Windows XP is still one of the best operating systems ever released by Windows. It is fast, secure and offers a great feature set. Unfortunately, there are various problems and bugs, but the guide below will help you fix all problems within minutes.

Windows XP Repair Software

For the fastest and most reliable XP repair, I highly recommend that you try out repair software. With the right product, you can fix 99% of errors and get a massive gain in speed, usually in under 4 minutes. Just be careful with the product you use, some optimization products and Registry cleaners can damage your performance. The best product we have tested is PC Health Advisor, the download can be found on this page.

Use XP  Repair Software to fix:

• Fix errors: DLL errors, EXE errors, application faults, script errors
• Fix applications such as Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Media player etc
• Fix blue or black screen crashes
• Increase speed and performance
• Clean the registry and reduce clutter
• Improve disk performance and free up disk space

The download is no cost, and is well worth trying out. However, for many situations you can perform manual fixes to get back to peak performance and to eliminate errors. Keep reading to learn how to fix your XP now.

How to Fix Windows XP Without Third Party Software

If your installation of Windows XP is running slow or experiencing errors, the guide below will help you restore performance and eliminate errors. Please note: the following guide will not offer any advice on Registry cleaning. This should only be done with software, as the subject matter is too broad to cover in one article.

1) Get Up to Date

The first step before fixing Windows XP is to ensure that you are up-to-date. It is important to download the latest service packs. For Windows XP, this is Service Pack 3. The service packs contain many fixes and upgrades to the system and applications. In many cases, users can find excellent performance improvements just by upgrading.

To get the latest service pack, you need to open up Windows Update. Start -> All Programs -> Windows Update. From here you can check which updates your PC requires. You should also turn on automatic updates, if you haven’t done so already. SP3 is fairly large, so it will take a bit of time to download.

You should also ensure that you have the latest updates for Microsoft Office and update to the latest browser. Many errors that exist in Internet Explorer 6 and 7 can be eliminated simply by upgrading to the newest browser. The same applies for Microsoft Office. It often has new updates that fix bugs and security flaws.

So before you try any further optimizing, just make sure that everything is up-to-date. In particular, you need the latest Windows security updates. This will also be available via the Windows Update tool. Without these updates, your system can be exposed to Viruses and Malware. Once everything is up-to-date, you will be ready to properly fix Windows XP, or the updates may have already fixed your issue.

2) Reduce Clutter

By getting rid of clutter on your PC, you can greatly improve performance. You will also free up some valuable disk space.

Software and Programs

I can bet that your PC is probably loaded with applications and programs that you never use. The problem is these applications are consuming valuable resources on your PC. Those resources could be better used for your core usage.

When you have tons of unnecessary software on your computer, it is going to slow it down and waste disk space too. By de-cluttering, you will get a boost in performance.

The best way to remove programs is from the Add/Remove programs section of the Control Panel. Always remove software here. Do not just delete software folders, because entries will still remain in the Registry. If you don’t remove programs in this way, the Registry entries will still try to boot the program or do other funny things. This can result in various errors that won’t make any sense.

Cleanup the Disk

Cleaning up your disk should be done to improve computer performance and also to free up space on your hard drive. As time goes on, plenty of junk can build up on your hard drive and this slows things down.

To do this, we use a tool called disk cleanup. This will remove temp files files, empty the recycle bin, remove temporary internet files and remove programs and components no longer in use.

1) Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup

2) If you have multiple hard drives, you will need to select the drive you wish to clean up, then select ok.

3) When the disk cleanup begins, it will take a few minutes to analyze your disk. This will vary depending on disk size and the number of files.

4) On the disk cleanup menu, you can now choose which items to remove. It will also provide a calculation of how much disk space will be gained.

5) If you wish to clean up Windows components and programs, click on the more options tab. You can then remove programs/components by clicking the Clean up button and selecting which programs/components to remove.

Disk Defragmentation

Files stored on your computer are often fragmented, with parts of the file stored separately across the hard drive. This fragmentation can make data access quite slow.

By running the disk defragmentation tool, it attempts to store the files in one piece, which makes data access faster and improves overall PC performance

To defragment your hard drive:

1) Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter

2) The screen will display your hard drives and the capacity, free space, etc. You can then choose which hard drive to fragment and click Defragment. The Analyze button will give an estimate of how long the defragment process will take. In some cases, this might be a while, so you may want to click the Analyze button before performing the defrag.

Once your defrag is done, you can view a report. When you are done, click close.

3) Fix Windows XP Startup Performance

It is ok to have a lot of programs installed, but there is no need to have them all run at boot time. Most programs you will only need at certain times, so that is when they should be booted. By booting them all at startup, you are just slowing down your PC and creating unneccessary waiting times.

