How to Speed Up the Performance of Windows 7

Information
This is a list of suggestions that will help show you how to speed up and improve the performance of Windows 7. You can pick and choose which ones you would like to do. If you do not notice a increase in performance or have a problem with the suggestion, then you can always go back and enable or undo the suggestion at the provided tutorial link for it.


NOTE
This list of suggestions will continue to be ongoing. I will be adding and updating suggestioins to this list every so often, so you may would like to check back from time to time for anything new. :)


WARNING
Windows 7 Minimum Hardware Requirements:
  • 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
  • 1 GB RAM for 32-bit Windows 7 OR 2 GB RAM for 64-bit Windows 7
  • 16 GB available disk space 32-bit Windows 7 OR 20 GB for 64-bit Windows 7
  • Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
  • DVD-R/W Drive
  • Internet or phone access to activate Windows 7.









Here We Go:

1. Install the Latest BIOS and Device Drivers
Make sure that you have the latest available drivers installed for all of your devices and BIOS version for your motherboard. Check at the device's website for them. Be sure to have the correct versions for your 32 bit or 64 bit Windows 7. If you do not have Windows 7 drivers available, then you can often times use Vista drivers instead with sometimes having to use Compatibility Mode on the driver installation file with Vista selected.
2. Install More RAM
The more you have the better your performance can be up to a point. Usually 3 GB (32-bit) or 4 GB (64-bit) will be the most that you will need though unless you do memory intensive actions such as video editing.
3. Turn Transparency Off
The glass transparency effect uses the most resources from the Aero feature. You can disable it without disabling Aero.
4. Turn Off Unneeded Visual Effects
Uncheck the visual effect options that you do not want or need, or select the Adjust for best performance option, to increase the speed. You can optimize performance by changing how menus and windows appear. The most common visual effects to uncheck are:

  • Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
  • Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu
  • Enable transparent glass
  • Fade or slide menus into view
  • Fade or slide ToolTips into view
  • Fade out menu items after clicking
  • Show shadows under windows
  • Slide open combo boxes
5. Enable Write Caching for Storage Devices
This option is usually the best choice for storage devices that must provide the highest possible performance and that you intend to not remove from the system frequently, such as internal hard disk drives.
6. Disable or Remove Unwanted or Unneeded Startup Programs
Double check through your startup programs and disable or remove the ones you do not want to have start when Windows 7 starts. It is a good idea to check these every once in awhile to help make sure that some unknown program or malware has not placed itself to startup with Windows 7.
7. Disable Unused Services
Services use processes that run in the background using part of your computer's resources. Check through your services with the help of the guide provided in that link, and disable the services that you do not use or need.
8. Turn Off Unneeded Windows Features
Windows 7 includes many features. You can review the list of features and turn off the ones that you do not want or need.
9. Turn Off Disk Defragmenter Schedule
By default Disk Defragmenter is scheduled to run in the background automatically every so often in Windows 7. Having this running in the background can cause a slight slow down and extra hard drive activity. You should either set the schedule to run at a time when you are not using the computer while it is on, or turn it off and run Disk Defragmenter manually when it is convenient for you instead.
10. Disable Hibernate
If you do not use hibernate, then disabling it will save you a GB size file from being saved on your hard drive when you put the computer into hibernation mode.
11. Turn Off System Protection
If hard drive space is at a high premium for you, then turning System Restore off will save you a good bit of hard drive space. When disabled it will also not run in the background anymore while it creates restore points. However, disabling System Restore will mean that there will be no restore points available to go back to in the event of a problem with your Windows 7 system files. You will need to create backups or system images if you disable System Restore instead incase you need to reinstall.
12. Speed Up the Menu Show Time
This will allow you to reduce 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.
13. Enable High Performance in the Power Plan
This power plan maximizes system performance and responsiveness. However, mobile PC users running on battery power may notice that their battery doesn't last as long when using this plan.
14. Speed Up Mouse Hover Time
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.
15. Reduce Time to Display Operating Systems at Boot
This will show you how to change the amount of time to display a list of operating systems in the Windows Boot Manager screen at boot and wait for you to select a OS to start before the default OS starts automatically. If you do not dual boot with another operating sytem on your computer, then you can uncheck, or reduce the time as low as it will go, to save on how long it take to boot your computer.
16.

I hope these help you,
Shawn