Softwares/tricks for Windows optimizations.

blacblu

blacblu

blacblu

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What softwares or configurations should I use to optimize my Windows 7 Ultimate x64?

I'm already using CCleaner and configuring "msconfig.exe".

Particularly the "Welcome..." screen.

Any tip?
 
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using MSconfig.exe is not advisable but i cannot for the life of me remember why :D use the search function for this forum and you shall find as there are 100's of threads about this very question.

To be honest windows 7 runs fine without any tweaks or optimizations, my install has been going strong for 3months and has loads of stuff installed and there is no "slowdown" what so ever!
 
Yeah, Msconfig start-up tab solved various performance issues with my customers back in the tech support days. You mainly want to leave in the anti-virus and any device drivers that are considered essential to run.

As you're running W7, I would say that 40-45 running processes is about right. Windows 2000 is around 20 processes, XP is around 30 (my XP system is 32) and Vista is more like 70!!
 
Ccleaner as you already said, and Easy Cleaner, as they clean different areas as well as having an overlap with each other. Each got different tools to, like space usage on a folder-by-folder basis.
 
All of these next optimizations apply to SSD's and HDD's, do what you like. You do not need to do these, but I do most of them and they give a nice overall feel to the OS and most increase performance somewhat.


Disable unneeded services:
  1. Open the Start Menu, type Services.msc, press Enter
  2. Go to BlackViper
  3. Follow the info to your OS
    Note: Don't worry about this if you don't feel like taking the time to do tweaks your system. This is more for advanced users. I don't even bother with this one myself.
Turn off Unused Windows 7 Features:
  1. Click Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features
  2. Click the Turn Windows features on or off from the left pane
  3. Now uncheck all the features that you don't use in Windows 7 (ex. Games)
  4. Click OK
  5. Restart the system for the changes to take effect
    Note: This can help regain some space by uninstalling unneeded features you never use. I do this myself.
Disable UAC:
  1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type UAC and press Enter
  2. Move slider to "Never notify"
  3. Click OK
  4. Click Yes
  5. Restart
    Note: Who doesn't do this? All it is to me is a annoyance.
Turn off Recycle Bin or reduce in size:
  1. Right click the recycle bin > Properties > choose
    Note: Recommended for you if you have a SSD, I disable it on my SSD.

Turn Off Reliability Monitor:
  1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type Task Scheduler and press Enter
  2. Expand task scheduler library (left panel) > Microsoft > Windows
  3. Scroll down and click on RAC.
  4. Right click on RacTask and select disable
    Note: Disabling it stops it from processing reliability data and errors for reliability viewer. The data is still collected in the logs, just stored efficiently. You can re-enable it and see the reliability stuff when you wish. Disabling it saves RAM and some drive churning until you need to look at it. I do this myself.
Move user folder locations to Secondary HDD:
  1. Right click your folder (ex. My pictures)
  2. Click Properties
  3. Click the Location tab
  4. Change the destination to your other HDD (ex. D:\Pictures)
    Note 1: Recommended, I do this myself for my user folders (ex. My Documents, My pictures, Desktop, etc.)
    Note 2: If there are two of the same folder after the move (ie. My Documents "A" and My Documents "B") you should delete the empty one located on the C: drive. (May need to go into safe mode to delete it)
Enable windows write back caching and turnoff windows write-caching buffer flushing on C:\ drive:
  1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type Disk Management and press Enter
  2. Right click C:\ drive
  3. Click Properties
  4. Go to the Hardware tab
  5. Select your drive
  6. Click properties
  7. Change settings
  8. Go to the Policies tab
  9. The "Enable write caching" box should be checked by default, if not check mark it.
  10. Check mark the "turnoff windows write-caching buffer flushing" box
    Note: Intel users read this: What's The Deal With Write-Cache Buffer Flushing? The performance improvement is not universal (some drives do not seem to like it for whatever reason), but it does usually apply to both SSDs and HDDs. HDDs are just at higher risk for data loss as they tend to be slower at writing their cache information to the drive and require more power when in operation, thus are less likely to finish writing everything to disk when there is a power failure. Many SSDs have enough power stored in their capacitors for the half second or so it takes to flush the buffer, most rotating platter drives do not. There is still some element of risk on most SSDs, but some (especially enterprise models) have a supercap specifically meant to power the drive long enough for a complete flush. Most consumer level drives do not have such a feature. In the end its about the level of risk you are willing to accept. Turning off buffer flushing on an HDD is moderately risky. On a normal SSD it's low risk (much faster random wirtes get data off the cache onto the NAND fast). On an enterprise SSD it's virtually no risk (supercapacitor gives these drives even more time to write data).
    Video Tut:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceH6OZLho4Q
Disable GUI on boot:
  1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type msconfig and press Enter
  2. When the System configuration dialog box opens, switch to Boot tab
  3. Check the box for No GUI boot
  4. Click Apply button and reboot to see the new black boot screen
    Note: I do this myself, saves a second or two on boot.
Speed up Shut down time:
  1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type regedit and press Enter
  2. In regedit, go to:
    Code: 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
  3. In the right pane, right click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout and click on Modify
  4. Type in a number between 1000 and 20000 (1-20 seconds, default time is 12000) and click on OK.
  5. Close regedit.
    Note: If you have problems with programs from your computer shutting down too quickly, then repeat the above steps and increase the time a bit. I do this myself and have mine set to 1000.
Remove start up programs and other things:
  1. Download autouns and run
  2. Uncheck the items you wish to disable
    Note: This is one of my favorite apps, just uncheck an item and it won't run upon start up. This can decrease your boot time as well as become a great troubleshooting tool. I do this myself.
Speed up the Menu Show Delay Time:
  1. Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
  2. Now type regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window.
  3. In regedit go to:
    Code: 
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
  4. In the right pane, right click on MenuShowDelay and click on Modify
  5. Type in a number between 0 to 4000 (400 is default, I use 1) for how many milliseconds you want the Menu to wait before it opens.
  6. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
    Note: This will show you how to change the amount of time it takes for a menu in Windows 7 to pop, fade, or slide open when you run the mouse pointer over it. Also the lower the number, the faster the response time. If you use an entry of 0, there is no menu display delay. However it is not recommended to use 0 though since the menus may be hard to navigate through at that speed. I do this myself.
Change the Mouse Hover Time before Pop-up Displays:
  1. Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
  2. Now type regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window.
  3. In regedit go to:
    Code: 
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse
  4. In the right pane, right click on MouseHoverTime and click on Modify
  5. Type in a number between 0 to 4000 (400 is default, I use 3) in milliseconds, that the mouse pointer has to stay hovered on a item before it is selected or opens a pop-up.
  6. Log off and log on, or restart the computer to apply the changes.
    Note: This will show you how to change the delay time, in milliseconds, that the mouse pointer has to stay hovered on a item before it is selected or opens a pop-up in Windows 7. For example, how long it takes for a taskbar open window button before to display it's thumbnail preview while hovering the mouse pointer over it. If you have the Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu option checked in Visual Effects, then you may not see much or any difference. You will need to uncheck this option first before doing the tutorial below.The lower the number, the faster the response time. If you use an entry of 0, there is no delay before the taskbar thumbnail preview opens. However it is not recommended to use 0 though since it may be hard to navigate through the thumbnails at that speed. I do this myself.
Disable the Unwanted Visual Effects:
  1. For this right click on Computer and select Properties from the right click menu.
  2. Click on Advanced System Settings from the left pane to open up the System Properties window.
  3. Select the Advanced tab from it. Then Under Performance click Settings . Choose Custom: Options From it.
  4. Now just logoff your system and turn logon.
    Note: The ones in the pic are the ones I check and uncheck. Feel free to adjust as desired.
attachment.php


