TWEAKS for Windows XP for Video Editing (v 1.0)

This document is not designed to eliminate or minimize the need for "turnkey" video editing systems. The guide provides details for each action item but is also written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with terminology and procedures for PC hardware, software and video editing equipment. It is not intended to provide novices with enough information to become turnkey integrators. Many videographers would benefit from "turnkey" systems rather than building and/or optimizing (tweaking) their own systems. Though cost effective and rewarding; building your own system can be very time consuming and tedious. Video editing systems can become complex and users would benefit from experienced system integrators to best utilize their money and time.

Since this document utilizes standard practices and software adjustments; it is rational to understand that certain items may be very similar in grammar and/or content to those found in other documentation. No items were intentionally copied directly from other sites or literature other than references to directives & info published by the OS developer (Microsoft). Readers must understand that there are only so many ways to communicate a particular task, technology and/or system optimization. Any familiarity of content with other documents is by coincidence. Many programming / software adjustments and task identification (steps) must be exact and precise. Therefore, these items would match exactly with those documented by others. All items / steps in this document are written by this author utilizing experiences with the new operating system and notes written over years of practice. References to actual hardware & software products are for explanation, integration and optimization purposes only - names and products are under control of manufactures copyrights, patents and registered trademarks.

TWEAKS for WinXP for Video Editing (v 1.0) (David LaBorde - 2001)

The Windows XPâ Operating System represents a number of new features. First let's just say that XP is a dynamic self-tuning OS. It will even move files around on the disk - based upon use. There is no static list but rather they are built up dynamically as you use your system This is not done too often (every 3 days) and it waits for the system to be idle before it does any idle-time performance work. Another neat feature is "ClearType". This makes a noticeable impact on 2D performance and the view is great. Contrary to some reports it is not designed just for LCD screens. "MSConfig" is also back! Those familiar with Windows 98 remember this GUI that allowed you to make a number of modifications as well as minimize startup TSR (Terminate Stay Resident) programs. Many Win 2000 users will appreciate its return. Alpha blending of icons makes long hours at the CRT much easier on the eyes. Whatever background color, fonts & pictures displayed they'll always look smooth.

1. AdministrativeServices Adjustment
   - This is one of the first easy-to-do yet effective TWEAKS you can do.It is however, the longest one, the rest of the TWEAKS are not near as long. By default Windows XP automatically runs many of these services. This consumes more memory than what you may actually need for your editing needs (e.g. If you don't intend to use Task Scheduler or Fax Service, then why waste memory running them automatically). New for XP - it will actually give you a brief explanation of what the item is when you select it.You must be in Administrator mode to make these changes. There is a number of ways to load this program I will list the most common known. Click onStart >Settings >Control Panel >Administrative Tools >Services (You may also access it viaStart,Programs,Administrative Tools,Services -if you enabled Administrative Tools to be displayed on the Start Menu). Notice the list of services. Now if you click the "new" extended tab before you click on a service you will see a brief explanation of that service on the left side of the GUI window. Incase your wondering another way is to get to all this "click" the start button. Select run from the bottom of the right column. Then typeservices.msc in the box & click ok. Once the services window has loaded we are ready to turn off unneeded services. You can also see the list of services in run typemsconfig look at Services tab.
   
   
   

   Notice the column that says "status", this tells whether the service is started. If you did "Cntrl-alt-delete" to get task manger and looked in the Processes tab you would see these running and atotal at the bottom left corner of the GUI. Now back to the System Management Window. Look at theStartup Type tab, this attribute is the most important one & is the one we can modify. Three options are available & they are listed in the following section. There are 3 modes (choices) :Disabled, Automatic or Manual

   
   

   
   
   1. Disabled. - This makes sure the Service is not started while loading Windows XP. If it is needed it cannot be started either until you set theStartup Type toAutomatic/Manual & Reboot, orStart the service. This does help decrease boot time. However, I see a lot of web pages saying to disable certain services that shouldn't be.
      
      

   2. Automatic. The Service is automatically initiated while loading Windows XP. This can increase boot time. Certain Services must be set toAutomatic in order for Windows XP to function correctly.
      
      

   3. Manual. The Service is not started while loading Windows 2000, if needed; it can be initiated. This will help decrease boot time but system performance may degrade slightly while the Service is initiating -Note this is no big deal.Setting some auto's to manual is what we are primarily looking to - with a few to disable.
      