Here is how you can cut down the programs that run at bootup. This will definitely increase performance.

Click on Start -> Run. Then type “msconfig” into the run box and click OK.

Click on the Startup tab and remove any programs that you do not need. Be careful here, don’t remove anything you are not completely sure of. Note: you are not deleting or removing these programs from your computer. You are just stopping them from starting up at boot time. You can still start them anytime, just by double clicking their icon.

4) Drivers, Drivers, Drivers

So many errors can be fixed with the correct drivers. Make sure that you have the correct drivers installed on your system. If you have recently re-installed the operating system, remember to install all of the device drivers from the CDs that came with your computer.

It might be difficult to identify all system drivers without software, but you can update most of the crucial devices. Many come with software that will alert you when drivers need to be updated.

You can also check drivers by going  to: Start -> Control Panel -> System -> device manager

Here you just select a device, right-click and select Properties. You can now view the driver details by clicking on the Driver tab. Here you can update the driver or find out driver details. This will help you know if you have the correct driver installed. This whole process is better done with software. Check our downloads section if you need driver repair/update software. It scans your entire system and locates out-of-date or missing drivers.

5) Registry

This beyond the scope of this article, because it can take hours to manually fix the Registry. However, Registry repair can lead to the greatest improvement in PC performance. You can try some software to see what you think. Our recommendation is PC Health Advisor, which is an optimization tool, that also does Registry cleaning. Check it out.

If you are reading this, you are probably having some troubles with your PST file. Below is a step-by-step guide to help you fix the problem fast.

You can use recovery tools to fix the problem or you can attempt a manual fix. Just choose your preferred option from the list below.

Outlook Recovery Software

In most cases, Outlook recovery software is the fastest and easiest way to restore a corrupt or damaged inbox. These are powerful tools that can fix many problems. If you have any of the following problems, we recommend that you try out the download, which you can find here at no cost.

Use PST Recovery software to fix:

• Corrupt or damaged PST files and inboxes
• Oversized PST files
• Frozen or locked PST files and inboxes
• Lost or missing Outlook passwords
• Missing or deleted Outlook email

Check out the download for PST repair on this page. Otherwise, you can try the manual fixes listed below.

Manually Fixing Outlook Problems

You are here probably due to a serious Outlook error, or a corrupt inbox. So for this reason, we have listed the more serious problems first, to help you quickly identify and fix, because there is nothing worse than losing your email and contacts.

Corrupt Outlook Inbox

This problem can be a real nightmare. Either your Outlook won’t open, or it reports a corrupted/damaged inbox. If you have this problem, the only way that I can see out of it, is to run a third party repair tool or the Microsoft repairt ool.

Using Scanpst.exe to fix Outlook Problems

There is a tool in Microsoft called Scanpst.exe. You can run this over your PST file to see if it fixes the problem. Hopefully it will.

The location of this tool can be difficult to find. Depending on your system, it should be in a similar location to this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033\SCANPST.EXE

Once you have located this file, just double-click to start it. You then just select the location of the inbox to repair. You will need to know the location of your Outlook PST file. You can get the location of the PST file by right-clicking your inbox and select properties. Then you click on the advanced tab. You should see the location.

If you can’t open Outlook, the default location of the PST file, will be something like:

For XP

C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Vista and Windows 7

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Once you know the location of your PST file, it is a good idea to also make a backup. Once you run scanpst.exe over your inbox, if successful you will be able to view mail again. If not, you will need a third party repair program. You can read our review of Stellar PST Repair, if you want a solution that works extremely well.

Cannot Find Outlook PST File / Missing PST File

Sometimes your PST file will change locations or you may have initially been setup with a non-default location for your PST files. If this is the case, you need to find your PST files and move them back to their original location or remap your account via Outlook.

For example, if you had PST files in a non-standard location, if Outlook was re-installed or your profile was moved to another machine, when you setup Outlook it won’t find your files. It might appear as if your email is all gone, but don’t worry it can be found. Assuming it hasn’t been deleted. You can also use third party tools to manage this.

First you need to find your PST file. The best way is to do a search in Windows, using “*.pst” as the search term. Once you have located large PST files, you should be able to identify which one is yours. Now you just need to remap in Outlook.

