Tweaking WinXP for Faster Perf.

Tweaking Windows XP Part 2
Disabling unused services on XP This is the step that is the quickest and surest way to speed up your OS, and prevents useless apps from hogging memory space all the time. Windows XP runs more than three-dozen services in the background, performing various background tasks needed for the many functions that Windows XP offers, you can choose to disable the features that you don't use, which is generally more like half of these services. To reach the services configuration utility, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. This tool allows you to configure the way services start up, manually shutdown/restart services and check status. Check for all the services that are set to start "Automatically" and disable the following services, as they are easily dispensable. To disable a service, right click on the service, select properties, and set the startup type to disabled. If you feel unconfident about some service that you don't know what it does, set the status to manual, and when some app calls for it, it can be started manually.
Alerter - Notification for network events, triggered by a administrator generally, not needed in a home/gamer environment
Automatic Updates- Windows system file updates from Microsoft's website, disable this as manual update is a far better option for techies like us who prefer to be in control of what happens in their system.
ClipBook- Network sharing of clipboard, not needed unless you know what it does and actually use it.
DHCP Client- Receives TCP/IP configuration information from a DHCP server when your machine starts up/changes IPs. Not needed in a static IP / Non-networked environment. Distributed Link Tracking Client- NTFS file system link client for networked environs or multiple NTFS disks with links, never seen anybody use this. Distributed Transaction Coordinator- Required for running apps that are triggered 2000 off in response to a certain query, not needed if you don't run any network application server of any kind.
Error Reporting Service- Reports application errors to Microsoft. Not needed. Fast User Switching Compatibility- Allows having two simultaneous users logged on to the same machine, disable to gain extra memory.
Fax Service- If you find this on your machine, disable it.
FTP Publishing Service - Same as above, not needed unless you actually use Microsoft's FTP service.
Help and Support- Used to look for help information on Windows, contact support from right inside Windows with all the information. We don't contact anybody else for our problems; we solve it ourselves, so disable it. It automatically starts up if you click the help button on start menu, so shut it down once you've made that mistake.
IIS Admin- If you don't run a webserver on IIS, disable this.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service- Windows XP's not-so-hot CD Burning service. Shut this down and use a decent tool like Nero or Easy CD Creator.
Indexing Service- It is used to speed up file searches, and context sensitive searches, but takes a whole lot of resources, and whenever you write a file to a disk, indexes it, not recommended, turn this off.
IPSEC Services- No use if you don't use your machine to connect to a VPN, shut this down and disable it.
Logical Disk Manager - Set this one to manual. Messenger- Sends/receives short messages from other Windows machines on the network, if you don't know what "net send" command does, disable this. MS Software Shadow Copy Provider- Disable this too. Net Login- Disable, used only in domain based networked environs.
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing- If you don't use NetMeeting, shut this one down. Network DDE- Disable it, used as a supporter for ClipBoard. Network DDE DSDM- Used as a supporter to Network DDE, disable this too.
Network Location Awareness (NLA)- Disable if you don't use Internet Connection Sharing. NT LM Security Support Provider- Shut this down if you're not running any services like Terminal Server, Telnet etc.
Performance Logs and Alerts- Useful for checking background app and general system performance parameters, disable to save quite a lot of resources. All we need is active app performance from games.
Portable Media Serial Number- If you have a portable MP3 player that you in conjunction with Windows Media Player 7, this is needed. But if your mp3 player uses its own custom software or you don't have an MP3 player, disable this.
Print Spooler- If you don't own a printer, or use it occasionally, set this to manual. You can always turn it on when you need that single page printout.
Protected Storage - used to provide safe storage of passwords to IE's auto complete feature, if you don't use that feature, disable this.
QoS RSVP - Disable this, won't do you any good unless you have a QoS capable application and an adapter driver that supports TCP/IP QoS.
Remote Access Auto Connection Manager- If you have a dial-up connection to the Internet, let this be on, otherwise, turn off.
Remote Access Connection Manager- Same as above. Remote Desktop Help Session Manager- Again, not needed.
Remote Registry Service- A big security risk, if you are on a public network, disable this for sure.
Removable Storage- Disable this one if you don't use Windows' built in media catalogue or media management. Routing and Remote Access- Disable this one if you don't know what it is, and don't use it. It supports Internet Connection Sharing; so if you use that, don't shut this own. Secondary Logon- Disable this too.
Security Accounts Manager- If you don't use any multi-user features of your machine, go ahead and disable this. It's a security risk too. Server - If you don't want any windows file/print-sharing happening on your machine other than your custom FTP servers etc. then feel free to stop this one.
Smart Card - Disable this one too, smart card authentication module. Smart Card Helper- Same as above. SSDP Discovery Service- A security risk, disable it.
System Event Notification- Disable this, of more use when on a networked environment, or running a critical service. System Restore Service- Biggest space hogger, disable this for sure. Task Scheduler- Some anti virus apps use this to schedule automatic scans, if you don't want those to take place, disable this.
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service- This one is a sureshot security risk if you are on a public network, disable it for security reasons.
Telephony- Keep enabled if you are on a dial-up connection, otherwise disable to gain extra memory.
Telnet- Another security risk, disable this too.
Terminal Services- Shut down if you don't use remote logon, remote assistance, and fast user switching.
Themes - Another memory hog, but this is what make Windows XP look pretty. Choice is yours, functionality or speed? Disable to gain more than 5 megabytes of memory. Uninterruptible Power Supply- UPS management via serial port, if you don't have a UPS that is connected to your PC via anything other than a power cable, disable this.
Universal Plug and Play Device Host - Another security breach possibility, even Microsoft says this is unsecured. Disable this.
Upload Manager - Disable. Volume Shadow Copy- Used by MS Backup tools, if you don't use any of them, disable this.
WebClient- Disable this. It has got nothing to do with Internet surfing. Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)- If you don't have a digital camera or scanner, disable this too.
Windows Time- Atomic clock time sync service, disable it if you want to do all that time setting manually.
Wireless Zero Configuration- If you don't use 802.11B wireless, and auto-roaming, disable this.
WMI Performance Adapter- Disable this, no use in general environments. This really makes you realize how many relatively useless things are there in Windows XP.