How to Make Windows XP Startup Faster

After doing all this, another method you can do is to allow the computer to hibernate. Hibernation closes and opens Windows faster than usual. However, Hibernation is a good long-term recommended solution, as it does save electricity.

Go to Start->Control Panel->Power Options. Click on the Hibernate tab.

Click on the Advanced tab and change the Power buttons options if you want to hibernate by pressing the sleep button or the power button. Otherwise, holding the Shift key while in the Turn Off Computer menu will give you the option to hibernate.

Simply browse to the Windows folder (Ex: C:Windows) and under there you would see the prefetch folder. Go into the prefetch folder and delete all the files (Beware! It should look like this c:windowsprefetch). We need to edit a registry key to tweak it. Open regedit and browse to this key:

Under this key you should see a value named: EnablePrefetcher

- Disabled : The prefetch system is turned off.

- Application : The prefetch only caches applications.

- Boot : The prefetch only caches system boot files.

- All : The prefetch caches boot, and application files.

You need to not disable it entirely. This would actually make boot time longer. This is because this feature is also used to speed up the loading of boot files. That is why you should pick the number 2 option. It allows you to keep the advantage of caching system files, without continually clogging the system up with applications.

The 2nd time you boot it should boot much faster. Remember that, the side effect is that launching individual applications once Windows has loaded will now be slightly slower.