How to Speed up Shut Down Times in Windows XP
When you first brought your Windows XP powered computer home, one of the first things you noticed was probably the speed. How fast it started and shut down. Gradually as you added more programs, you began to feel it slowing down when you click the Turn Off button. It now takes longer than usual for it to shut down. There are ways to speed up shut down times for computers running Windows XP.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Edit your Pagefile System setting. Pagefile is where your computer stores temporary files. Windows XP clears the Pagefile System (pagefile.sys) files when it shuts down. This slows down the process significantly. Changing it helps your system shut down faster. Click Start, Run then type Regedit in the box and click Ok.
-
2
Navigate to Hkey_Local_Machine\ System\CurrentControlSet\Session manager\Memory management. Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0. Close the Registry.
-
-
3
Restart your computer. When you shut down your computer, Windows XP won’t clear your Pagefile. This will speed up the shut down process of your Windows XP powered computer.
-
4
Change Service Timeout setting. Follow Step 1 and open the Registry. Go to Hkey_Local_Machine. Click System, CurrentControlSet, then Control. Go to the box on the right and double-click WaitToKillServiceTimeout. In the box that pops up, change the value to 1000. Close the Registry
-
5
Restart your computer. This will allow the new setting to take effect. When you shut down your computer, the system will not wait long to shut down the services.
-
6
Automatically end user processes on shutdown. When your computer is unable to terminate processes, it pops up a warning asking if you want to end all applications immediately. Tell your computer to end all processes automatically without your input. Navigate to the Registry following Step 1. Click Hkey_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop. Go to the box at right, Click AutoEndTasks. In the popup box, change Value to 0.
-
7
Restart your computer to enable the changes take effect.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
The Registry is the heart of your computer. If you don’t understand what you are doing, don’t change anything in your registry. You can permanently damage your computer.
Back up your Registry before modifying it. If anything goes wrong, you can restore it from your backup.
Think twice before modifying the pagefile.sys files for security reasons. Sometimes sensitive information like unencrypted passwords end up in the pagefile.sys files and failure to delete them may expose your passwords and other sensitive information to other users of the computer.
