1. Get a multitasking capable motherboard and CPU. An Intel CPU with HyperThreading would be great, dual core would be awesome, if you can afford something like that. HyperThreading improves multitasking by dividing a single processor into two logical processors so 2 different tasks can be executed at once. Needless to say, dual core improves this much more as there are 2 physical processors and 4 resulting logical processors through using HyperThreading on top of that.

2. Use dual-channel memory modules, and in general use RAM modules as fast as possible for your motherboard.

3. Use modern hard drives like S-ATA hard drives for example. Make sure your hard drive has plenty of cache (8MB would be minimal recommended) and also look for low access times and fast throughput. Use 10,000 RPM drives if possible - or in any case, as fast as possible. Use hard disk fans for such units - they usually heat up a lot so extra cooling is needed to keep them running well.

4. Purchase 2 hard identical drives and place them in Raid 0 mode. This doubles the hard disk transfer speed due to the fact that 2 hard disks are being queried at once. It would be good to also purchase a 3rd spare hard disk of the same model, should one of these ever malfunction, but make sure you use the spare hard disk from time to time, because if you keep it unused for many months it may get defective.

5. Use lots and lots of RAM. 2GB would be recommended (or more if you can), 1GB would be minimal. The more RAM you have, the better your system will perform.

6. Use the FAT32 file system instead of NTFS. This advice may come as a surprise for some readers, yet it has proven very effective in practice. Although FAT32 is simpler and less-featured, it is also more effective for multitasking due to the smaller CPU and disk access requirements that come from this simplicity.

7. Use a dedicated swap partition. Our tests shown that this partition should not be that big. Other sources recommend using a swapfile of 3x the amount of physical RAM memory; we found in practice that using a swapfile of 2x the amount of RAM would perform best in terms of speed. If possible, use the FAT16 file system for the dedicated swap partition; please note that the maximal size of a FAT16 partition is 2 GB. It is recommended to place the operating system on the first partition on the first hard drive, and it is highly recommended (!) to place the swap file partition as the first partition on a second hard drive, if possible - meaning on a separate hard drive than the one where your operating system is installed. This is the configuration that works best in most cases.

8. If you have large amounts of RAM, like 2GB or 4GB for example, you may try disabling the swap file completely. This may significantly improve performance, if your applications fit well inside available physical memory.

9. Optimize your Windows Operating system visual aspect, for speed. In Control Panel - System - Advanced - Performance Settings, select 'Adjust for best performance' and then retain only a few minimal options if you want to improve aspect, like 'Use visual styles on windows and buttons' for example. The Windows XP graphical interface consumes a lot of CPU and results in significantly lowering overall computer performance.

10. Get the fastest video card that you can afford. Read reviews on the internet about them. Some cards and drivers are less stable than others for a given performance level.

11. Periodically defragment your hard drives, especially if you copy and delete a lot of data. From time to time it is good to reformat the hard disk completely; in this case, you would have to backup your files on a different partition, format partition then copy files back after formatting. A fragmentation of 4-5% already means a significant computer speed reduction. Use defragmenting tools like Diskeeper for this purpose.

12. If you are using the FAT32 file system, do not make any partitions exceeding 32 GB. If your hard drive is large and you need a lot of partitions, please note that you can use up to 3 primary partitions (although the common usage is to have just one) and an extended partition, and then within the extended partition you can set any amount of partitions needed, up to the number of available drive letters which is of 26 in total.

13. Use operating systems like Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 which have proven to be indeed faster and more reliable when compared with older Windows 98 or Windows ME operating systems. If needed, upgrade your operating system.

14. Do not mix operating systems like Windows 98 and Windows 2000 - Windows 2003 - Windows XP on a local network. Network transfers between Win 9X and 2k/XP based operating systems are a real pain. Generally, if you are still using Win9X, it would be best to upgrade to a newer operating system.

15. Make sure you have properly configured your computer BIOS. Since BIOS works directly with your motherboard and drivers and preconfigures your system hardware before the operating system is loaded, these settings are vital for your computer performance. You may want to play with CPU caching options, set memory timings to optimal values (test if necessary) and ensure that hard disk controllers are configured for maximal speed. Disable Bios Caching and Video Caching, these are not useful for modern operating systems, they were rather needed for older MS-DOS compatible operating systems like Win9x. Turn off IDE auto detection and set them manually, whenever possible. Also, enable 'fast boot', 'silent boot', 'quick boot' or similar option.

