Speed Up Boot Times in Windows XP

This tweak works by creating a batch file to clear the history and temp folders everytime you shutdown so that your PC does not waste time checking these folders the next time it boots. It's quite simple to implement:

       1. Open Notepad and create a new file with the following entries:

     * RD / S / q "C: \ Documents and Settings" username without quotes "\ Local Settings \ History"
     * RD / S / q "C: \ Documents and Settings \ Default User \ Local Settings \ History"
     * RD / S / q "D: \ Temp" <- "Deletes temp folder, type in the location of your temp folder"

       2. Save the new as anything you like but it has to be a '. Bat' files eg fastboot.bat or deltemp.bat

       3. Click 'Start' then 'Run'

       4. Type in 'gpedit.msc' and hit 'ok'

       5. Click on 'Computer Configuration' then 'Windows Settings'

       6. Double-click on 'Scripts' and then on' Shutdown '

       7. Click 'Add' and find the batch file that you created and then press' Ok '

When your PC starts it usually looks for any media in any bootable floppy or CD-ROM drives you have installed before it gets around to loading the Operating System from the HDD. This can waste valuable time. To fix this we need to make some changes to the Bios.

    1. To enter the bios you usually press' F2 'or' delete 'when your PC starts
    2. Navigate to the 'Boot' menu
    3. Select 'Boot sequence'
    4. Then either move your Hard drive to the top position or set it as the 'First Device'
    5. Press the 'escape' key to leave the bios. Do not forget to save your settings before exiting

Note: Once this change has been made, you will not be able to boot from a floppy disk or a CD-ROM. If for some strange reason you need to do this in the future, just go back into your bios, repeat the steps above and put your floppy or CD-ROM back as the 'First Device'

When your computer boots up it usually has to check with the network to see what IP addresses are free and then it grabs one of these. By configuring a manually assigned IP address your boot time will improve. To do this do the following:

1. Click on ‘Start’ and then ”Connect To/Show All Connections’
2. Right-click your network adapter card and click ‘Properties’
3. On the ‘General’ tab, select ‘TCP/IP’ in the list of services and click ‘Properties’
4. In the TCP/IP properties, click ‘Use the following address’ and enter an IP address for your PC. If you are using a router this is usually 192.168.0.xx or 192.168.1.xx. If you are not sure what address you could check with your ISP or go to ‘Start/run’ and type ‘cmd’ and then ‘ipconfig/all’. This will show your current IP settings which you will need to copy
5. Enter the correct details for ‘Subnet mask’, ‘Default gateway’ and ‘DNS Server’. Again if you are not sure what figures to enter use ‘ipconfig/all’ as in stage 4.