"Herman Nijland" wrote in message
...
riverman wrote:
This is new to me. I also have XP, 1.2 gig and 512 megs, and I also
noticed
that my bootup is a lot slower than my desktop, with 256Meg and a slower
processor. I googled "xp tuner" and got a lot of german stuff. Where do
I
find more info on tuning my laptop for faster performance?

Also, Frank, I have found that my version of Norton slows things down a
lot,
too.

--riverman


Norton changed over the years from a handy set of tools to a resource
munging hog. Ditch it, or, if you really really want to use it don't run
anything on startup.

What do you recommend as a virus scan? Is there one that will only
initialize when you insert a disk, or open email?

Virusscanners can cause your system boot to last forever, or so it seems.
Run MSCONFIG and check what is loaded at boottime. Disable anything
you're sure of (!!) you don't need. The services tab allows you to kill
virtually anything, but unless you really know what you're doing keep
out of it.

This might be a rich idea. Right now, everything loads at boottime. I
don't know at all what to disable, but I'm sure I don't need much of it.

In control panel / system / advanced / performance you can tweak the
visual effects. Quite often the performance loss you experience is
merely perceived, because of the fade-in/fade-out of windows and all
kinds of 'experience enhancements'. Fiddle around with some settings and
see what you like/need/want to live with.
so much for now

Whew! I reset the adjustments from 'let windows choose for you' to 'set for
maximum performance', and I felt like I just traded a 2004 Lexus for a 73
Beetle. I couldn't live with the graphics :-( But this might explain why
my battery only lasts for about 1.5 hours.


Thanks for the leads. I'll do some more fooling around, and unless I totally
screw the poodle, I'll get back to you.

--riverman