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Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

I just skimmed through your guide, but here are some things I saw wrong:

AlwaysUnloadDLL

This tweak does nothing for the end user. Windows trys to use all your RAM to help performance. Things that are loaded into RAM ar the non-paged area and the page pool. Any RAM that is not being used will be used to cache further files. Since Windows trys to use all RAM available it will retain code from previosuly opened applications in RAM just in case they are ever needed. If another use comes along then it can be page to its original file (not pagefile). So appliying this registry tweak will only increase the time taken if an application is needed again.

So in reality this tweak does nothing to help performance. If physical memory is needed for another operation then this dll will be paged to disk.

IRQ Priority

This tweak does absolutely nothing at all. Windows does not even look at this key wether it is there or not. It is no where in the source code at all.

You could even look at the name "IRQ8Priority" in "strings" output
from the OS binaries and it won't exist.

On most HALs the OS doen't use th timer wired to IRQ8 in the first place either.

This tweak may have been referenced in some older versions of Window, but it is definitely not in any OS since NT4.

DisablePagingExecutive

Again does nothing for the end user. I explained how Windows managed memory above. It also only works on ntoskrnl.exe, not drivers. ntoskrnl.exe will hardly ever be paged to disk anyway. It is almost always in use and the only time it would be paged to disk is if you are under an extremely heavy load. IF this happens you most likely will be on your way to a crash anyway. ntoskrnl.exe is also only a few MB in size anyway so it will tend to stay in RAM anyway.

Disable Services

Does nothing. Services are processes that run in the background and wait for system calls to act. NOt all of them will use CPU or memory recources. Most services will just load .dlls that wait in system memory and some don't use up any RAM and will remain on disk and be paged into memory if needed. This may sound bad, but these .dlls are only a few kilobytes in size. Also each process only uses the CPU when it is supposed to use it. Just because it says it is running in services.msc does not mean it is using up any CPU cycles or memory

So the fact of the matter is a service will not use any system recources unless the service is directly in use.

Also blackviper's site (don't know if its in your guide) is crap. It has alot of false information and bad advice. Also his idea behind disabling services is that it will increase performance by not taking up as much system recources.

I myself do disable some services, but this is not for performance reasons . They are just annoyances such as Security Center.

Many sites also want you to believe that running some services are a security risk. This is complete BS. Someone would of have already hacked in to your PC to use a service as a means of attack.

Another thing is that I have fixed a few PC's where the user was following blackvipers stupid advice by disabling services and then lost funcionality of something. This is because blackvipers site fails to mention quite a few things about many services.

I only skimmed through your guide and I probally missed alot of mistakes. Do yourself a favor and don't make a tweaking guide. Especially if you have no idea what the tweaks do. There are literally thousands of tweaking guides out there and all are equally worthless and give out misinformation and bad advice. Don't get me wrong some do give good advice such as security related things, but most of it is just completely incorrect. All tweaking guides I have seen have been done by people who are just regurgitating what someone else told them. All you are doing by putting up a tweak guide is adding to the misinformation. Any tweaking site you read most likely is filled with false information.

Xp is baically tweaked out of the box. There are some things that can be done to improve performance especially on older machine such as turning off eye candy. IT will me marginally faster becuase it's a simpler interface with less to do, but this is more user preference. It is like saying "to tweak linux turn off X." Getting rid of background applications through msconfig would help too as they use system recources, but that is about it. The onyl tweaking that really needs to be done would depend on your needs. For example I absoluetely hate the Security Center so I disable the service. Does this increase performance? NO, but I find it annoying. Other things that would affect performance are viruses and spyware so security should be covered in depth. Also keeping Windows up to date.

