Oh, I'd like to do that. I Tried to fine out how, once, but
could not.
It depends on the files, but to get an idea, look at what
shows up as additional information in the folder view,
columns available (you may need to customize the view
columns to see them all but the info is still extracted
either way), and right-click on the files to see the context
menu, and IF you are often looking at file properties, also
go into those and look at any further info provided beyond
the basics on every file (General and version tabs).
Sometimes a video driver adds things, other times a video or
audio player. You'll have to investigate those on a
case-by-case basis. Other things directly added by Windows
can be disabled on a item-by-item basic, for example video
file info extraction,
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/1209/
A more generic approach would be to look at several at once
and disable anything you don't know you need, re-enabling
items again if you loose some important functionality,
though if you're going to do this wide-scale and on items
with functions you can't determine as "safe" to disable, it
would be prudent to first make a backup of the OS partition,
registry, or whatever method you felt most comfortable or
able to restore should you run into problems.... though with
the following utility example, anything you disable can be
re-enabled simply by running the program again.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
While these examples will help with files the OS is treating
specially, and possibly dramatically increase the
responsiveness of a CDR with video files on it (for
example), it still won't do anything about speeding up the
slow drives themselves. If you find you are frequently
accessing certain slow volumes you might consider putting
them on a HDD instead. Sometimes just copying off files is
enough, though other times you may need to rip an ISO and
use a disc emulator program such as Alcohol 120% or Daemon
Tools. These topics are beyond the scope of a usenet post
and Google searches should help to do that.