Speed Up Windows XP (more)

There are thousands of little ways to make your computer run slower than it could. Microsoft manages to make all the wrong choices on those. Fortunately, guys like I can help correct Microsoft's bungles. That's why you pay us the big bucks.

Hard drive technology is constantly evolving. One of the areas where improvements have been made is in how the hard drive (and DVD/CD drive) transfer data from the drive to memory, and back from memory to the drive.

Way back when, we stopped using hamsters to power PCs. That's when 'bugs' were insects that crawled inside the machine and shorted circuits. Back then data transfer used a technology called PIO.

Nowadays the standard data transfer method - much, much faster than PIO - is DMA. Don't worry about the terminology. I'm just throwing around tech-talk to impress you.

Sometimes your hard drives and DVD/CD drives are set to use PIO instead of DMA. Here's how to check and correct (if needed) that error.

1. Find the icon called My Computer
2. Right-click My Computer
3. Left-click Properties
4. Left-click the 'Hardware' tab
5. Left-click the 'Device Manager' button
6. Halfway down the list of devices is "IDE ATA\ATAPI Controllers"
7. If "IDE ATA\ATAPI controllers" is not listed, you don't have a PIO/DMA problem. You can close down the Device Manager
8. If 'IDE ATA\ATAPI controllers' IS listed,
9. Left-click the adjacent 'plus sign'
10. Right-click 'Primary IDE Channel'
11. Left-click 'Properties'
12. Left-click the 'Advanced Settings' tab
13. 'Transfer Mode' should be set to 'DMA if available.' If it isn't, it will say 'PIO Only'
14. If needed, left-click the arrow to the right of 'PIO Only'
15. Select 'DMA if available'
16. If the program lists a 'Secondary IDE Channel,' repeat the above steps for the secondary IDE channel.
17. That's all; close all 'Properties' windows
18. Close 'Device Manager.'
    

Any speed improvement gained will show up after you re-start the computer

SuperTweak

Is your computer showing its age? Has its get-up-and-go gotten-up-and-gone?

PCPitStop has some tips on how to revive it.

Top 25 XP Super Tweaks. Anyone who can follow instructions can perform all of the 'tweaks.' However, anyone intimidated by computers will shy away from some of the tips. No problem: just do the ones with which you feel comfortable.

Or package it up and send it to me. For $65 per hour + shipping, I'll do these things for you.