If you read a tweaking guide don't believe everything it says. These are probally the most things I see in tweak guides that do nothing or is just bad advice. So ignore anyo9ne who tells you to do the following:

DisablePagingExecutive
LargeSystemCache
IoPageLockLimit
IRQanythingPriority
SecondLevelDataCache
AlwaysUnloadDlls
QoS
adjust pagefile

IoPageLockLimit is completely ignored by the OS since Win2K SP1 yet I still see it in tweak guides. The pagefile is also a big subject in tweaking guides and probally has the most false information. So basically anything you hear on the net is probally false when it comes to the pagefile.

**Yawgm0th** · 03-06-2005, 10:13 PM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

For the most part, I'll agree with that. However, if you know what you're doing (which about 99.99% of people don't), service tweaks can be very benefitial. To get any real benefit, though, you will end up disabling functionality. Certain services can significantly reduce performance on there own (Indexing Service, some of the excess networking and security services), but for the most part a system will need to be very barebones for the service tweaks to accomplish anything. If you disable a lot of services, you'll see decreased boot time, but that's about it. I do agree that both Blackviper's guide and Persian Immortals first guide are crap in the services section because they cause a tremendous amount of problems for people who don't know what they're doing. I'd say, until you're positive of what each service does and what you need each one for, don't mess with services.

There are some, slight security issues with certain services, but they are exaggerated. Remote Desktop Help Manager, or Remote assistance in general, can be a security issue. The same applies with Remote Registry. Messenger service can also be a method for spam and adware to irritate you if you have no firewall. The thing with all three services is that few people ever use them, so they might as well be disabled.

As for the paging file, there is a lot of misinformation. The biggest thing is that having a smaller one helps. This is the opposite is the truth if anything. For best stability and possible performance improvement, a paging file that is large and set is best, but anything that isn't restrictive will do.

There are some other things that can be very beneficial mentioned in certain guides (actually, just PIs first XP guide). Bootvis is extremely beneficial for decreased boot times, but you do have to use SP1 and not SP2. Unless you don't know what you're doing as far as security goes, that's fine, but I'd say someone with no hardware firewall and/or little knowledge of virus removal and secuirty in general should stick with SP2.

I will agree with you that most, if not all, registry tweaks are just pointless, including the ones in PIs first guide. The ones that actually do something are often next to useless, and the rest, well, don't do anything (such as IRQ prioty and Always Unload DLL).

**Stikesis** · 03-07-2005, 02:35 AM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

KoolDrew, ill agree with everything u say except:
LargeSystemCache
IoPageLockLimit
adjust pagefile
as depending on ur system they can help if the default settings arent optimal.
Secondly, services DO help performance as they're disabled from automatically loading on startup and they CAN help security.
but for the other registry tweaks, they can still be used for Windows9x which is probably why i inculded them, because it was a compilation of all of my tweaks.

**PersianImmortal** · 03-07-2005, 03:34 AM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

Hi guys, long time no speak here for me :)

I've received an email referring me to this thread, and asking me to "defend my guide"...well I don't think that's necessary. People are free to use my XPTC if they wish, or any portion of it as they see fit.

However I do want to share my opinions here given Kooldrew and Yawgmoth have devoted some time in giving detailed responses.

Basically, I will agree that the AlwaysUnloadDLL, IRQPriority etc. tweaks are probably inoperable. I've read more and more recently from various reputable people that these commands do nothing at all in XP SP2. However - I have left them in my Windows XP Tweaking Companion for two simple (and selfish) reasons: Firstly, they do no harm whatsoever. If you enable these tweaks, your system will not suffer one bit. Secondly, and equally as important, many people expect to see these tweaks in a tweak guide, and will email you to death if you don't include them. You can even try arguing with them that they may or may not do anything, and they will shoot you down. So I found it simpler just to leave them in, noting that they may not do anything. I can't see the harm really, and out of 166 pages of information in my XPTC, they take up less than 3 pages in total.

