Speed up Windows XP start menu appearance

A simple Registry tweak can speed up your Start menu and its submenus:

Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop (the last word may appear as 'desktop').

Double-click the MenuShowDelay icon on the right, and change 'Value data' from its default of 400 (milliseconds) to something speedier, like 0.

Alternatively, you can slow the menu down to 4000 milliseconds (4 seconds) if the menu appears too quickly to suit you.