Allow drivers and the kernel code to be kept in memory
It goes without saying that the more RAM you have, the better your system will run.
You shouldn't have anything less than 64 MB on a Windows NT system.
So, if you DO have more than that, it's time to double-check a setting.
Fire up the registry editor and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ ControlSet001 \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management
In the right hand pane, double click: DisablePagingExecutive
Make sure this is set to "1" (again, only if you have more than 64 MB of RAM).
This will allow drivers and the kernel code to be kept in memory.
The default value is 0, which pages drivers and kernel code only when needed.