I thought this got good enough coverage that everyone would know about it. Guess not.

The Messenger service is unrelated to MSN Messenger. Messenger service is used by Windows to allow LAN users to send each other messages over a LAN, which appear in popup windows, with a header starting with "Message from...". Some printers use it to let you know when they've finished spooling your print job, for example. It can also be used to send a message to everyone on a network, IE if you're a network administrator you can tell them the network is about to go down for maintenance.

Spammers more often use them to send spam over the internet.

You can disable this service safely (in fact I recommend you do) if you don't make use of it's services.

And Yoshi, you still haven't proved it's not just a placebo effect. You need statistics that prove it makes computers run faster. It's called the scientific method.

A big improvement can be had in bootup times with a lot of this stuff though.

Turning off major services that aren't required helps a LOT. Task Scheduler, if you don't use it, also turns off Prefetch. Prefetch, while a nice gimmick, does nothing for performance. All it does is extend boot times because it has to load all the prefetched program files on bootup. (There is a Microsoft KB article on this)

Some other services that can slow the system down noticibly and are not useful:

Error Reporting Service - Keeps Dr. Watson from gathering useless debug info when a program crashes.

Themes - Turns off the fancy XP themes. Great boost in performance if you have a slow PC.

Also, Defragging can be used to decrease boot time by ~5 seconds, which although isn't much, it is something.

Back on the topic of tweaking computers, I don't think anyone has recomended Tweakguides yet. I personally like this guys stuff, as it's help me with my computer. They also have a forum now, with from what I can tell many experienced members.

[QUOTE=Joseph T]Back on the topic of tweaking computers, I don't think anyone has recomended Tweakguides yet. I personally like this guys stuff, as it's help me with my computer. They also have a forum now, with from what I can tell many experienced members.[/QUOTE]

Completely forgot about that place--he's got some good ones. Especially for video card/chipset drivers.

Hey, gotta ask everyone something. My computer has been getting really sluggish recently, and I don't know what it is. With the specs I have, I should be running fine, but it takes 5-7 seconds to load iTunes, 3-4 seconds to load a simple JPEG, or 8-9 seconds to load an AVI. Boot-up takes forever too... I've tried all sorts of tweaks and "performance optimizers", but nothing really helps. I'm thinking there's one thing that's doing all of this, but I am at a loss to what it is. I have a 2.8 P4, 512 RAM, 160 GB hard drive, 128MB ATI X800, XP Home... any ideas?

I'd say you probably just need a good old fashioned format--you'd be surprised how much it speeds things up. I'd also seriously suggest at least another half gig of RAM.

I have no idea if this has been posted yet (I got tired of reading about people arguing) but a good way to boost some performance is:
Control Panel -> System Properties -> Advanced (tab) -> Performance Settings -> and just uncheck everything.
This will turn off stuff like menu fading and window shadows (eyecandy) and help performance.

NOT MY FADING MENUS!!!!! :(:(:(

<.<
>.>

*Does as suggested.*

there are some things I'm willing to give up in XP for extra speed and others I'm not...fading menus is not one of them, I like them

I'm sticking by what I said earlier about de-frag, it definatly makes a difference in start-up times, as for app's load times, meh, probably not all that noticable but I'd still say it helps rather than hinders.

As for the services, I've played about a bit with these, you can definatly improve start-up times by a few secs by disabling a few however, when you come to use that particular service you'll have to wait longer...you can actually slow the PC down in some respects by putting some to manual rather than automatic too, so be careful if you start messing with these.

Personally I've left them alone now, the difference is marginal and as Jon'C pointed out once up and running they won't impact performance.

One thing I will say though, don't download the .NET framework, that eats RAM like no tomorrow, even when its doing bugger all, (personal experience), this only really applies if you have ATI cards and want to use CCC.

[QUOTE=James Bond]One thing I will say though, don't download the .NET framework, that eats RAM like no tomorrow, even when its doing bugger all, (personal experience), this only really applies if you have ATI cards and want to use CCC.[/QUOTE]
Damn it, I bet you anything that's what it is.

If I set a service to manual, i imagine its just gonna start up if I open an app that needs it ?

yep

although check after you've restarted, sometimes windows needs it running from startup and if you have it set to manual it loads after all the auto ones...

(now I'm not sure on what I'm saying next so shoot me down if I'm wrong...but)

the auto services are loaded in cache before windows gets to the desktop and other "normal" programs, like the ones in the sys tray are loaded. If you set it to manual and windows still needs it, it'll then get loaded with the "normal" apps which will actually slow the startup down slightly

So apps written in VS.NET == bad idea?

I can spell: >.>

not entirely sure, I read the thing about the .Net framework in a review on [H]ardOCP, however I've been trying to find some info on what makes .Net eat the RAM they say it does and I can't really find anything.

I have however noticed a difference myself, I installed the .net framework about 6ish months ago before I reformatted, after I did my idle RAM usage went up from ~230 to around ~300.

and sure enough after a re-format I'm back to around 220 without .net installed. I'm guessing it just loads a lot of things into memory to enable the program's built off .net to work, not sure though.

either way I don't think you should worry too much about .net programs

Word!

One guy was enough but we need not gang up on Yoshi here.

[QUOTE=James Bond]not entirely sure, I read the thing about the .Net framework in a review on [H]ardOCP, however I've been trying to find some info on what makes .Net eat the RAM they say it does and I can't really find anything.

I have however noticed a difference myself, I installed the .net framework about 6ish months ago before I reformatted, after I did my idle RAM usage went up from ~230 to around ~300.

and sure enough after a re-format I'm back to around 220 without .net installed. I'm guessing it just loads a lot of things into memory to enable the program's built off .net to work, not sure though.

either way I don't think you should worry too much about .net programs[/QUOTE]


hm, do post more when you find out what specifically causes the ram-eatage. I have .net installed, but theres a .net configuration tool under administrative tools. I'm wondering if theres any way to kill the ram-eatage using that.

.NET is essentially a gigantic runtime, like a combination of VB and Java. It contains a runtime compiler and virtual machine for MSIL/CIL, a massive library, large amounts of software type-checking and garbage collection code and things of that sort. It's obviously going to eat a lot of memory.

It's also a necessary evil, because .NET represents Microsoft's current and future philosophy for software development. Sigh. If you think you can get by without it, you probably won't miss it. On the other hand it's bundled with Service Pack 2, which you need for the security fixes. (In spite of the very slight performance drop).

Buy more ram. Its not expensive.

(Not directed a Jon)

Jon pretty much hit the nail on the head with what he said. Most things are really nothing more than the placebo effect.

Not only do I have fading menus disabled, but I set the delay for opening new tabs from something like 200 milliseconds to 0. Normally, when navigating through the start menu for example, there's a 200 ms delay for the next tab to open. I disabled that. I forget how...maybe TweakXP or something.

I opened up the computer, charged my air compressor and blasted all the dust out of it (and there was an arseload of dust in it). It works fine, but a friend said it's probably not a good idea because it can build up static. Anyone else know if it's a really bad idea? (it's been running fine for 2 weeks now, i assume it's ok).

It's possible for a static charge to build up in the air as it travels through the hose...I'm not sure how much or if it's significant. I've done the same thing plenty of times without a problem. You could try grounding the nozzle on your air gun to discharge any static as it leaves the gun.