Now, as for services, I disagree with what's been said here. Services do not necessarily use up large amounts of CPU cycles. They do however take up a fair bit of RAM. On my system, disabling unnecessary services - and remember, some of these are non-microsoft services such as the ATI Catalyst services, Nortons services, etc. - has taken my startup memory usage from 220MB down to 115MB. The amount of RAM used is actually not the best reason to remove unnecessary services and startup items. The main reason, which is always not mentioned in other guides, is to reduce the potential for memory conflicts. Many, many people write to me saying they are experiencing memory errors in Half Life 2, UT2004, America's Army etc. (e.g. General Protection Faults). By reducing background DLLs in memory and the associated tweaks in my guide, you exponentially decrease the potential for memory-based read/write errors. That's essentially what a GPF is for example. I know this purely from experience, and all I can say is "trust me" :)

I also note that in my guide, the advice about the paging file is my personal recommendation. I provide the "authoritative" references at the start of that section of the XPTC, but then I proceed to provide what works best for me, and the many systems I've tweaked.

In the end, all tweak guides bar none are subjective advice. XP is definitely not totally optimized "out of the box", I'm sorry to say. It runs well, but you can always customize it to suit your machine much better. My advice to anyone reading this would be to check out as many guides as you can, and perhaps be ready for some trial and error to see what works for you. Note that so far my XPTC has been read by literally tens of thousands of people, and I've had hundreds of positive emails, and 3 (yes 3) negative emails. So I feel confident that the advice I give is not harmful or bad :)

Strikesis - If you're interested in writing tweak guides, keep going with it mate. Take aboard the feedback and keep refining and researching your guides, and don't worry about those who tell you not to bother.

**KoolDrew** · 03-07-2005, 03:03 PM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

As for the paging file, there is a lot of misinformation. The biggest thing is that having a smaller one helps. This is the opposite is the truth if anything. For best stability and possible performance improvement, a paging file that is large and set is best, but anything that isn't restrictive will do.

I generally recommend leaving it system managed or determine how much of the pagefile is being used through perfmon and times this by 4. That should be set to min. The multiply that by 2 and set that as max.

Bootvis is extremely beneficial for decreased boot times, but you do have to use SP1 and not SP2

What?? I use bootvis and SP2...

I do agree with everything you said though Yawg.

KoolDrew, ill agree with everything u say except:
LargeSystemCache
IoPageLockLimit
adjust pagefile
as depending on ur system they can help if the default settings arent optimal.
Secondly, services DO help performance as they're disabled from automatically loading on startup and they CAN help security.
but for the other registry tweaks, they can still be used for Windows9x which is probably why i inculded them, because it was a compilation of all of my tweaks.

Did you not read my reply at all? IoPageLockLimit does absolutely nothing at all. It is ignored by Windows XP. It has been ignored since Windows 2000 SP1. Also when I said adjust pagefile I was just saying that most things you hear about the pagefile is incorrect. Adjusting the pagefile is fine if you are not following stupid advice from some tweaking site and the author has no idea what he is talking about.

Also about LargSystemCache. I said that because many sites recommend setting this to 1. All that does is allow the cache to use up to 80% of your RAM under non-critical memory loads. So of course for the mojority of people setting it to 1 would be silly. It should only be used if a server is being ONLY used for very lightweight file serving purposes, like an FTP server. For everyone else it is a terrible idea.

I also note that in my guide, the advice about the paging file is my personal recommendation. I provide the "authoritative" references at the start of that section of the XPTC, but then I proceed to provide what works best for me, and the many systems I've tweaked.

When I said ignore anyone who said adjust pagefile I was more refering to sites that recommend disabling the pagefile. Your suggestion for the pagefile in your guide is perfectly fine. A little large and for most they may not need that big of a pagefile, but it doesn't really hurt any.

I think you linked to two guides about Virtual memory and the one at the site with the BIOS optimization guide has a bit of false information last I recall.

