WINDOWS XP TRICKS (Learn Part 3)

Windows Xp Tricks


07. Enable write caching on disk and improve disk performance

I have enabled write caching on my disk and this does have helped improve disk performance to a significant degree. Now you may ask why ?. WriteCache is nothing else but implementation of
concept of delayed write.

As we all know I/O activities are generally slow and hence if they are
synchronous can significantly reduce the system performance. Hence if system performance has to be improved we have to reduce I/O activities. Now practically we can not ask you to change your habits (meaning start typing like a superman or robot etc.) but we can have a solution. We can control the frequency of diskwrite by specifying regular intervals.

All that needs to be written between the intervals would be writen in a write buffer which would be maintained in RAM. This write buffer would be written to the disk at regular intervals or whenever it gets full. This is a smart concept with one drawback.

There is a chance that you may loose some data in case of critical power loss or system
failure but this is not an issue for me and should not be to most of the users. Such things become an
issue for Mission Critical Business Servers.

To enable write cache on your disk, go to DEVICE MANAGER. Then select hard disk in the disk
drives and right click on it and select properties. Go to policies tab and select checkbox which say "Enable write caching on the disk". Close out everything and you are done.


08. MFT manipulations to improve disk performance

MFT stands for Master File Table. Typically in Windows XP , if you are using NTFS ( I would
recommend it if you don't) then by default,NTFS would reserve 12.5% of your free diskspace for
MFT. MFT fragmentation could also cause a significant slow down.

Let me discuss size first. Now if you have installed tons of different programs on your hard disk (or intend to do so), MFT utilization is going to be high.

Under such situation, it may be beneficial to increase this percentage to say 25%. If
you want to do this, here is the the trick. Open Registry by going to START-RUN and entering
REGEDIT and Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\ currentControlSet\\Control\\FileSystem.

In right pane, Add one more key by the name "NtfsMftZoneReservation" with the
REG_DWORD value of 2. DWORD value of 1 is interpreted as 12.5% ,2 as 25% and so on.

09. Improve system performance by disabling DOS convention

In tip number 46, I briefly mentioned MFT fragmentation. So what is the cause of fragmentation.
Well most common cause is too much use. As with anything excessive use causes fragmentation.

Activities of add/update/delete to a section of disk would invariable cause it to fragment. So there is no permanent solution as we can not avoid these acts. As such it is a good idea to use disk defragmenter regularly.

Contiguous data which results from defragmenting disk, improves system
performance considerably. But what I am suggesting you here would prolong intervals between
defragmentations resulting in more time for your own productive work. OK! This tip is for those folks would never be using a DOS based program or don't care for connection from DOS based operating systems (example: old games and all things before windows 95).

In Windows XP, two file names are created for each file one is the actual name and another one is 8.3 version of that file name for compatibility with DOS based programs. Now this work name in the name of compatibility takes quite a lot of system resources specifically CPU time and disk space.But this is not it, it also increases your MFT utilization and fragmentation.

So the solution is to disable it. How to do this ? Open Registry by
going to START-RUN and entering REGEDIT and Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\FileSystem.

In right pane, look forkey by the name "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation" and sets its value to 1. Thats it. You would see
improvement in system performance for sure.

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warning : All the Tricks which had shown in this site is just for Teaching and Learning purpose.
use all tricks on your personal risk.

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Mail me at masteragarwal@yahoo.com to receive latest updates and source cods and be in touch.