Performance is an advanced tool for monitoring system variables, each of which is known as a performance counter. To open Performance (previously known as Performance Monitor), choose Start > Settings > Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, and then open Performance.

You can configure the information to be viewed as a chart, histogram or report. To add a performance counter, click on Add from the menu bar: this brings up the menu for selecting the various counters available, which are available by performance object i.e. to see all the available counters for memory, select memory from the Performance Object drop down menu, and all the available counters will be listed below. Explanations of each counter can be accesses using the Explain button. These performance counters can then be added individually using the Add button.

In Windows 2000 physical disk counters are turned on by default, to disable them, use the diskperf command from a command prompt

-Y Sets the system to start all disk performance counters when you restart the computer.

-YD Enables the disk performance counters for physical drives when you restart the computer.

-YV Enables the disk performance counters for logical drives or storage volumes when you restart the computer.

-N Sets the system to disable all disk performance counters when you restart the computer.

-ND Disables the disk performance counters for physical drives.

-NV Disables the disk performance counters for logical drives.

e.g. "diskperf -n" will disable all disk performance counters.