I am wondering what I can do that can speed it up without irreparably damaging my computer and also without having to take it in to him again. It loads very slowly. Things seem to run a bit faster if I leave the Windows sign-in screen there, without signing in, for say five minutes or so. Programs and other windows seem to hang-up/freeze easily., Not directly, but you could put a batch (.bat) file in the Startup folder to open the program instead of a shortcut. Not all Windows XP systems have a sleep command, so a common workaround is to use ping to wait for a set amount of time., Many programs are designed to start automatically when Windows does. You don’t realize they're running, but they'll open quickly when you go to use them. This is helpful for programs you use a lot, but not for programs you don’t use often because it increases the time it takes Windows to start. Find the programs that start automatically, If you're here, chances are you're feeling frustrated with your slow computer, and you're looking for ways to make it faster. Well, you're in luck! In this v, Hack 1: Speed Up Aero Peek A quick tweak to speed up Aero Peek. (Click for larger image.) Windows 7’s Aero Peek lets you see the desktop when you move your mouse cursor over to the “show , Perform a Boot Defragment There’s a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster..