Faster Printing in XP

Windows XP uses a service called 'Print Spooler' to print your documents, while you can simultaneously work on other application. What print spooler actually does is that it collects all the printing data and saves it to a temporary file before initiating the printing process. This may be time consuming when printing multiple documents or images. You can turn print spooler off and print directly from the printer rather than letting windows save your printing data in a temporary file and then start the printing.

To do this, head to Start > Printers and Faxes. Right click on the name of your printer, click on properties, click on Advanced tab, select ' directly from the printer' option to disable spooling. One thing to be kept in mind though, you may not be able to work on other applications until the whole printing is done.