Try: Right click Start button, left click Properties, select the option for
the Classic Start Menu (the eye candy of the XP Start menu isn't needed and
wastes system resources), click the apply button, click the OK button.
Right click an empty space on your desktop, left click Properties. When the
Display Properties box opens click the Appearance tab, click the Effects
button, click the remove the checkmark to the left of: Use the following
transition effect for menus and tool tips (another waste of system
resources), click the OK button, and click the Apply and OK buttons on the
remaining box. If you have your resolution set high, go back to Display
Properties and set it to 800x600. Reboot, and see if the above makes any
difference. You might want to go to the web site of the company that made
your display adapter, and download and install the latest Windows XP
compatible driver. Also, make sure that your system isn't set to
automatically update Windows XP. Some updates cause problems (like slowing
down a system), and not all are needed. Also, make sure that you really
need all the items that are loading at Startup. Many programs have a quick
start feature that loads in the Notification Area (previously called System
Tray) which aren't really needed. Click your Start button, click Run, type:
msconfig
Then click the OK button. When the System Configuration Utility opens click
the Startup tab, and you'll see a list of much of what's loading at Startup.
You can click the checkmark to the left of an item to stop it from loading
at Startup. Then at first reboot after doing that, you'll get a dialog box
saying that you're running a selective startup, check the option do not show
this message again. If you make a mistake and disable a needed item from
Startup, go back to msconfig/Startup tab, and put the checkmark back. If
you can't boot into Normal Mode because of something you disabled, press the
F8 key on boot, but before the Windows logo, which will bring up a menu, and
press the keyboard number of the option to boot into Safe Mode. Once in
Safe Mode, you'll be able to get into msconfig/Startup tab, and put the
checkmark back to enable the item.
You haven't mentioned the specs of your system. Chances are, that if you
were once running Windows 95 on it, that the hardware might not be up to
running Windows XP at an acceptable speed. MS lists the minimum
requirements on the Windows XP box, but that doesn't mean that you'll be
happy running XP with those minimum requirements. If it is an older system,
and the processor is Pentium III 450MHz or faster, and you have at least
256MB RAM, and the system is still running slow, you might think about
getting a new faster hard drive. I recently put a new hard drive in an
older system, with the above specs, and the gain in speed was significant.
From power on to a fully loaded desktop takes about 24 seconds, and even
system resource intensive software like Adobe Photoshop open fast. Also, if
your system has a Network Adapter, and you're not on a network, and don't
use DSL, disable the card in Device Manager by right clicking it, and then
left clicking Disable. If the Indexing service is enabled, Disable it. It
can slow a system to a crawl. Make sure that any third party utilities that
you're using are REALLY needed. At this point though, it might be wise to
do a clean install of Windows XP. But, before doing so, run the
Compatibility Advisor on the Windows XP CD to pick up on any hardware and
software problems it finds.
