecutive affected. This refers to an executive that outsources parts of the kernel in order to Working memory to be scooped out. If you double-click on this value and 0 (which is usually already present), drivers and parts of the kernel can be swapped to the hard disk. If you use the PagingExecutive deactivate (i.e. set to 1), the data is retained in the working memory, which we particularly recommend if you have a lot of RAM.
If you have little working memory, the 0 is clearly recommended, as it is swapped out, which saves memory. Although there will be a small loss of speed when re-reading, this is nowhere near comparable to the loss you will experience if the computer runs out of RAM. We recommend leaving the value at 0 for 128 MB RAM (and less) and using 1 for 192 MB RAM or more.
Speed up access to frequently used data by increasing the hard disk cache? Clarification about LargeSystemCache!
Your operating system remembers the programs and files you use. This information is stored in the Working memory of the computer so that they can be loaded more quickly when they are accessed again. This is due to the fact that the working memory is many times faster than the Hard disk together. Why don't you try it yourself?
Start the Internet Explorer. You will notice that the hard disk starts to work and it takes a short while for the program to appear. If you now close IE and open it again, your hard disk will stop working and the data will be retrieved from the working memory at lightning speed. To increase the size of the hard disk, you need to make the following small change.
In the window on the right, set the value "LargeSystemCache" (A DWORD value - default value 0) and double-click to set the value to "1" setting. Increasing this value causes the cache to grow to the maximum of the main memory (- 4 MB, e.g. 252 MB cache with 256 MB RAM). This leads to a high utilization of the RAM and is only intended for absolute professional systems or servers that require fast access to several large files and programs. Normal users do not need such a large cache, as Windows calculates a sufficient value. You can set the value 1 as a test to determine whether your system has accelerated with dozens of large programs running simultaneously.
Important note
With the LargeSystemCache value, there were problems with the login in certain cases. Perhaps this problem is related to this: Difficulties with memory optimization of Windows XP. Even if the circumstances are not quite right (performance focusing as in the Windows XP tip does not work with Windows 2000), this could be related to the ATI drivers. It is best to wait for the latest ATI drivers and reset the values in safe mode!
General memory optimization
When Windows runs out of memory, it constantly swaps to the slow hard disk. However, it is possible to free up so much memory that even PCs with approx. 64 MB RAM can get going. Windows should therefore be purged of everything superfluous:
a) The Windows sounds must be constantly loaded into the working memory and then also take up space there so that they do not have to be called up from the hard disk every time. It is best to deactivate them. Click successively on "Start" > Settings > "System control" > "Sounds and multimedia" > "Sounds" und do not select a scheme here.
b) A background image can easily consume several megabytes (some have 6MB). No matter how beautiful they are to look at, they simply take up the available RAM. Right-click on a free desktop area and select "Properties". Click here under "Background" on "None".
c) Have a look in the autostart folder. Programs may be loaded here (Office, firewall or a virus scanner) that make it almost impossible to work "smoothly" as they are constantly running in the background. If you need these applications, you can also start them manually if required. To empty the autostart folder, click on "Start" > "Programs" > "Autostart". You can now right-click to delete all programs that you no longer need.
NOTE FOR NEW PUBLICATION: This article was produced by Sandro Villinger and comes from the Windows Tweaks archive, which has been built up since the late 1990s.
On Windows Tweaks you will find time-saving tech guides for PC, software & Microsoft. For a stress-free digital everyday life. Already we have been "tweaking" Windows since 1998 and just won't stop!
