Microsoft System Performance – Best Tools for Improving Windows System Performance

Microsoft system performance does not mean simply hard disk defragmentation, disk cleanup, and optimizing the Windows registry. There are several other factors that need to be considered: from the desktop to the Start menu to the taskbar to the appearance to the system tray before considering complicated processes such as the Windows System Registry.

Wondering how the Windows desktop affects your system properties? As an Internet user, you must have uploaded several pictures or videos to the Internet or sent them through email. You must have noticed that the speed of uploading or sending email reduces considerably with the size of the picture or file. The same issue slows down your computer.

If you have a high resolution image set as desktop and have different web slices on the desktop, Windows system performance goes down. Personally, I do not keep anything on my desktop, not even the icons to save time on screen painting.

Changing the desktop wallpaper (to a lower resolution) or removing it completely, improves Microsoft system performance slightly. You can always have a desktop toolbar on the taskbar so that you need not minimize the applications to get to an icon. This way, you can speed up computer tasks as you have shortcuts right in front of you.

The items you select to appear on your Start menu also degrade Windows system performance. For example, if you set My Computer to appear on the Start menu as a cascading menu, your computer will need to search all the drives on your computer before offers you access to the Start menu. On similar lines, imagine how long it will take if you opt for Control Panel as a menu on Start menu.

Similarly, options including "Highlight Newly Installed Programs" under "Start Menu Properties" and "Group Similar Task Buttons," "Auto Hide Task Bar," "Hide Icons," etc under "Taskbar Properties" can degrade or enhance Microsoft System Performance. This is just because each of this command, when enabled, triggers an additional process that further delays access to desktop.

Note: The above Windows XP tweaks help improve Windows system performance by a significant percent while also increasing battery life in laptops.

Check out the Screenshot section below to see how I’ve arranged my desktop and taskbar to save time and to improve Windows XP system performance. In the coming sections, I will share some of the tools on my notebook that help me improve Microsoft system performance.

Speaking of Windows XP system performance, or the lack of it, the first thing that comes to mind is the antivirus and firewall suite. Though there are several antivirus suites in the market, most of them either take up too much of your computer resources and/or are costly to purchase. For example, if you are using F-Secure, one of the best antivirus suite with firewall and real-time protection, you have minimum of seven processes running– degrading Windows system performance.

Prior to Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft has a paid antivirus suite: OneCare. I would still have recommended OneCare as it was a low cost anti-virus with an exceptional firewall, yet low on system resources. Unfortunately, MS has discontinued OneCare and replaced it with MSE, which you can download from the MS website without paying anything.

Among several FREE antivirus available on the Internet, I found Comodo AntiVirus and MSE to be the best. However, the problem with Comodo AV is it takes too long to scan your computer while also reserving a fair share of computer resources. On the contrary, MSE is low on resources and helps you improve Windows system performance. The only disadvantage is that MSE does not include a firewall. Still, we have a workaround in the next page: get one of the best firewall for Windows to enhance Windows system performance, Comodo firewall.