It is possible to disable XP splash screen, which will slightly speed up the overall boot process. Be aware that removing the splash screen will also cause you not to see any boot-up messages that might come up (chkdsk, convert ... ), but if your system runs without any problems then it should not matter.

1. Edit boot.ini
2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".

(or check the /noguiboot switch in msconfig on the boot.ini tab)

Upon restarting, the splash screen will be gone. It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch.