How2Day: IE6 XP Tips for Speed

If Internet Explorer 6, also called IE6, seems to be running slowly on your Windows XP system, take a moment to optimize it. With a few changes and some regular system maintenance, you can speed up IE6 on XP. Speeding up IE6 will help the browser start faster, allow frequently visited websites to load quicker and prevent some error messages and browser crashes.

The longer you go without clearing your temporary Internet files, cookies and browsing history, the more IE6 is bogged down. This can also create problems on XP as the size of your cache increases every time you visit a new website. You can clear your cache at any time by visiting the Internet Options menu within IE6. After the cache is cleared, you will be able to open IE6 quicker and have more space available on your XP system.

If you visit the same sites regularly, you can actually speed up the site's loading time by keeping your temporary Internet files and cookies. Your files keep a version of the page stored on your system along with information about your last login session. The only problem with keeping temporary Internet files and cookies for long periods of time is the possibility the site may be updated. If you use older files, you'll be viewing the older, cached version of the site. Within the Internet Options menu, you can change how often to check for new versions and when to delete older files.

Though add-ons may seem to make your life easier for a while, the more add-ons you have, the longer it takes IE6 to load. Depending on the purpose of the add-on, you may also notice problems loading certain types of websites. Some add-ons actually start up when XP starts. This increases the start time for your operating system. Regularly check the add-ons section of IE6 and remove any you no longer want or need. You can choose to disable or uninstall the add-on. Disabling keeps the add-on installed, but it will not run or affect system performance in any way.

If you download multiple files from the same website at one time, IE6 may slow down significantly or crash. By default, IE6 only allows two simultaneous connections. By editing the registry, you can increase the maximum number of connections per server to ten. This will allow you to load more Web pages and download more files at once. Keep in mind that you will still be limited by your actual connection speed.

Though JavaScript and ActiveX controls add small applications and functionality to many websites, IE6 takes significantly longer to load websites if these are enabled. You can still view websites without JavaScript or ActiveX enabled. If you're uncertain about whether you need either of these controls, you can change the settings within IE6 so that you are prompted before JavaScript or ActiveX controls load.

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