How to speed up Windows 7

Is Windows 7 slow? Here's how to clean out the clutter

How to speed up Windows 7 | News | TechRadar UK

 

Thanks, +rep

 

If you have a computer with hdd with lots of ram, consider eboostr4. Set the ram as a cache and your program will start/close as if you have a very very fast SSD system drive.

 

Thanks, though there isn't much to optimize in Win7

 

Thanks for this Tinderbox.

 

So basically it works kinda like Intel Turbo Memory?

 

The only thing I trust using to "optimize" W7 is this:

TweakGuides.com - The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion

 

Nice read but I personally don't see any relevant W7 tweaks. They OS is by default clean and quick. Other than disabling un-needed startup processes I pretty much leave all my W7 installations alone.

cheers ...

 

I think qhn is right. However, I use some apps that relatively can make Win 7 a little faster. These apps include: Uniblue PowerSuite which has 3 programmes in it (1) Registry Booster, (2) SpeedUpMyPC, and (3) SpyEraser which improves your pc's performance, stability, and protection. I also use Advanced SystemCare and CC Cleaner to remove some unnecessary cluttered and fragmented files that linger after deleting or uninstalling files.

 

The best way of making Win7 fast are .. more memory (for 64bit version), change the visual effects to basic and stop unnecessary startup programs and services under msconfig.

 

More memory past 4GB won't make things faster since you'd still be limited to the slowest component - the HDD. I also haven't noticed any benefit in eBoostR, ReadyBoost or TurboBoost.

 

I use eBoostr on a fast memory stick HG, and the program says that about half of all hits go to the memory stick (if I'm reading the bar correctly). I don't notice anything but it's not like I've done back to back testing

 

Thanks. Didn't know that.

 

eBoostr will mainly bennefit you if you alow it to use ram! The problem with SD cards and the like is really fast access but slow bandwidth.

This is what readyboost does for you. It takes only the small files where HDD IOPS are killed and read/write caches them where applicable. This free's the HDD for bandwidth and the streaming of larger files. now the more ram you have to keep these in cache and also the faster the HDD the less readyboost does for you. This to the point of vanishing returns, meaning totally useless.............

I prefer it is there as if I ever start really using the ram and leaving little for cache readyboost is there already. I can see a bit more snappieness in my systems but nothing you can benchmark, what is 2.0 seconds to open an app as compared to 1.9 seconds, hardly measurable but noticable.

For readyboost to make just about any impact you must first let prefetch do it's thing. Then though with alot of ram almost everything is cached so there is little bennefit. There are plenty of nay sayers on this topic but I can tell you it does work. as always though, YMMV.......................

 

sending half of all memory hits to a device that is probably slower than your main memory will have the end effect of slowing your machine.

there is a difference between looking at a graph and seeing that something is working (or claiming to be working) and having that added complexity be worth your time and effort.

 

The benefit of eBoostr is it doesn't delete the cache every time you reboot. Windows can even use the eBoostr cache as it boots up.

 

Tweak Win7 also works.

 

I concur with this completely. While there are some minor things you can do, they’re just that—minor—and making these minor changes might actually break some normally expected functionality. As for the third-party stuff, most of it is useless or makes things worse. Really, Microsoft has spent a good deal of time optimizing things this time around—THERE IS NO MAGIC GO FASTER BUTTON.

 

Check this speedup tip:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/microsoft-windows-7/486478-fix-win7-i7-sluggish-performance.html

 

sign..
Ok lets view this B.S of software, and break your placebo effect.

The Registry is a database... databases are used instead of a list of items or tree as they are lightning fast to access data on it. This is why the OS and programs use it, instead of dumping all it's configuration on a text file, which it needs to scan trow item by item.
We use in computer science, Big O, to mark the speed.
Accessing the registry takes has a Big O (1), that means there is no faster that that. It's 1 CPU cycle.
While passing trough a list or file item by item takes at worst O(n), where n is the length of item. So it can go to the infinite. That is also excluding other affects as loading the entire file onto memory, and processing it. So registry is really fast, big or small, dirty or clean.

So a "registry optimizer" is complete B.S.