      
      

   
   

   In order to change the Startup Service - enter the Properties of the respective Service.Right click on theService in question & selectProperties.
   

   
   

   From theStartup type drop-down menu you can choose the Services Startup type. SelectApply after you have made your selection for the change to take effect. SelectOk to return to the Services Utility. NOTE - In most cases I recommend that you set a Service toManual rather thanDisabled (As discussed earlier the only difference is that a Service may be started if needed, rather than not at all). In some cases it is preferable to selectDisable rather thanManual.
   

   
   

   The only ones you should consider setting to Disable are:

   
   

   
   
   1. Human Interface Device Access
      
      
      
      
      
      

   2. Routing and Remote Access (if your in a stand alone configuration)
      
      
      

   3. Universal Plug and Play Device Host (if not using it.).
      
      

   4. Remote Registry- disabling this is not always a good idea. Depending upon your network configuration you may or may not be able to access your registry with this disabled. I suggest you set this to "manual" instead of disable. This will perform the same protection idea as "Disabled" but allow the registry to start up for you when needed.
      
      
      

   
   

   Here are the ones you can set to manual - they are dependent on your needs (i.e. utilizing a Network, etc.). Note:I am not utilizing anetwork or an internet connection - I have the following set tomanual (if you use a Network or Internet - you will need to modify).
   

   
   
   
   

   Alerter Application Layer Gateway Service Application Manager Automatic Updates Background Intelligence Transfer Service Clip Book COM + Event System COM + System Application Computer Browser DHCP Client Distributed Link Tracking Client Distributed Transaction Coordinator Fast User Switching Compatibility Help & Support Indexing Service Internet Connection Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service Messenger Net Logon Net Meeting remote Network Connections Network DDE Network DDE DSDM Network Location Awareness NT LM Security Support Provider NVIDIA Driver Helper

   Performance Logs & Alerts QoS RSVP Remote Access Auto Connect Mgr. Remote Access Connect Mgr. Remote Desktop Help Session Mgr Remote Procedure Call Remote Registry Removable Storage Server SMART Card SMART Card Helper SSDP Discovery Service System Event Notification Task Scheduler TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Telephony Telnet Terminal Services Uninterruptible Power Supply Upload Manager Volume Shadow Copy Windows Image Acquisition Windows Installer Windows Time Workstation

   
   
   

   All others are set to Automatic. If you set a service to manual and restart the machine - now look at the services again. If you see that that a service has started anyway - go ahead and set it to "Automatic" -Why - because… XP is telling you that it needs this service for something in your specific setup. This is one way you can tell what services you actually need. However, it will not hurt to leave it on manual but setting it on automatic allows XP to not delay starting it in front of the automatic ones when XP starts. The order is- Automatic services first, then it has to go look at each manual service and decide if it needs it or not and if it does then start it up, then the rest of XP starts up.

   
   
   
   
   

2. Hard Drive Mode Settings
   Most should know this but we will note this one for those that are new.DMA (Direct Memory Access) allows your Hard Drives or CDROMs to access memory directly, thereby freeing up CPU resources. The drive transfer rates will be much faster. You can enable DMA on a per channel basis, and all devices on that channel have to be DMA capable, but most drives these days are (although some CDROMs may not be).
   
   
   

   To enable DMA, right-clickMy Computer, chooseProperties,Device Manager, click on Devices such as "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers." Double-click on thecontroller you want to enable, and in the properties window that appears, click the Advanced Settings tab. Each device has a "Transfer Mode" that you can change to "DMA if available." Choose that setting to enable DMA.PIO Only is much slower than DMA transfer rates & the Page File (discussed later) benefits from a faster data transfer rate, assuming the hard drive(s) support it. Go back to devices and change any other ones available and then ClickOk &reboot your system for the changes to take effect

   
   
   
   
   
   

