I guarantee that after following this guide and implementing the recommendations on your PC, you will really get the performance gain.
The bare Minimum Requirements You need To Run Windows 7
1) 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
2) 1GB of main memory
3) 16GB of available disk space
4) Support for DX9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
5) A DVD – R/W drive
Even if you don’t have the DX 9 graphics card there is no problem because our target is performance and not the ” Eyecandy ” . Of course if you need the aero experience you need a powerful graphics card for sure.
So lets start The Ultimate Guide to Speed up Windows 7
Disabling the Search Indexing Feature in Windows 7
- Right Click the “Computer” Icon in the desktop and select “Manage”.
- Click “Services and Applications” in the “Computer Management” window.
- Click on “Services”.
- You can see a lot of services listed there. Look for “Windows Search” in that.
- Right Click on “Windows Search” from the list and choose “Properties”.
- The “Windows Search Properties Window” will open up. From “Startup type” click on the drop down menu and choose “Disabled”.
- Click “Apply” then “OK” and that’s it. The Windows 7 Search Indexing Feature is now disabled.
For occasional file searchers the Search Indexing service in Windows 7 is a total resource hog. It unknowingly eats up your system resources. What you need from windows 7 is maximum performance from it then i would certainly recommend you to disable this resource hogging Windows 7 Search Indexing Feature.
To Disable the Search Indexing Feature in Windows 7
If you want to completely disable the search indexing feature in Windows 7 you can set the Search Indexing Service to Manual (See the above method about disabling unwanted services).
Disable the Aero Theme on Windows 7
- Right Click on your Desktop and select ” Personalize ” click the Window Color Tab.
- Uncheck the Box saying ” Enable Transparency ” and then click on ” Open classic appearance properties for more color options”.
- Then a window will open up. Apply a Standard or Basic theme from it. The Standard Windows 7 theme is more preferred.
Disabling the aero theme alone in Windows 7 will really speed things up. You can know this by looking into the memory consumption when aero is turned on and off.
Disabling the Unwanted Visual Effects in Windows 7 to Speed Up more
- For this right click on ” Computer” and select “Properties” from the right click menu.
- Click on ” Advanced System Settings ” from the left pane to open up the ” System Properties ” window.
- Select the “Advanced” tab from it. Then Under ” Performance ” click ” Settings “. Choose ” Custom: ” Options From it.
- Now un tick all the options and select only the last four options (actually three only needed; you can un tick the second option from the last four). See the screen shot if you have any doubt.
- Now just logoff your system and turn logon.
You will now notice the speed difference now.
Disabling the Unwanted Services to Speed up Windows 7
Disable the User account control (UAC) Feature in Windows 7
- From the Control Panel open the ” User Accounts and Family Safety ” > User Account.
- Click the User Account Control settings link.
- Now just Drag the Slider towards “Never Notify”.
- Click “OK” and Reboot your system.
To Disable and Turnoff UAC in Windows 7
Disabling UAC is for advanced users only its not recommend doing it if not.
SetUp the Windows 7 Ready Boost Service for an Extra Speed Boost
- To configure the Ready Boost Feature in Windows 7 you need to have a High Speed Flash/USB or Pendrive with you which is ready boost compatible.
- After plugging you pendrive, open “Computer” > Right-click the on USB Drive/Pendrive > select “Ready Boost” tab > tick the “Use this device” checkbox.
- You can configure how much space on your USB drive/ Pendrive to be used as Ram.
Turn off Unused Windows 7 Features
- Open up ” Programs and Features ” from Control Panel.
- Click the ” Turn Windows features on or off ” from the left pane.
- Now uncheck all the Feature that you don’t use in Windows 7 and restart the system for the changes to take effect.
Disable the Windows 7 Sidebar (Actually the Gadgets)
- Right click on the sidebar and select ” Properties “.
- On the properties windows untick the check box showing ” Start sidebar when Windows Starts “
- From now on windows sidebar won’t start when windows 7 start up.
To Disable the Sidebar in Windows 7,
Disable the Aero Peek and Aero Snap features in Windows 7
- Open the Windows 7 ” Control Panel ” and double-click on ” Ease of Access Center ” icon.
- Now click on the ” Make it easier to focus on tasks ” seen at the bottom in there
- Now untick the check box saying ” Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen ” .
- Right click on the Windows 7 taskbar and select ” Properties “.
- Now untick the ” Use Aero Peek to preview the desktop ” option from there.
To disable Aero Snap Feature in Windows 7,
That will now disable the Aero Snap in Windows 7.
Now To Disable the Aero Peek feature in Windows 7
The Aero Peek feature in Windows 7 helps you to peek through all open windows by hiding all other windows and showing only the outlines of all windows. Aero Peek is similar to the ” Show Desktop ” Feature in XP and Vista.
If you have followed step 3 then Aero Peek will be automatically disabled. If not,
The aero peek feature will now be disabled in windows 7.
Change the Power Plan To Maximum Performance
- Double click the ” Power Options ” in the Control panel.
- Click the down arrow showing ” Show Additional Plans ” to see the ” High Performance ” power plan
- Now just activate the ” High Performance ” plan and that’s it.
- You may go for the advanced settings for further tweaking if you want.
Disable the Thumbnail Preview Feature to speed up File browsing in Windows 7
- Double Click on ” Computer ” >click on the “Organize” drop-down menu and select the “Folder and Search options”
- Under ‘Files and Folders’ section, go to the “View” tab and tick the check box showing “Always show icons, never thumbnails” checkbox.
For disabling thumbnails in Windows 7,
Most Essential Softwares To Speed Up Windows 7
Registry Tweaks to Speed Up Windows 7
If you have the complete version of Tune Up Utilities software with you then it is the best one to keep your Windows 7 in top shape.
Turn OFF Windows 7 Password Protection To save a few More Seconds!!!
Turn OFF Windows 7 Screen Saver and Wallpaper
- Right click on desktop and choose “Personalize”.
- Click the Screen Saver link ” From the Screen Saver drop down menu, Set it to “None” and click “Apply” and then “OK”.
- Now click on “Desktop Background” link.
- From the “Location” drop down menu select “Solid Colors” and pick one color and click “OK”.
To Disable The Screen Saver and Wallpaper in Windows 7,
Disable Unwanted Start Up Items and Speed Up Windows 7 Start Up
- Type ” msconfig ” in the “RUN” option from start menu press [Enter] to open up the System Configuration Utility.
- Now navigate to the “StartUp” tab.
- Untick the Entries which are not needed
Disable Unwanted System Sounds in Windows 7
- Type mmsys.cpl in RUN From the Windows 7 Startmenu search box and press [Enter].
- Navigate to the “Sounds” tab.
- Now from under “Sound Scheme:” select “No Sounds” > Click “Apply” > “OK”.
- You can keep some of your favorite sounds turned on if you want, but sounds played during the Windows 7 start up, shutdown, Logon, logoff, start navigation etc should be set to none if you want some real speed boost.
To disable the system sounds in Windows 7,
Thats it following all these steps will certainly boost the speed and performance of your windows 7 operating system.