16. Get the latest drivers for your hardware, especially for video and SCSI devices. Visit your website manufacturers and download the latest drivers they have for your hardware. Subscribe to a driver download notification emailing list, if they have one. In general, drivers coming with your Windows Install CD may work but they are usually obsolete. Some newer drivers can be found through Windows Update, but in most cases it is best to download new drivers directly from the manufacturer of your hardware device.

17. Buy only quality, brand hardware. Cheap hardware will never work properly; cheap motherboards and computer cards are unstable, have improperly written drivers and tend to easily get defective. If possible, buy a preconfigured computer of quality brand. Serious manufacturers usually test their components for compatibility and therefore such machines are real stable and have excellent performance for their hardware class.

18. Use Windows Update to keep your computer files updated with the latest versions.

19. Connect different IDE drives using separate IDE cables. Put your primary hard disk on the first interface (IDE 0) and the CD-ROM/DVD unit(s) on the second interface (IDE 1) using a second IDE cable. Having another drive on the same cable can significantly decrease your primary hard disk performance.

20. Use the latest DirectX version as this will improve gaming performance. Needless to say also, the best video card you can get, the best would be your 3D gaming performance. In some cases, you may want to reduce screen color depth to 16-bit (65536 colors), especially on some older video cards - this may improve performance for such video cards, if you can't get a newer card which would however be the best option.

21. Make sure you enable DMA transfers on IDE slave drives, which is not enabled by default. Go to Control Panel - System - Device Manager, jump to your IDE controller, and in the 'Primary IDE Channel' - Advanced Settings, configure it to use DMA instead of default PIO (programmatic I/O) modes.

22. Make sure you enable Write caching for SCSI drives - you can do this from Device Manager by going to SCSI devices.

23. Close any application that you do not use. If you cannot close them, at least minimize them as when they run in background mode, they consume less CPU.

24. Disable unneeded programs that auto-run at startup. These can really bog down your system. Use a startup manager program to make your life easier. You can use the built-in startup manager in Windows XP by going to Start - Run, type 'MSCONFIG' and hit Enter.

25. Disable Messengers that you do not use (Windows comes with MSN Messenger by default).

26. Disable all unnecessary services. Depending on configuration, you may want to disable File and Print, FTP, World Wide Web, Routing and Remote Access, IIS Admin Service, Telnet, Smart Card and Smart Card Helper, Terminal Services, Uninterruptible Power Supply. Also make sure you disable Indexing Service, as this usually significantly slows down your system.

27. If there are programs that you do not use, uninstall them - this frees disk space as well as remove some unneeded dll's from memory.

28. Reinstall your operating system from time to time, when you can. Some programs, even if uninstalled, leave unnecessary dll files inside your computer. Since it is difficult to manage them, a fresh reinstall would be a good option.

29. When you have just reinstalled and activated your copy of windows, backup your system on DVD and keep it safe, using a disk backup or disk clone tool. Whenever you may need to have a fresh system you can use the disk to get a fresh installed operating system on your computer. Norton Ghost can be such an useful disk clone program. Some computers come with such tools preinstalled, so use them when you just received your computer to make a backup of the system.

30. Empty temporary files from C:WindowsTEMP, C:Temp folders. Empty Temporary internet files periodically. Use Disk Cleanup to get rid of all this waste on your computer.

31. Reduce the size of your System Restore folders at lower percentages, for example like 8% . You may want to disable System Restore on partitions where they are not needed, where there is no OS stuff or programs installed but just your stored files and data.

32. Remove any unneeded Fonts. Fonts can really bog down your computer. Removing them will save a lot of memory and significantly improve performance.

33. Remove unneeded network protocols like IPX and NetBEUI.

Hopefully, this list will prove useful to readers, in obtaining the most out of their Windows based computer and increasing speed and multitasking performance in all daily operations. Please note that these advices come with no guarantees - you are on your own, and in any case you should better know what you are doing. Good luck - and enjoy your improved computer performance!