How to keep Windows XP stable

The best thing is defragmentation. Otherwise, that fragmentation will turn into system errors.

The second best is registry error correction. Clean and fix those orphans.

Fragmentation does not cause system instablity.

fragmentation causes system slow down

i've been using this for 2 years, free, easy, awesome

http://www.billwinkle.org/rambooster/screenshots.html

Unfortunately the other thing running on my system that uses over 2000 Handles is ObjectDock
Oh well >

Useful article, I've always checked the mem usage if things get bogged down to see if something got left running in memory by accident, but I was unaware of the other items - handles etc.

Nice article,

BTW Object Dock only uses an aver age of 190 or so handles on my sys.

Fragmentation will cause a system to crash. When fragmentation gets bad the program won't load. Therefore you get a lock up(I.E. Program Crash). Because, windows can't find all the pieces. If bad fragmentation occurs in system files then you get system errors.(I.E. Blue Screens Of Death). Left over bytes occur all the time when something is fragmented normally it is just a deleted file. But, when windows mistakes those left over pieces that are actually part of a program, this means trouble.

How do you think a file gets corrupted? Because, windows can't find all the pieces. If that happens to explorer.exe, windows won't load.
Then you have to try a safe boot, and replace it. This is why there was a diagnostic tool to detect corrupted files. IF the file gets badly fragmented, it becomes corrupted.

Slow downs(fragmented files) leads to crashing(Badly fragmented files creating System and Program Errors). Windows gave up searching because it couldn't find all the pieces. I had a Win98 Aptiva and when my system got over 1.5% fragmented my modem wouldn't load with my ISP.

Disk Fragmentation describes "Non Contiguous" file placement on a hard drive. Corruption is not fragmentation. You cannot repair file corruption by de-framenting a drive.

I never said that you could repair corrupted files by defragmenting a hard drive. Sheesh, come on, please don't put words in my mouth that I never said. But, you can minimize it by maintaining your hard drive through regular system maintenance. When windows loses certain bytes from a file, the file becomes corrupted. How does this happen? Answer: Windows cannot find all the pieces. They are spread out all over your fragmented hard drive. I.E. file becomes corrupted. This is why it is suggested that you defrag your system before installing a new program. Because the program won't be spread out all over a fragmented hard drive, and thereby possibly corrupting a newly installed program. But, there are many other ways to corrupt a file too. Viruses are another way.

So, there becomes other important ways to keep Windows stable.

1) Keeping your viruses definitions up to date. And running a full system scan for viruses. And, keeping auto protect on to prevent new viruses. Check all downloads for viruses. And, never open a email attachment from someone that you don't trust or know.

2) Run Windows Update to keep you protected from new vunerabilites.

3) Defrag your hard drive and perform it regularly.

4) Keep your registry clean of orphans files and badly referenced files. Windows also tends to keep a list of recent files that may longer be present, because you deleted them at some point. I find tons of these old orphan enteries in my registry all the time. If your registry gets corrupted, you can kiss your operating system goodbye.

5) Ocassionally clean your temp internet folder. This will help stop slowdown due to Spyware. Bad accepted cookies and such.

6) If you suspect a recent slowdown is strange, try running a Spyware Eliminator such as Spybot Search and Destroy. It's Free. It also checks your registry for orphans and misplaced references which will definitely slow down a system.

Chas... there is no evidence I've ever read where fragmentation itself leads to corruption or instability. I've never experienced it, either, and I have virtually never run a defragger - I maybe ran it once or twice a year under under OS/2, Windows NT, and Windows 2000. I have never run any defragging utility on any of my Macs in the last 2 1/2 years. I've also never lost any data on any of these systems nor have I had any stability issues relating to fragmentation of data.

As well, working in the computer service biz for the last 10-13 years I've not come across it, either. Otoh, older FAT-based Windows file systems will slow down considerably with a badly fragmented file system.

As for some other issues you mention:
1) While it's true that you shouldn't open attachments from people you don't know, more often than not it's the attachments from people you DO know that give unsuspecting people the most common viruses. It would probably be better to simply say that you shouldn't open any attachments you weren't already expecting to receive. The reality is of course that a lot of newer viruses don't need you to open an attachment in order for them to infect you...

Chas, you are incorrect. Fragmentation does not lead to disk corruption. It will slow down the system certainly but it won't lead to system instability.

Well, I won't argue. You run your system your way, and I'll run mine my way. I'll do regular system maintenance and you don't do it. I'll do regular car maintenance and you don't do it. And we will see who has the most headaches.

But, I will say this. When a system is badly defragmented and windows can't find all the pieces, what happens? File errors. Missing bytes. Then you have to run scan disk in an attempt to repair them before you can finish defragging the hard drive. Maybe you don't have a 300 GB system, maybe you have never run scan disk or disk defrag, as you said, and you just blame your problems on the programs themselves. And please don't try to claim that you have never had a program crash on a computer system. I guess Microsoft put those utlities there for no reason. Scan Disk and Disk Defragmenter. I guess program software writers who tell you to defrag your hard drive before installing their software, are wrong and just wasting your time. I give up.

Chas, no need to "give up the boat". There are two schools of thought out there (many more, but this affects these two) Defrag or Leave alone. My thoughts are only defrag if other system tools don't fix the problem. There are those who only say defrag if you do a lot of install/uninstall. Who's to say who is right? Well, they both are. It's just you come from different angles to solve the same problem. To each their own!

As for the actual article, thanks Frogboy! This was good info. Running XP and having a lot of fun trying out diffeerent things can make a system run slowly, and knowing a few more angles to try always helps!

Keep up the great work guys!

I have a question....

Frogboy, you say that to keep a system operating at peak, you should check with Task Manager to be sure that some programs and processes aren't operating beyond certain thresholds. If they are, you say, shut them down.

I've been doing that for a long time. Sometimes, it fixes the problem; sometimes it doesn't. But sometimes, I don't know if it's safe to shut a process or program down, or not. When in doubt, I usually just reboot, which is totally contrary to what you recommend, for obvious reasons. Would you be so kind, then, to list those processes/programs that CANNOT be terminated, or point us to a website that lists this. That would be so helpful. That is always my biggest dilemma.

BTW, fabulous article!!! I am not a novice, but I'm no tekkie either. These kinds of articles, and hell.... programs like Stardock and Wincustomize FORCE me to learn more and more about what makes a comuter tick. Something we all need to know about when we start messing with our MS bloated-for-nothing systems. Computing is so much more fun now.

Dabe

stable ? Xp is by far the most stable OS next to win 2000 !!

Chas
Just one question. Who are you mad at? I visit the message boards regularly, just to see whats going on. It seems you never have anything nice to say. Do you just like to argue, or stir things up, or are you just mad at the world.

um, it can't get fragmented so badly that it can't find the pieces. it has tables that say where the pieces are.

Defragging is good for system performance. I recommend defragging. But saying that fragmentation leads to file errors isn't a matter of opinion, it's plain wrong.  You cannot get a file error due to fragmentation. It's not just unlikely, it impossible.

100% agreement with Brad.