Basically, I will agree that the AlwaysUnloadDLL, IRQPriority etc. tweaks are probably inoperable. I've read more and more recently from various reputable people that these commands do nothing at all in XP SP2. However - I have left them in my Windows XP Tweaking Companion for two simple (and selfish) reasons: Firstly, they do no harm whatsoever. If you enable these tweaks, your system will not suffer one bit. Secondly, and equally as important, many people expect to see these tweaks in a tweak guide, and will email you to death if you don't include them. You can even try arguing with them that they may or may not do anything, and they will shoot you down. So I found it simpler just to leave them in, noting that they may not do anything. I can't see the harm really, and out of 166 pages of information in my XPTC, they take up less than 3 pages in total.

AlwaysUnloadDLL does do something, but nothing to help performance.

In the end, all tweak guides bar none are subjective advice. XP is definitely not totally optimized "out of the box", I'm sorry to say. It runs well, but you can always customize it to suit your machine much better. My advice to anyone reading this would be to check out as many guides as you can, and perhaps be ready for some trial and error to see what works for you. Note that so far my XPTC has been read by literally tens of thousands of people, and I've had hundreds of positive emails, and 3 (yes 3) negative emails. So I feel confident that the advice I give is not harmful or bad :)

I would not suggest checking out every guide a user finds. Alot of users do this and up getting misinformed by all the false information in many tweak guides. Some guide even suggest diabling the pagefile. So from that reply you are suggesting if this is in a guide they come across to disable the pagefile and if nothing crashed then leave it disabled? Doing that will only decrease performance in the long run because you are forcing all paging to be done to pages containing code and mapped files. This will result in crippling the file cache and slow down code execution.

My point is the person applying the tweak will have no idea what is really happening "under the hood" using your trial and error method. If anyone applys tweaks they should have agood understanding of what exactly is does. That is why for the most part your guide is very good because it explains stuff well, but you should mention that certain tweaks do nothing so the user knows this. Maybe add a section of questionable or tweaking myths? and include stuff like Iopagelocklmit which is ignored by Windows XP? That way the user knows this and won't email you saying it is not in the guide.

Now, as for services, I disagree with what's been said here. Services do not necessarily use up large amounts of CPU cycles. They do however take up a fair bit of RAM. On my system, disabling unnecessary services - and remember, some of these are non-microsoft services such as the ATI Catalyst services, Nortons services, etc. - has taken my startup memory usage from 220MB down to 115MB. The amount of RAM used is actually not the best reason to remove unnecessary services and startup items. The main reason, which is always not mentioned in other guides, is to reduce the potential for memory conflicts. Many, many people write to me saying they are experiencing memory errors in Half Life 2, UT2004, America's Army etc. (e.g. General Protection Faults). By reducing background DLLs in memory and the associated tweaks in my guide, you exponentially decrease the potential for memory-based read/write errors. That's essentially what a GPF is for example. I know this purely from experience, and all I can say is "trust me" :)

Can you explain more about this memory conflicting thing? Right now it sounds like a load of crap. The NT kernal does not give recources to something that does not request it. If the service does not request it it will stay idle and fully paged out of physical memory and different processes won't "conflict" in memory either.

Also saying "I know this purely from experience" means nothing. I know tons of people who say some registry tweak magically made there computer faster and they say the same thing. Even though it is a tweak like iopagelocklimit which is ignored by Windows XP.

**Yawgm0th** · 03-07-2005, 07:09 PM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

Persian! :) We really could use you over in Egypt.

Anyway, aside from what you and KoolDrew and you are arguing about, the only thing I really though was bad about the first guide is the service recommendation. Not because I don't agree that disabling/setting to manual helps for reducing RAM usage, I do think it does help, but the thing is you recommend disabling several services that disable functionality. You did put the warning in for the Print Spooler, and anyone who has problems with that deserves them, but some of the other stuff (such as killing several networking features) should have had warnings or not been there at all.

Originally posted by KoolDrew

What?? I use bootvis and SP2...

Hmm... I had heard of issues between the two, but whatever. I still prefer SP1 since I have absolutely no use for SP2's features.

Anyway, I'll repeat myself and invite you to Beef's place, PI. Either way, good luck with your future guides. I really do get a lot out of almost all of them.