Many thanks to Sean Webster for this guide
 
topdog555 said:
Turn Off Reliability Monitor:
  1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type Task Scheduler and press Enter
  2. Expand task scheduler library (left panel) > Microsoft > Windows
  3. Scroll down and click on RAC.
  4. Right click on RacTask and select disable
    Note: Disabling it stops it from processing reliability data and errors for reliability viewer. The data is still collected in the logs, just stored efficiently. You can re-enable it and see the reliability stuff when you wish. Disabling it saves RAM and some drive churning until you need to look at it. I do this myself.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this! Now I finally know why at about 1am every morning my harddrive chatters for few minutes.
 
BigBoy said:
To be honest windows 7 runs fine without any tweaks or optimizations, my install has been going strong for 3months and has loads of stuff installed and there is no "slowdown" what so ever!
Click to expand...

Agreed. Disabling unused startup items etc is fair enough, but people need to get out of the mindset that you need to tweak and fiddle with Windows to get it running smoothly. It's pure nonsense.
 
Okay, let me be the one to say it.
OP, with your system, running in its config, you shouldn't need to optimise windows after you have set it up.
It should have tons of grut to plough through anything at all.
You'll spend longer tweaking for no benefit than you will achieving real world difference.
 
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Turning off UAC in windows 7 is idiocy, just adding that.
To those who do it, enjoy it.
Windows 7 UAC annoys you lots in the first couple of days of usage, then rarely bothers you.
I'll say it again idiocy to remove it.
 
Hikari Kisugi said:
Turning off UAC in windows 7 is idiocy, just adding that.
To those who do it, enjoy it.
Windows 7 UAC annoys you lots in the first couple of days of usage, then rarely bothers you.
I'll say it again idiocy to remove it.
Click to expand...

Whether User Account Control is going to be useful and / or annoying to a particular user is really going to depend on how they would like to use their system. If the user wants to use a standard user account, or at least start making a transition over to a standard user account, UAC is going to be extremely useful, due to elevation dialogue and file and registry virtualization aspects.

If on the other hand the user wants to run as an administrator and has no inclination of switching over to a standard user, there is a high probability that they are going to dislike UAC quite a bit. As of Windows Vista, even when you log into an administrative account, you will be running with standard user rights by default. This will mean any operations which require administrative rights will have to be confirmed by the user. :)
 
Yeah UAC is always off on my machine because there are apps I use and things I change around that cause it to be annoying in the first instance. I am the sole user of my machine and know exactly what's going on with it and I also know my own browsing habits so am pretty confident in the system.

Some people like full control, some people don't mind. Courses and horses were once put into a saying.
 
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