Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like
Windows Updates and interrogating your PC etc.

Click Start then Run and type

“gpedit.msc” without quotes.

This opens the Group Policy Editor.

Then go to: Local Computer Policy –> Computer Configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Network –> QOS Packet Scheduler

Then double click LimitReservableBandwidth.

It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the ‘Explain’ tab i.e.”By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default.”

So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.

Windows XP stores a couple of values in its registry which are responsible for determining how long to wait before shutting down (killing) open applications and services once the shutdown command has been given.

By editing these two settings and changing them to lower values, you can considerably decrease the amount of time that Windows XP needs to successfully shut itself down. The first part of this tweak deals with setting the amount of time Windows will take to kill open applications on shutdown.

Open REGEDIT and navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\’
Highlight the ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’ value.
Set it to ‘1000′ (the default should be 20000).
Now highlight the ‘HungAppTimeout’ value
Set it to ‘1000′ also.

How to Format a computer using a Windows XP disc.
What you need:
A windows Xp disc (bootable)...
A windows Xp Operating system...
Lets get started
. Restart your PC and do the following...
. Go into the BIOS settings of your PC, usually by pressing the F1, F2, F10, or maybe the delete key, If you are not sure watch the screen at startup and it will say "To enter setup press..." You have to be quick and press it. If you miss it restart again, Once you are in the bios you have to change the boot options, You have to make your cd rom the first boot option. Save and exit (F10 to save and exit)...
. First you put your Windows XP CD in the drive...
. When it says press any key to boot from cd, Press any key on the keyboard...
. If it doesn't ask you this then restart your computer again...
. A blue screen will appear and you are on your way...
. Once the set up has loaded all the windows files, It will say "press F8 to agree to the terms and conditions" press F8...
. Now you are at the set up, Click your C drive and format your old windows, Press D, it will ask if you are sure by clicking L...
. You should be back at the partions, It will look like this...

. Press enter on the C drive, It will ask you if want to do a quick format or normal format, Press enter on quick format...
. Let it format, After the format has completed, It will copy windows files, When that has completed it will say "computer will reboot in 15 seconds"...
. Now your computer has rebooted it will carry on with the set up from there you will know what you are doing
Note: If you lose any data while doing this, I am NOT responsible.
Any comments or questions, Post here

If you can’t get enough of the default options in Windows XP, and want to tweak it to the utmost level without getting into the registry and messing up with stuff, you could download any one of the following software that let you tweak Windows XP easily:

TweakUI

TweakUI gives you access to modify settings that necessarily cannot be changed in Windows XP. Over a hundred default settings can be modified by using the TweakUI Control Panel Applet. Integrating very well with the default interface, this tool is very lightweight as well.

Download Tweak Windows XP