Yesterday, we covered the basics on how to get started... it's time to run with that ball...

NOTE: This list isn't as complete as it could be in theory, there are still some services that I'm not sure as to everything they control, so I did not wish to discontinue their services just in case. I'll post an update as I tweak everything further down...

Still, as I've been using the settings for the last week with no problems, I can say that these have been tested, and have no seemed to cause me any real discomfort (after I turned a few services back on anyway...)

Let's get cracking!

Remember that spiffy "Adminstrative Tools" icon we put on the start-up yesterday?

Go to: Start, Administrative Tools, Services.

Now then... you'll see a LONG freakin' list of services your PC starts up and runs in the background during your normal operations.

I've posted the following pics to save me a helluva lot of time typing all this up, and if you wanna print it out and/or save it for future reference, ya know it'll be friendly enough!

NOTE: Do not be alarmed if you have services not on this list, or if you don't find every service listed. Some of these are specific to things I've got running on my PC (like Style XP, Norton Antivirus, and things of that nature). I would not disable these unless you KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. Stray from the list at your own risk!

If you are not sure about a service... leave it alone! It's better to just leave it alone and not have to waste a ton of time troubleshooting which disabled service was the one that caused your trouble!



Your service file headers will be in a different order than mine. I picked up the "Startup Type" and moved it over for the sake of convenience. Your "Startup Type" will be about four rows over. I'd move it over for as long as you're playing with it... it's easier than looking for it each time.



As I said before, this was a lot quicker than having to type all this out. It should also make saving the pics and just viewin' 'em as you need 'em easy!



Stepping right along. Some of these services are not completely necessary. Also, if it says "Disabled", you may want to change it to "Manual" on yours. I probably use/ don't use different services than you do.



There's the list folks... thank you! I'm here all week!

NOTE: If you don't give a rat's ass about the visuals on your screen (ie... you REALLY like the stark look of a new WIndows 98 machine), go ahead and change the "Themes" service to manual. I accidently disabled this one in my frenzy for performance and Style XP did the funky chicken on my next startup...


Now then... after tweaking the crap out of your services...

BEFORE YOUR DO ANYTHING ELSE: RESTART!!!

Now then... when Windows comes back up, it'll need a little time to adjust to the changes... don't freak if it immediatly doesn't feel like it's running like a bat out of hell. Let it sit
for about two to five minutes, and Make sure everything looks and feels the way it should. By the time five minutes is up, it should be back to normal, and you'll feel a slight increase in
your speed (should anyway).

After your next restart, it'll be running like it should. If everything is the way it should be, let's continue!

BACK TO THE BASICS:

The more crap on your hard-drive, the more crap you have to sift through to get to the stuff you want. Rev up your CD-RW or ZIP drive and clean off anything you haven't used in the last 3 or 4 months... or stuff you KNOW you won't need in the next three or for months... if that sounds like a chore, you should be on top of it anyway 'cause if you're system crashes, you're gonna be one SAD little pimp.

Run standard Maintenance for your PC. This should include Disk-Cleanup and Disk Defragmenting (these can be found by hitting: Start, all programs, Accessories, system Tools).
Also, run virus scan if you got it (and you should).

NOTE ON VIRUS-BASED PERFORMANCE REDUCTION:

Nothing can kill your performance like a virus. If you think you have a virus, but it doesn't show up in your scans... make sure you're keeping on top of your updates...if you HAVE been keeping up on your updates, it is possible the virus infected your anti-virus program before you got the patch that was supposed to protect it (I've seen this happen more than once). Hook the drive up to a healthy computer as a slave (DO NOT TRY TO ACCESS ANYTHING FROM THE SUSPECTED
INFECTED DRIVE OR YOU'll INFECT THE HEALTHY RIG)!

Run a virus scan from the healthy computer... I had a system that refused to load Norton Antivirus... turned out the Bugbear virus was playing games with me. Because it was already in
place before I loaded Norton, it corrupted Norton's install.


NEXT TIME:

The next post will be all registry hacking tweaks (including a guide on how to get annoyances like "Gator",
"OfferCompanion", "Savenow" and the like out of your registry!

Day four is shaping up into quite a large post on hardware tweaking...

There might be a Day 5 (and/ or 6) just on generalize tweaking; not focusing on increasing speed. I've got a helluva lot of information to use, and I'm tryin' to get it organized... please bear with me!

thank you Dark. I just got done changing the serivces and i can see an improvement already. everything is just popping right up.

Maverick. Glad ya liked it Hopefully by the end of the week, everyone will be running at least 25% faster!

Now that's a 25% that I'd be glad to see. Thanks for the tips, Samurai.

Thanks alot, It definaltely helped, besides, who wouldn't like trimming some of the crap that bill gates stuffs in XP! Many thanks Dark

Thanks Dark!! For all the time and effort you put into all of your articles!!

You truly are the Master(pimp), we are the pupils(hoes).

Can't wait for the next step, to see how far can push this thing.

Does all this tweaking apply to both xp home and pro?
My laptop is home, my desk top is pro. All these should work for both? right .