Windows XP: Troubleshooting Performance Problems Tutorial Home >PC Hardware >Computer Basics >PC Upgrade, Troubleshooting and Repair >Troubleshooting Windows  >Windows XP: Troubleshooting Performance Problems   Step 1:  Causes for Performance Problems Performance problems in Windows XP can be caused by a shortage of system memory, as well as by inadequate pagefile size, unnecessary services, spyware, a badly-fragmented hard disk, screen effects, and 3D graphics settings. The following steps help you solve these problems and improve system performance.   Step 2:  Finding Memory Shortages If your Windows XP system has less than 256MB of memory, your first move should be to upgrade memory to at least 512MB or more. Keep in mind that if your system has integrated graphics that some of your memory is reserved for graphics. For example, if you have 256MB of memory installed but your integrated graphics reserved 32MB, Windows can use only 224MB (256-32=224). For more information, see the series "Determining Need for RAM Upgrade."   Step 3:  Checking Pagefile Size The pagefile is a hard disk file which is used as virtual memory if Windows needs more memory than is installed. To check the size of your pagefile, right-click My Computer and select Properties to open the System properties sheet. Click Advanced, click the Settings button in the Performance section. Click Advanced in the Performance Options dialog. The pagefile should be at least 1.5 times the size of system memory. If the pagefile is too small, click Change and put it on a different drive (if possible). Restart if directed to apply changes.   Step 4:  Stopping Unneeded Services Services are used to support features of Windows XP and third-party hardware and software. You can improve the performance of your system by stopping unneeded services from running at startup. For details, see the tutorial "Troubleshooting Services."   Step 5:  Stopping Spyware Spyware programs can monitor your web surfing, send reports to vendors about your usage habits, pop up ads on your display. While they annoy you, they also eat up processor time, memory resources, and even cause your system to start up more slowly. To learn how to eliminate spyware from your system, see the tutorial "Using Anti-spyware Software."   Step 6:  Running Defrag Over time, hard disk storage becomes fragmented due to temporary file creation/deletion, program installation/uninstallation and other disk uses. Fragmentation takes place when a file cannot be stored in contiguous disk sectors, but in small fragments which must be read in sequence before the file can be opened for use. Periodic defragmentation of your hard disk improves disk read/write performance by organizing empty spaces into large blocks. For more information, see the tutorial "Using Defrag."   Step 7:  Checking Video Performance If your system has satisfactory performance for general business applications but is slow when running 3D games, you might need a video card upgrade. However, if you are using a 3D video card already, you might need a video driver update. To learn more about video drivers and about the process of upgrading your video drivers, see the tutorial "Installing Video Card Drivers."   Step 8:  Disabling Screen Effects Screen effects in Windows XP, such as transition effects, shadows under menus, and show window contents when dragging, are attractive, but can cause performance problems on systems with limited RAM (under 256MB) or slow processors (under 1GHz). To turn these settings off, open the Effects dialog from the Appearance tab (see figure) of the Display properties sheet. Uncheck these items to disable them. For more information, see the tutorial "Setting Appearance Options."