**KoolDrew** · 03-07-2005, 07:16 PM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

Anyway, I'll repeat myself and invite you to Beef's place, PI. Either way, good luck with your future guides. I really do get a lot out of almost all of them.

Yes his guides are very good. I am in no way saying they are bad. His game tweak guides are especially good since he explains things very well. He explains his Windows Xp tweaks well too, but with all of the false information out there every Windows XP tweaking guide has its handful of false info.

This is probally my favorite Windows Xp tweaking guide though:

Ge0ph

http://www.ge0ph.com/xptweaks.htm

LOL

**Stikesis** · 03-08-2005, 02:00 AM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

PersianImmortal, ienvy you now. Yea i didnt think unloading dlls did anything on WXP, but i agree how u said ppl expect to see it. oh yea kooldrew, iwasnt going to read that chunky reply, so i skimmed thorugh it, and those sites that the rest of u mentioned after are great but theres no way i can accept wxp's default settings, they're for the user who wants it most pretty and smooth. I want speed, therefore i tweak UI. i want security and stability, therefore i tweak more.

**PersianImmortal** · 03-08-2005, 04:47 AM

Re: Windows XP Tweaking Guide

I don't want to make this into a great debate, but just to clarify some of my points:

Originally posted by KoolDrew

AlwaysUnloadDLL does do something, but nothing to help performance.

You see, the irony is that another well-known tweaker (Tweakhound) will tell you that AlwaysUnloadDLL does nothing. In fact he and I debated this on ABXZone and he insisted that he had tested it and it did nothing. So you can see what I mean about "subjective" - some people, even those who are supposed to be quite knowledgeable on XP, will each say something different about certain tweaks. Who can the average user believe? It would be great if Microsoft came out and cleared everything up about XP tweaking, but so far they haven't done so.

I would not suggest checking out every guide a user finds. Alot of users do this and up getting misinformed by all the false information in many tweak guides....

What I mean is not that everyone goes out, finds every guide they can and try everything in those guides. What I mean is that it's not a competition to find the "one true guide". People should read widely and make up their own minds about which site/guide is the most reputable. And yes, I do stand my statement that people need to do a bit of trial and error. Some people simply will not learn how a PC works unless they get down and dirty and do some (safe) experimenting. That's how I and all the other so-called tweakers learned our stuff, so if you're interested in getting the most of your machine, spend some time under the hood.

If on the other hand you have little patience and no interest in tweaking, then either follow a single reputable guide (you'll have to decide who is "reputable" based on user reviews), or in fact just steer clear of tweaking!

Can you explain more about this memory conflicting thing? Right now it sounds like a load of crap. The NT kernal does not give recources to something that does not request it. If the service does not request it it will stay idle and fully paged out of physical memory and different processes won't "conflict" in memory either.

What I mean is precisely what I explained earlier - errors like General Protection Faults occur because a game (typically Unreal-based games are major culprits in this regard) will attempt to read/write to a protected memory area and the result is a crash to the Desktop and a "General Protection Fault". The less memory locations are occupied, the less chance for GPFs. The less programs are resident in memory, the less chance for critical conflicts which lead to crashes and/or sudden reboots.

When I say "trust me" I don't have a definitive link or statement to present to you. My advice comes from over 5 years of experience tweaking the Unreal engine and watching as my system has become rock-solid with all Unreal games while others constantly complain of GPFs and regular memory-related crashes in these and other games. Make your own mind up.

It's not just memory-resident services, it's the myriad of memory-resident background programs which even the developers themselves are now telling users to disable because of potential conflicts.

Anyway I appreciate your kind words about my gaming guides, and I hope I can keep producing useful stuff for people. More than anything, I wish gaming companies themselves would produce more detailed manuals and provide tweaking details from their own programmers, as that would be the most accurate way of knowing how to tweak their games :)

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Windows XP Tweaking Guide

Windows XP Tweaking Guide

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