Tweak the system to run at its best...

1.Prevention is Better than Cure.So Instead of curing the sluggish old system, do a fresh install. Install it in C: drive itself.

2.After the install ,Install the XP SP3 or Vista SP1. (It gives all the latset update.)

##DONOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET BEFORE INSTALLING THE ANTIVIRUS##

3.Next thing to do is to uninstall all the unwanted components in Xp/Vista like Windows messenger,MSN explorer and ie. That's Right Uninstall Internet Explorer.It is a very buggy browser and gets attacked by lots of spywares.(To do it go to Control Panel >Add or remove programs>Add/Remove windows Components, and untick them and click next)

4.Right click My Computer select Properties,goto Advanced>Performance>Settings>Visual effects.Select Adjust for best performance.Then check the boxes: Use Visual style on windows & buttons,Use drop shadow for desktop icons,Show window contents while dragging.

5.Install an AntiVirus (Norton AntiVirus 2009-Is very effective and light) & Spybot Search & Distroy.Remember to Update and Scan regularly.

6.Install Firefox (You can download the ie theme for it if you cant live with out the ie look & feel).Get the add ons like Addblock Plus, Flash Block,etc..

7. Install other softwares like Video players,Photoshop,Office,etc. [Remember instead of selecting every thing in a suite, select only those you use-Install only Word,Excel & Powerpoint if you use only them]

8.Instead of installing lots of video player install an all in one, like a GOM player and download the codecs

9.Install Perfect Disk 8.0 and Defragment (Smart Placement).[Donot use windows defragmenter] Remember to do this once in every 2 weeks. Donot use it very frequently it could damage the drive.

10.Avoid visiting potentially risky site like crack spider,seriall,etc..

11. If you want cracks go to the pirate bay.Before downloading read the comments to know about the true contents.[Also scan all files that are downloaded]

12.If you have the cofidents that your can solve any problems that arises,Turn off system restore on all drives[It will use the cpu in background].

13.Also Turn off Windows Automatic updates.[Don't get me wrong here,The automatic update feature will share your internet bandwidth while you are downloading something or browsing,and make it slow.]So turn it off and swith it on when you are not doing any thing on the web.

14.Recover 20% bandwidth in Xp
Click Start / Run
Type: gpedit.msc
This opens the group policy editor.
Then go to:
Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Network / QOS Packet Scheduler / Double Click on Limit Reservable Bandwidth and select settings>Enable.Then type 0 in band width limit %. [Don't just disable it].Click Ok and restart the PC.


15.Deleting Startup items:
Click Start / Run
Type: msconfig

Then go to:
Start up, and click Disable all, check anything related to antivirus, then click Ok. Then it will ask u to restart the PC . It is important to restart now itself.


16.Never fill a drive more than 65% with data, especially the system drive C:

17.Install a system cleaner like Wintweak or TuneUp Utility(only one of these) and clean the registry and the unwanted shortcuts and temp files. [Don't use an defragmenter except Perfect disk-Not even the one that comes with TuneUp Utility.]

18.After all this, Defragment one more time(Always use smart Placement) with Perfect Disk. While defragmenting keep the system idle. [Remember to defragment on a regular basis.]

RESTART...