Tech Tips / Windows XP / Performance Monitoring and Optimization
These visual effects may look cool, but they don’t actually increase a user’s productivity. And, in some cases, they can be counterproductive. On many computers, these visual features cause negative side effects and considerably slow system performance. For example, a system may appear extremely slow while opening the Start menu or other program menus. This slowdown is typically caused by the graphic card and unoptimized drivers.
There are several ways to work around this problem. The first option is to check the manufacturer’s Web site for updated drivers. If this doesn’t help, it’s best to either purchase a better graphic card or turn off the visual effects that slow the computer down.
To turn off the visual effects:
The Performance Options dialog will open, listing all the visual effects that can possibly slow down the system. Users can manually enable or disable individual effects or use one of the predefined settings.
Additional settings are located in the Display Properties dialog box. To view these settings:
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