To point Outlook to your PST file:

• In Outlook, click Tools->Options
• Click Email accounts under the Mail Setup tab
• On Data files, click Add
• Select the PST option
• Find the location of your old PST file
• Set as Default
• Done – Don’t forget to restart Outlook

Oversized PST File

This was quite an issue with the earlier versions of Outlook. If you are using anything earlier than Outlook 2007, then you might experience this problem. The filesize limits for Outlook files were 2Gigabytes. Once you hit this limit, your Outlook will die. Well not quite, it will open, but you can forget about receiving any email. Generally you won’t receive any error messages either….thanks Microsoft!!

The filesize problem in Outlook is only relevant to users with imap accounts. This is where the restriction is placed. If you are using POP3 accounts, then your PST file can grow beyond the 2GB limit. If you have hit the limit though, there are some steps you can take to fix this.

1. Check the filesize of your PST file
2. Ensure that you have an imap account
3. If you have hit 2GB and no longer receiving email, you will need to start deleting
4. Delete or move mail accordingly, you might need to do this on the server
5. Alternatively, you can split an oversize PST file, with an Outlook Repair Tool (see bottom of page)

Because of the oversize file issues, it is a good idea to archive your email on a regular basis. This will stop oversize file problems from occuring. Then by the time you upgrade to Windows Vista onwards, with Outlook 2007, it won’t be a problem.

Email not being delivered

If you are not receiving email in Outlook, there are several culprits that could be causing the problem. Luckily this is not a serious problem. Only in rare circumstances was it due to a corrupt inbox. If your inbox is corrupt or if you suspect that to be the case, run a scan immediately with scanpst, or with a third party repair tool.

Common reasons for email not being delivered.

• No connection to server, lack of connectivity. Check your internet connection.
• Oversized PST file. This is very common cause for email to stop being delivered.
• Exchange server problems. There could be problems with the remote server that you connect to. Try again later on.

Oversized outlook imap files are usually the problem when email stops. You don’t receive any error messages and Outlook opens up fine. However, you will not receive any email, even though it all seems good. If this is the case, you need to check the filesize and take appropriate action.

Cannot Open Outlook

There are several causes to this problem. Unfortunately this can be a severe problem, due to a corrupt inbox or PST file. If you do have a corrupt file this will usually be reported to you in some way or another. If Outlook is just starting and crashing, you should first reboot your computer, then try again.

If the problem persists and you cannot fix. We recommend you try the step above for corrupt inbox. You will need to use some kind of repair tool in order to retrieve your email.

Other reasons for not being able to open Outlook include:

• Invalid shortcut or file pointer
• Oversized PST file
• Spyware or Malware
• Damaged inbox
• Missing PST file

Check that your PST file is in the right location and run a spyware scan on your computer if necessary.

Cannot Send Email in Outlook

Generally if you cannot send email in Outlook, this is a minor problem. It usually is not caused by a corrupt or damaged PST file. The general cause is connectivity or remote server problems. In probably 80% of the cases I have seen, it is the remote server down. Occasionally Windows can play up and a simple reboot fixes the problem.

If you cannot send email, the possible causes and solutions are:

• Check connectivity, ensure you are connected to the internet
• Check account setings, make sure SMTP settings are correct
• Check remote server, contact your IT admin to make sure it is up and running

Cannot Remember Outlook Password

If you have forgotten your Outlook password or if you need to access and Outlook account, there is only one option here. You need a third party tool, eg: Stellar Outlook Repair. This product can provide access to accounts that are password protected. We have never required this service, but we do know that it can be done quickly and easily.

Outlook Times Out

A very common problem in Outlook and very annoying. Outlook can timeout for a number of reasons. Generally due to lack of connectivity, remote server problems or a corrupt inbox. You might see a number of associated errors with this problem. Below are some steps that you can try to resolve these problems. If the steps below do not resolve the errors, you might require an Outlook repair tool.

Sometimes when connecting to the mail server, Outlook can timeout because the timeout setting for your account is set too low. To remedy this, do the following:

• Click Tools->Account Settings
• Select the account that is timing out
• Click More Settings->Advanced tab
• Here you can increase the timeout to a higher number

If that did not fix the problem, ensure that you are properly connected and that the remote server is not having problems. Otherwise, if you suspect a corrupt inbox, try the Outlook repair tool.

Third Party Repair Tools

If you need a quick fix for a corrupted inbox, or the solutions above did not work, you should try an Outlook repair tool. This software can recover corrupt, damaged or missing Outlook PST files in 95% of cases. The free scan model first notifies you of what can be recovered. We highly recommend such a tool for anyone that needs to recover email fast. With Outlook, you will also recover contacts, notes, calendar and everything else in your PST.

Just be sure to always use a trusted third party product. Some software can be harmful. I have personally used Stellar Outlook PST repair on various occasions and it has always worked great. You can find this in our downloads section, or you can read a review about this application here.