This is the 3rd tutorial of our "Master Tutorial" series. We have already posted 2 other tutorials for Windows XP and Windows Vista in past and now its turn of Windows 7.
Although Windows 7 is already very fast and reliable but this tutorial will help you in getting the max performance out of your system.
So without wasting any time, here we start our tutorial:
1. Registry Tweaks:
Following topic contains a few registry tweaks to optimize your system performance and add a few useful extras:
Ultimate Collection of Registry Tweaks to Speed Up Windows 7
You just need to download the ZIP file, extract it and run the file. It'll ask for confirmation, accept it. Restart your system to take affect.
2. Right-click on Computer icon on Desktop and select Properties (or press WIN + Pause/Break keys). Now click on Advanced system settings link in left side pane (You can open it directly by giving sysdm.cpl command in RUN or start menu search box). Now click on Settings button in Performance section:
It'll open another window. Disable all unnecessary options in Visual Effects tab, you can leave following options enabled according to your requirements:
- Enable Aero Peek (If you want to use Aero Peek feature)
- Enable desktop composition (If you want to use Windows Aero theme)
- Enable transparent glass (If you want to use transparency in Windows)
- Show thumbnails instead of icons (If you want to show thumbnails in Explorer)
- Show window contents while dragging (If you want windows to show contents while moving them)
- Smooth edges of screen fonts (If you want to show smooth fonts)
- Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop (If you want to show shadows under desktop icon labels)
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons (If you want to use Windows Aero or Basic theme)
3. Open Windows Explorer and go to "Organize -> Folder and Search Options" and click on "View" tab.
Now disable following options:
- Display file size information in folder tips
- Hide extensions for known file types
- Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color
- Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items
4. Right-click on Computer icon on Desktop and select Manage (You can also open it directly by giving services.msc command in RUN or start menu search box).
Now go to Services & Applications -> Services. Here you can set a few unnecessary services to Manual, so that these services don't start automatically with Windows and you can get a faster startup.
Visit following tutorial to know which services can be set to MANUAL to increase system performance:
Windows 7 Services Configuration: Turn Off / Disable Unnecessary Services to Optimize Performance
5. Type msconfig in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter. Now go to Startup tab and disable unwanted startup entries. You can disable your graphics card's driver utility, Sound Card utility, etc to speed up the system startup and to increase system performance.
6. Open Sound applet in Control Panel (or type mmsys.cpl in RUN or Startmenu search box and press Enter). Now go to Sounds tab and select No Sounds from Sound Scheme section. You can keep some of your favorite sounds enabled but make sure to set Exit Windows, Windows Log off, Windows Logon and Start Navigation to (None).
Also disable "Play Windows Startup sound" option to disable the sound clip which is played at login screen.
7. Also don't forget to:
- Defrag the hard disk regularly
- Install only necessary software
- Use the latest device drivers
- Keep your Windows up-to-date
After following all the above mentioned points, you'll definitely notice major improvements in your Windows 7 performance.
This article was posted by VG in following section: Windows 7.
If you enjoyed this article, you can subscribe to our RSS feed or free newsletter to get all new articles directly in your Inbox. Also check out our most popular articles and archive to read other interesting articles. If you have some news or tip to share, please send us.
VG
^^ No where. It just modifies a few registry keys to make Windows faster. You can run uninstallation script to restore default settings.
Mako
I recommend getting an SSD for the OS if you haven't done so already ;)
Uewd
Which one is faster: USB 2.0 Drive or SD Card?
Mako
I think an SD card is about 10x as fast as USB 2. Not sure though.
What I've seen is that current processor power is not the bottleneck, disc drive read/write is. All tuning, clean installing, tweaks, etc. in my life has not done for my pc what my SSD drive does...
Certainly, using ReadyBoost with a USB 2 will do a lot of good, I lived that way myself for a good time but decided it was time to go all the way and spend the 150 $ for an SSd. Loving the result so far. I think old PC's will run much better with SSD too, have to check if some can be revived! ;)
all IMHO, please share your thoughts.
Good luck
PRAKASH
The best way to increase computer's speed is to defragment the harddrives.
but use other fast and super defragment tools than that comes with windows wil increase performance
BLACKBIRD
Could you please post some guidelines, on how to (properly/best) use....
what to do/and what not to do..., for those of us that have an SSD ,
reference using the above information.
Thank you.
( I have a 128GB Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s
CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 )
Mako
@blackbird You can use all but defrag. Defrag is not needed with an ssd and could even damage it (so people say!).
BLACKBIRD
Thank you.
Hopefully, the prices for SSD will come down a lot so that more people can..... experience... the SPEED!
partha
hey vishal,
my laptop is celeron processor & i've installed 7 before & it run on it smoothly without any difficulties with 1 gb ram and 256 mb graphics card....since 7 is slow i h've formatted it and installed xp.but after reading ur article i am eager to install 7 again.will this tips and registry tweaks improve 7 speed on such a laptop.plz reply urgent.
VG
^^ Yes. The above mentioned points definitely help in speeding up Windows.