3. Memory & Paging Files
   Most should be familiar with this but I think you may be interested in one item I found different from Windows 2000.The heart of thecomputer is the CPU (central processing unit) and the memory banks. Memory stores the instruction and files; the CPU processes the instructions.What is Virtual memory?It is a hidden file on the hard disk that Windows XP uses to hold parts of programs & data files (that do not fit in physical memory). The paging file & physical memory (RAM) comprise the virtual memory. Windows XP moves data from the paging file to memory as needed & moves data from memory to the paging file to make room for new data. ThePaging file is also called aswap file in versions of Win98/ME. Another explanation is that it is temporary storage used by the computer to run programs that need more memory than it has. For example, a program could have access to 4 gigabytes of virtual memory on a computer's hard drive, even if the computer has only 128 megabytes of RAM. The program or data that does not currently fit in the computer's memory is saved into paging files. The Operation System (XP) tries to keep everything in RAM, but when everything doesn't fit, it swaps the (least) recently used memorypages to the hard disk, storing them in thepaging file. When the user program requires the swapped pages- Windows loads the swapped pages back into RAM and swaps other pages to make room for the pages the user needs. Therefore, where you put the paging file is important and affects performance. It goes without saying that with more memory there will be less file swapping since more can be held in RAM.
   
   
   
   
   

   The page file sits on the system drive when you first load XP. It takes a certain amount of physical memory to manage each block of swap space. After a while, you run into diminishing returns if you try to stake out a mammoth swap file (mammoth in proportion to your physical memory, that is) and use it as a substitute for RAM by running memory-hungry programs like Premiere.

   
   

   Setting the page file size is done by Right-clicking on theMy Computer icon, selectAdvances, click thePerformance "Settings" button, you'll see anew tab Visual Effects and then An Advanced tab. Click Advanced tab and look on bottom you will seeVirtual Memory and aChange button.Click the change button. You will see a list of drives on your system. These can be selected to hold all or part of your page file. Your current system drive should show all the page file residing there. Under Space available you will see a dot that you can click to selectCustom Size. Click this to se the initial and the maximum size (all are in MB). You will note at the bottom Windows suggests a minimum and maximum (recommended) size. Windows initially sets recommended at 1.5 X RAM. Even though I have 1 gig of RAM, I have found that RAM X 2 works better for editing. This surprised me but I have verified and not exactly sure why other than has to do with the way Premiere utilizes RAM. That said realize that on a system like mine that is 2 gigs so make sure your drive has that much capacity.

   
   
   

   There has been a lot of argument on where to put the page file. Of course it makes sense to put it on a HD that is fast but not constantly utilized for video editing access. Here is what makes sense to me. This also follows with what MS recently published. Your system drive has a portion blocked out for the page file when you first loaded XP. Where it is located should be on the outer edges of the HD (for faster access) unless other OS were also installed on the same HD. However, placing the pagefile on the boot partition does not optimize performance because Windows has to perform disk I/O on both the system directory and the pagefile. Therefore, it is recommended that you place the pagefile on a different partition anddifferent physical hard disk drive so that Windows can handle multiple I/O requests more quickly. However, completely removing the pagefile from the boot partition does not allow Windows to create a crash dump file (Memory.dmp) should a kernel mode STOP error occur. Not having this crash dump file could lead to extended downtime should the STOP require a debug to be performed. The optimal solution is to create one pagefile on the boot partition using the default settings and create one pagefile on another less frequently used partition. The best option is to create the second pagefile so that it is on its own partition/HD, with no data or operating system-specific files. Windows will use the pagefile on the less frequently used partitionover the pagefile on the heavily used boot partition. Windows uses an internal algorithm to determine which page file to use for virtual memory management. In the above scenario, the following goals of the page file would be served

   
   

   Some people install an old spare HD onto the same IDE cable as the System HD and then designate the majority of page file space to that specific drive. They use that drive for page file only. Others partition a new spare HD for space needed for pagefile - usually setting partition on outside and designated for pagefile size only.

   
   

   Now the minimum size may also receive argument from many. I have my minimum set for the same as maximum. The reason I do this is that when you set the minimum the same as the maximum you are establishing a set size on the disk for the pagefile. If you set it lower than max XP will constantly be resizing the file size as usage changes. This can often lead to more page file fragmentation and after heavy hours of editing this can be very noticeable. After changing the minimum value click the Set button and when exit out you will have to reboot but go to items # 4, & 5 below to check some more changes you can make first.

   
   
   
   
   

4. Processor and Memory Usage
   If you had skipped item #3 above Right-clicking on theMy Computer icon, selectAdvances, click thePerformance "Settings" button, you'll see anew tab Visual Effects and then An Advanced tab. Click Advanced tab and you will notice A section that says Processor Scheduling and Memory usage. In the Processor scheduling selectPrograms(for Best Performance). This gives priority for running programs (like Premiere, etc.). Now on Memory usage selectPrograms.Again this gives programs priority to run programs from you memory. Now hitApply and go to item #5 before closing out and re-booting.
   
