The following instructions will help increase the performance of your computer or laptop running Windows XP

File Browsing
This will stop windows explorer looking for any networked drives when opening.
1.    Double-click on My Computer
2.    Click the Tools menu
3.    Select Folder Options
4.    Click on the View tab.
5.    Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6.    Click Apply
7.    Click OK
8.    Reboot your computer

Display Settings
Windows XP looks great but that look comes at a cost, if you can live without all the nice effects and would prefer better performance follow the instructions below.
1.    Click the Start button
2.    Select Control Panel
3.    Double-click the System icon
4.    Click the Advanced tab
5.    In the Performance box click Settings
6.    Leave only the following ticked:
7.    Show shadows under menus
8.    Show shadows under mouse pointer
9.    Show translucent selection rectangle
10.    Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
11.    Use visual styles on windows and buttons
12.    Finally, click Apply and OK

Disable Indexing
Turning off this service will stop XP from creating index lots of files on your computer, if you do not search your computer for files all that much then it is well worth turning this function off.
1.    Click Start button
2.    Select the Control Panel
3.    Double-click Add/Remove Programs
4.    Click the Add/Remove Window Components icon on the left side of the window
5.    Look for the “Indexing Services” component in the list
6.    Uncheck the Indexing Services
7.    Click Next
8.    Click Finish