a good start would be to follow this guide:
http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html
then
run > regedit
remove dlls from cache memory
go to hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\windows\curr entversion\explorer. create a new dword value named alwaysunloaddll, and give it a data value of 1
prefetch parameters
set the registry key hkey_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\contro l\session manager\memory management\prefetchparameters\enableprefetcher to 0 to disable prefetching, 1 to prefetch application launch files, 2 to prefetch boot files, or 3 to prefetch as many files as possible.
place windows kernel into ram
edit the registry key hkey_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\contro l\session manager\memory management\disablepagingexecutive to 1 to disable paging and have the kernel run in ram (set the value to 0 to undo this hack). exit the registry and reboot.
enough for now.