   
   
   
   
   

5. Visual Effects Setting
   If you had skipped item #4 above Right-clicking on theMy Computer icon, selectAdvances, click thePerformance "Settings" button, you'll see a new tab Visual Effects and then An Advanced tab. Click theVisual Effects tab. Once there selectadjust for best performance. This will allow the best format for processing performance of your video desktop display. Once completed hitApply and proceed to close out and reboot (select yes) if prompted to.
   
   
   
   
   
   

6. Disable automatic updating
   To save memory and CPU time turn off the automatic update system in windows. You can always check manually for updates. Most users have no problem doing this.
   
   
   
   

   
   
   1. Open control panel.
      
      
      

   2. Click onperformance and maintenance.
      
      
      

   3. Click onSystem.
      
      
      

   4. Then click on the automatic updates tab and selectTurn off automatic updating.
      
      
      

   
   
   

   ClickOk.

   
   
   
   

   Note - Some of the following TWEAKS involve Registry Changes. This is not difficult and not hazardous as some may think. It is safe as long as you pay attention to put the right modification in the right variable. I always double check before exiting. The new "last known good" restore feature in F8 menu should protect you. See section VII for instructions on how to do this. Also refer to TWEAK #20 (a the end - I note a program that can do registry settings for you.)

   
   
   
   
   

7. Stop MSN Messenger to quit opening at boot-up
   This will keep MSN from loading in the background. Go to Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc >User Configuration >
   
   
   

   Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger: enable "Do not allow Windows Messenger to be run" and "Do not automatically start Windows Messenger initially - On both right click then Properties + enable and then hit Apply button. "Note - some report a delay of approximately 20 sec to open Outlook or

   
   

   Outlook express after initiating TWEAK Item #7. "

   
   

   
   

   
   
   
   
   

8. Clear PageFile at Shutdown
   When booting up it is best to start with the pagefile clear so as to not become as fragmented. This can be a big help before intensive editing sessions. In Win 2K this required a registry change but now it can be done easier (note registry change is still possible). Go to Start > Control panel > Administrative tools > local security policy > Local policies > security options then fine the option >
   
   
   

   "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile" right click then Properties + enable and then hit Apply button. Please note this will increase your shutdown time especially if you have a large pagefile like I do (2 gig = RAM X2).
   

   
   
   
   
   
   

9. Disable Error Reporting
   I have not found much use for this and it does tie up a small amount of disk space and HD accessing. To disable this go toStart > Control Panel > System then click onAdvanced Tab - click on the"error reporting" button and then check box that saysDisable error reporting but also check" but notify me when a critical error occurs".Then OK
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

10. Turn Off System Restore
    Although System restore can be somewhat beneficial it takes a lot of space, XP allocates 10% of your partition to System Restore by default, and if you have a large drive, you can be losing lots of space can tie-up HD. It will also affect access time (turning off it will increase Window Performance). You can change a variety of options for System Restore. To get to it go Right-click onMy Computer, clickProperties, and choose theSystem Restore tab. In this window you can completely disable system restore (which I recommend) or change the settings for specific drives (which I do recommend to only select system drive if decide to leave enabled). You may consider disabling and enabling to do appoint in time capture before making some large system adjustment, etc. There have been numerous reports that restore points do not seem to get fully restored, so to me the usage may be very limited at all.
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    

11. Enable Clear Type
    This makes a noticeable impact on 2D performance and the view is great. Contrary to some reports it is not designed just for LCD screens. To turn this on > Right click on a blank area of the Desktop and chooseProperties
    
    
    

    - Click on theAppearance Tab; ClickEffects - Check the box:Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts- In the drop down box select:Clear Type.
    

