Removing Unwanted Fonts

One trick that increases your boot time a bit is to lose any fonts in the Fonts folder in Control Panel that you never use. The more fonts you have, the more processing Windows XP has to do to prep all of those fonts for use. You must be a bit careful here to not remove fonts that you might want, but there is a good chance that you can live without many of them.
To delete unneeded fonts, follow these steps:
1. Open the Fonts folder in Control Panel.
2. Select Edit/Select All and then Edit/Copy.
3. Create a new folder on your desktop, open it, and select Edit/Paste.
4. In this new folder, delete any of the fonts you do not want.
5. Return to the Fonts folder in Control Panel. Right-click the selected fonts and click
Delete.
6. Go back to your new desktop folder and click Edit/Select All.
7. Return to your Fonts folder and click Edit/Paste. You now have only the desired
fonts in the Fonts folder.

Speed up IE Start Up

This tweak tells Internet Explorer to simply 'run', without loading any webpages. If you use a 'blank' page, that is still a page, and slows access. Notice the 'about:blank' in the address bar. The blank html page must still be loaded. To load IE with 'nothing' [nothing is different than blank]:
1. Right-click on any shortcut you have to IE
[You should create a shortcut out of your desktop IE icon, and delete the original icon]
2. Click Properties
3. Add -nohome [with a space before the dash] after the endquotes in the Target field.
4. Click OK

Disabling the Boot Logo

You can remove the boot logo that appears when you start Windows XP. This little tweak probably shaves only a few seconds off your boot time but seconds count if you are serious about trying to get Windows XP up and running as quickly as possible. The only negative is that if you remove the boot logo, you will also not see any boot messages, such as check disk.
To remove the boot logo, follow these steps:
1. Select Start/Run, type msconfig, and click OK.
2. In the System Configuration Utility, click the BOOT.INI tab.
3. On the BOOT.INI tab, click the NOGUIBOOT check box option. Click OK.

Disabling Recent Documents History

The bad thing about Recent Documents History is that Windows XP has to calculate what should be put there each time you boot Windows, which can slow things down.
1.  Open the Registry Editor (select Start/Run, type regedit, and click OK).
2.  Navigate to  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mcft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3.  Create a NoRecentDocsHistory D_WORD key. Double-click the value to open it once it is created.
4.  Set the Data Value to 1 to enable the restriction.
5.  Click OK and close the Registry Editor. You'll need to restart the computer for the change to take effect.

Memory Tweak

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and locate the following key in the registry:
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement\PrefetchParameters
3. On the EnablePrefetcher value, change the setting from 3 to 5 (decimal).
4. Close the registry editor and restart your computer

Stop Error Messages from Displaying on Startup

If you constantly see an error message that you can't get rid offer example, from a piece of software that didn't uninstall properly and continues to give errors on startup you can disable it from displaying on startup. Run the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows.
 (This key holds a variety of Windows system settings, such as the location of your system directory.) Create a new DWORD called NoPopupsOnBoot and give it a value of 1. Exit the Registry and reboot for the setting to take effect. To disable it, either delete the DWORD value or give it a value of 0.

Disabling Unused PORTS

I have just accidentally found out another way to give you an extra boost in windowsXP's boot performance. This is done by disabling your unused devices in Device Manager. for example, if you don't have input devices that are connected to one of your USBs or COM ports, disabling them will give you an extra perfromance boost in booting.

Go to Control Panel - System - Hardware tab - Device manager

Disable devices that you don't use for your PC and then restart. See the difference for yourself.

Perform a Boot Defragment: 

There's a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster. On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not be on yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently.

            To make sure that boot defragment is enabled on your system, run the Registry Editor and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction

Edit the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y. Exit the Registry and reboot. The next time you reboot, you'll do a boot defragment.

Stopping Unneeded Startup Services and Making XP boot faster !

Along with the core operating system and programs that Windows XP runs when it starts, there is also a host of services involved. Many of these services are necessary for Windows XP to operate correctly. However, many of them are for features in Windows XP that you may not use at all. You can peruse the services and disable any service that you do not want to run. The fewer services that run, the more quickly Windows XP will boot. To reduce the number of services that start on bootup, you can access two different areas of Windows XP.

1. The first is the System Configuration Utility. You can do that by entering the command “msconfig” in the run menu.

            Start  Run “msconfig” (without quotes) || Hit Enter

The Services tab shows you the services that start when the computer boots. You can stop a service from starting by simply clearing the check box next to the service and clicking OK.

2. Another way to disable services that you may prefer because the interface gives you more information about the service in question.

- Open Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Services or Start  Run “services.msc” || Hit Enter

- Take a quick look at common services you may want to live without:

Automatic Updates: This service enables Windows XP to check the Web automatically for updates. If you don't want to use Automatic Updates, you can disable the service.

Computer Browser: If your computer is not on a network, you don't need this service. If you are on a network, leave it alone.

DHCP Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service. If you are on a small workgroup, you can still increase boot time by configuring manual IP.

DNS Client: If you are not on a network, you do not need this service.

Error Reporting and Event Log: You don't have to use these services but they can be very helpful, so I would leave them configured as automatic.

Fax: If you don't use your computer for fax services, you can disable this one.

Help and Support: Disable if you never use the Windows XP Help and Support Center.

IMAPI CD-Burning COM: This service enables you to burn CDs on your computer.If you never burn CDs, you can disable the service without any second thoughts.

Indexing Service: Your computer keeps an index of all the files. But if you rarely search for files, the service is just a resource hog. You can stop it.

Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing: If you do not use these features, plz disable.

Infrared Monitor: If you do not use infrared devices, you can disable this service.

Messenger: This service sends alert messages on a local area network (it is not the same as Windows Messenger). If you are not on a network, you can disable this service.

Print Spooler: If you do not do any printing from the computer, you can disable this service. If you print, make sure you leave it as automatic.

Remote Registry: This service allows remote users to modify the Registry on your computer. If you are not on a network, you can disable this service.

System Restore Service: This service allows you to use System Restore. If you have turned off System Restore anyway, you do not need to turn off the service.

Themes: If you do not use themes, you can disable this service.

Windows Image Acquisition: If you do not use scanners or digital cameras, you can disable.

Wireless Zero Configuration: If do not use wireless networking devices, you can disable.