Ok, Kiddies. Gather 'round. Unca T gonna tell you his Windows Secrets.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

You want performance back? Can you handle getting your performance back? WELL CAN YOU? ;-)

This works. I have even used this to prep for SP2 and guess what: No problems. Solid upgrade.

I do this stuff for real cash money and I have a solid core of happy customers who recommend me to other people who become happy customers. It will work for you.

Note: Nothing recommended here will blow up your registry, HDD or CPU. And it's cheap. Really cheap, when compared to some of the crap that sells for big bux.

------
Check and see if one of them is something called New.Net. If it is, stop right there and go look for one of the programs that, with one click, restores the Link Stack protocol settings to the registry. Put it in a safe directory and keep it around for when you need it.

Then, select ALL of them and just rip them the fsck out of there. Slash and burn. Rock and Roll.

Then, go run the LSP program.

While you are out there downloading, grab these programs:

Spywareblaster.

Spyware Search& Destroy.

SafeXP

PageDefrag.

KMCS Deluxe System Suite.

RegSupreme.

Install SS&D. Run it after AdAware. Get the last bit of cruft and install and run TeaTimer. Also, do the Immunize in SS&D.

Install, run, update and lock down with Spywareblaster. This is a must-have program. No shitter.

Next, run SafeXP and set for recommended settings. Apply.

Next, unarchive, leave in the directory and run PageDefrag. Set to defrag system files on every boot.

Reboot.

Install and Run KMCS and RegSupreme. In KMCS, run the Disk Cleaner. Generate scripts. Clean disk.

RegSupreme. Deep Scan, Select all, Fix, hit cancel. Quit. Cleans out all of the slack entries that really cruft up a registry. Never caused a problem for me, but fixed a lot of them.

KMCS again. Run Registry Compressor. Backup. Compress. Quit. Reboot.

Marvel at the new speed. I mean FAST. And you are now locked down against the spyware nasties.

Run Adaware and SS&D once a week to keep the spyware out. Upgrade the brainfiles on SS&D, AdAware and Spywareblaster before you do.

Run KMCS and RegSupreme once a week also.

Like I said: This regimen never causes problems and it is installed on a number of machines I have prepared for people.

Also, consider buying a program called "Tweak Now Power Pack" for extra performance tweaks. It's relatively easy and it works. It's worth the money.

--------

Take this to the bank folks. The above works, every day. I would not steer you wrong.

[Angry Girl]

1. We're laaaazy... Got links?

[Sticky]

2. Thanks Tandalay!

I've slowed down alot since SP2. I'll start the clean up first thing in the AM. :hi:

[RoyGBiv]

3. SP2 ...

Tangent ...

Here's a weird thing.

I have avoided SP2 since it was released. I've heard too many horror stories.

But I recently bought a huge hard drive and decided since I was resintalling Windoze anyway, I'd go ahead and try it and see what happens. So, I did the install of Windoze like I've done countless times, set up my firewall, virus checker, browser, e-mail, and other things the way I want them, and then bit the bullet and installed SP2. I was fully expecting to have to start over.

Well, much to my surprise, everything worked better. SP2 detected my firewall and virus checker and turned its internal stuff off automatically. On top of that, it detected some network settings I had and asked (ASKED!) if I wanted to change them. No, I wouldn't have set them that way if I didn't want them that way. Of course, it gave me a ton of warnings, ensuring me that Microsoft is god and knows all, but I ignored all this and just kept going.

Now, my computer has never run better. It's partly the hard drive, which has an 8 meg buffer and a better seek time, but it's more than that. IOW, I had no problems. I am totally shocked.

I say that, but it's only been four days, and I did get a weird error today. Tried to drag a shortcut to the trash bin, and the computer locked up. Never even knew that could happen. Never got a Blue Screen of Death, but the system was hung for a good five minutes while everything sorted itself out.

Anyway .... tangent off.

I'll have to consider this advice and see if it helps even more.