    
    
    
    

12. Turn of CD Auto Play
    This minimizes interrupts should you put insert a CD. Open My Computer - Right click on your CD ROM and chooseProperties - Click on theAuto Play tab - In the drop down box you can choose theAction for each choice shown in the drop down boxOr you can :
    
    
    

    
    
    1. Go toStart>Run>gpedit.msc - Enter
       
       
       

    2. Computer Config >Administrative Template >System
       
       
       

    3. Double clickTurn off Autoplay
       
       
       

    4. Enable it.
       
       
       

    
    
    
    
    
    

13. Insure Boot Defrag is Enabled
    A very neat new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a defragment at boot. This means that all boot files are placed next to each other on the disk drive to allow for faster booting. By default this optionis suppose to be enabled but some upgrade users have reported that it isn't on their setup. To check go toStart > thenRun . TypeRegedit.EnterNavigate toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftDfrgBootOptimizeFunction
    
    
    
    

    
    
    1. SelectEnable from the list on the right.
       
       

    2. Right on it and selectModify.
       
       

    3. Change the value toYto enable andN to disable.
       
       

    4. Reboot your computer.
       
       

    
    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    

14. Reduce wait for memory from cache to write to disk
    I found this TWEAK to be very beneficial in shutdown and actually bootup + run stability. Not sure of all the specifics but appears it is reducing the wait for memory from cache to write to the disk. You can loose data if it is not written to the disk from cache while the system is shutting down. This is important in XP makeup to get all info right given the stuff it does on a re-boot. Go toStart >Run >regedit >Entergoto"HKCURRENTUSERControl PanelDesktop" and check that the setting "HungAppTimeout" is 5000(default) make"WaitToKillAppTimeout"4000(default is 20000) Also, go to"HKLOCALMACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlWaitToKillServiceTimeout" and make it 4000 (Default is 30000).Reboot (Note - for value changes right click then select modify to change the value).
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

15. Speed up browsing of desktop by removing delay for scan of files
    This is actually a bug fix for Win 2K & XP. Sometimes delays come from the OS trying to scan shard files for Scheduled Tasks. What the fix does is not scan for Scheduled Task when looking for shared files. Go toStart >Run >regedit >Entergo to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace
    
    
    

    
    

    
    

    Under that branch, select the key{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}anddelete it.
    

    
    

    Reboot.If you want save copy of the heading before deleting and store somewhere.
    

    
    
    
    

16. Speed Up the Menu Display
    When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers to appear instantly. Go toStart >Run >regedit >Enter Navigate toHKEY_CURRENT_USERControlPanelDesktop SelectMenuShowDelay from the list on the right. Right click on it and selectModify. Change the value to100.Reboot your computer
    
    
    
    
    
    

17. Scandisk is not a part of Windows XP
    instead you get the new and improvedCHKDSK. You remember after getting faults in Win 2K it would do a Scan the next time you booted up. After errors / upsets in XP, it is advisable to do this butyou have to initiate it - not automatic. You can do this through the Error-checking tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk.
    
    
    
    

    
    
    1. OpenMy Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check, for instance "c" your system / boot HD.
       
       

    2. On the File menu, clickProperties.
       
       

    3. On theTools tab, underError-checking, clickCheck Now.
       
       

    4. Under Check disk options, select theScan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.
       
       

       
       
       1. All files must be closed for this process to run. If the volume is currently in use, a message box will appear prompting you to indicate whether or not you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time you restart your system. Then, the next time you restart your system, disk checking will run. Your volume will not be available to perform other tasks while this process is running.
          
          
          

       2. If your volume is formatted as NTFS, Windows automatically logs all file transactions, replaces bad clusters, and stores copies of key information for all files on the NTFS volume
          
          
          

       
       

    
    
    
    
    

18. Disable NTFS Last Access Time
    To prevent NTFS from updating the last Access time of each directory do the following : Go toStart >Run >regedit >EnterNavigate toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESSystemCurrentControlSetControlFileSystem.Add a new Dwordand name it NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate. Set value to 1to deletethis feature
    
    
    
    
    

19. msconfig - stop unnecessary TSR programs
    One of the last adjustments we make should be to stop any programs that might be running in the background. These programs are commonly referred to as TSR (Terminate andStayResident). Those familiar with Win 98 & ME will remember this. The "msconfig" GUI can display program/utilities running at Start-up. It also gives you control over other aspects of the system itself. Click onStart >Run, type inmsconfig & hitEnter. This will load the System Configuration Utility. Now select theStartup tab.
    
    
    

    This tab displays a list of all programs that are loaded upon system start-up. The items which are Ticked are actually being loaded upon Start-up. To disable an item (from being loaded atStartup) simplyUntick it.Now which to leave ticked……..
    

    
    

    TSR programs load instructions into memory that shouldn't be there for high intensive operation such as video editing. There are, however, a few that should be left in the background.
    

    
    

    
    
    1. You should leave theRUNDLL32 entry"Ticked",
       
       

    2. "Untick"Findfast (If you have it). Findfast is a Microsoft a utility included with Microsoft Office applications that builds indexes to speed up finding documents from the Open dialog box in any Microsoft Office program & from Microsoft Outlook. However building these indexes can consume a lot of system resources while they are being updated & such. This feature is of little use to anyone as a result.Make sure you remove it - it does make a difference.
       
       
       
       
       
       

    3. Leavetbctray and leave any that have "no Command name" and in Location section start with HKxxxxxx.
       
       

    4. If using something like the Matrox RT-2000/2500 the.MxvfxStartup MUST be "Ticked" or the Card will not initiate. Other video cards may also have drivers like this.
       
       
       

    5. "Untick" all others that ID some various program - hopefully you will be familiar with the name, ID, etc., if not may want to leave - hit OK and close -reboot for changes to take effect.
       
       
       

    
    
    
    

20. Disable Windows File Protection
    WFP is used to protect the core system files of Windows XP from being changed, whether accidentally or otherwise. This is of more importance if the system in question is accessible by multiple users. System Administrators endorse this feature. Simply explained WFP is used to make sure you don't accidentally mess up something you shouldn't. For the Power User (video editor) WFP doesn't really have much use.It utilizes CPU cycles that could be better used in your other applications. It's wasting hard drive space for the cache folder, etc. For the Power User it is better todisable it altogether. By default WFP will cache a large amount of Protected System files (size depends on hard drive space). While this makes replacing protected files good, it also can take up an enormous amount of hard drive space depending on the amount of files to be cached. I have not been able to find out whether limiting the size in XP helps much. I therefore, disable it altogether.Note I had this included in the Win2K TWEAKS guide and one individual reported having some problems after doing this - Others that have done this report no problems - do not if that person accidentally made a entry error or what. Appears it may have been Network related. I just mention because it did happen and may want to utilize System Restore or have a Ghost Backup if you are uncomfortable. A side note- you can not even make this change in Win 2K after SP2 is installed.
    
    
    

    
    

    
    

    Start >Run >regedit >EnterNavigate to[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsNTCurrentVersionWinlogon]
    

    
    

    Go to SFCDisable right click modify and change the following in hexidecimal
    

    
    

    (DWORD Value)Value Data: (0 = enabled (default),0xffffff9d= disabled)

    
    
    

    The value of "SFCDisable" should be0xffffff9d to disable WFS or "0" to re-enable if have problem. The other valid values are: "1" for disabled, prompt at boot to re-enable"2" for disabled at next boot only, no prompt to re-enable
    

    
    

    "4" for enabled, with popups disabled Restart Windows for the change to take effect.
    

    
    

    After late hours of installing fresh both Win 2000 & Win XP, I am not certain whether XP has the inhibit change for the WFP like what occurred after the Win 2000 SP 2 upgrade. My settings show0xffffff9dbut I can't remember if had to use workaround fix like Win 2K SP2. If you try the above change and it does not take (after reboot) you can get a Fix. The Fix has to make an adjustment in the sfc.dll. A guy wrote a quick exe program that takes care of this and I used on 2K. There are also numerous sites on the web which show you how to edit the dll but I think the fix is easier. You can go to : http://www.collakesoftware.com/downloads.htm then go to SetSFC and click on Downlad SetSfc v1.01 (~6k) After running you can make the changes noted above and they stick.

    
    

    If all this scares you can go to www.xteq.com and get XTEQ X-SETUP: The program is free and utilizes many settings to TWEAK Win 2000 & XP. In fact many or the registry changes noted here x-setup can do from within the program (and change them back). For WFP disable first install the program and go to the X-Setup tab click the Launch X-Setup Default UI, then close the tip that will pop up and then on left side then click on + sign to left of System then + sign of Software Installation then click Windows File Protection and then click on WFP enable and follow instructions. That's it. You may wan to explore the program and note some of the TWEAKS I list that are also included there and you could make changes from the program itself rather than registry entry. Note -You are at your own risk if you try other TWEAKS than those I list.
    

    
    
    
    
    

21. Disable Disk Performance Counters
    Win XP like Win2000 is set to collect physical drive data. Most don't need this as it consumes extra drive transfer time. To disable the disk performance counters: Go to->Start->Programs->Command Prompt Now type in:diskperf -n then reboot. There is a space between the f and the dash (-).