SpeedUpMyPC... yyyeaaaa ok.
You want to download more RAM?
Download More RAM!

Seriously, this program and all the similar computer optimizer crap does nothing more than just empty the temp directory, clean up a few other folders, and defragment your HDD (something that Win7 already does), and touches network configuration which it should not touch (defined by your drivers to ensure reliability, low error rate, proper networking between computer and streaming). Do you think some person or persons, knows more about Windows, MORE THAN Microsoft them-self? please....

Spyeraser, ok this is probably the application that actually does something useful in life, and remove spyware. But tests from reviews shows they are better ones, such as Microsoft Security Essential which is also free, Ad-aware, malwarebytes and few others which doesn't come to mind at the moment.

Also, did you know that Windows 7 auto-optimizes itself over time.
In fact every 3 days after a restart, it optimizes it's boot sequence, and you have super fetch technology which learns what process runs on your computer and at what time, and if it's often, it will pre-load it before you do, so that your programs loads faster.

 

used the program listed in the first post and it said my drive was 1% fragmented, so i`ll leave windows to carry on doing it as its doing a good enough job so far

 

and this is why i don't mess with my systems. most urge to need to tweak is created for a simple purpose: selling stuff (selling magazines, selling articles on a webpage, selling tweak-software, etc..). not because it's useful (which, as we've discussed times and times again, mostly it isn't).

spam reported.

 

Honestly, just don't install programs you won't use. If you do, make sure you FULLY uninstall them. That means going into appdata/ program data and double checking that they didn't leave junk behind. Almost every program I've installed has left something in my appdata folder.

I also have a lot of unused services disabled. I'd suggest everyone does this for two reasons:

1) Faster loading/ lower RAM on startup.
2) Security. A lot of services are vulnerable to attack. Disabling them is good practice.

I have very few programs installed on my computer and fragmentation has not been a problem.

 

stuff in appdata doesn't matter. it might just mean if you reinstall, you get the settings back you used before.

"unused services". most services in windows don't really boot. they boot virtually, a.k.a. "prepare to be ready when needed". that doesn't per se slow the system down.

and no, no service is open to an attack except if you already get your stuff into local domain. but that this point, it's too late anyways.

all of this is not needed and still everything's perfectly fine. but it's fun to do and then feel "in control" so enjoy the weekend

 

Are you talking about manually started services when you say "boot virtually"?

Computer Browser is one example and at one point had a vulnerability that could be exploited. You'll likely never use this service but it does start up automatically. It's likely been patched by now and the vulnerability was in Vista.

edit: And again, disabling automated services WILL free up RAM.

Appdata is just useless stuff. If you leave it it's just a waste of space and it's unorganized. Lots of viruses create folders in appdata and it's a pain having to look through 50 folders when manually removing one when you should only have to look through 5.

It's kind of like... I could give you a 40MB text file to sit on your desktop and you can either keep it or delete it. Why not delete it?

 

computer browser could only be exploited in the local network. which means a hacker has to be in your network first (exploiting your wlan, or your router).

no, i talk about most automatic started services, which are actually "trigger started services". means the wlan network service might be automatic running, but only physically runs when triggered from the wlan detection service to have something to do (connect to the network, provide network). that's just an example.

appdata is not useless stuff. defintely not.

why should i delete it? i archive it. maybe in a year you note "oh damn, you remember that file.. don't have it around anymore.. crap" and i can give it back to you. same with appdata. maybe i think i don't need an app, half a year later i do actually need it again for something. glad to have my settings the way i left them.

appdata is a VERY important folder btw, and there's a reason it's hidden from you: it's not ment to be touched by you. it's for the app developer to store the application relevant (not user relevant) data. one day you might understand the meaning and importance of it. till then enjoy deleting stuff that doesn't gain you anything.

and manually deleting a virus should never need to go trough all the folders. last time i've done THAT was 12 years ago. now i use search, and tools to handle that (in the case i have to). pstools are great for it, for example.

 

What does it matter where it gets exploited? If you don't use it and it's exploitable... why bother?

I see no reason to keep appdata for programs I'll never use again. Chromium is an example of a program I WILL use again but usually uninstall frequently so I leave the appdata there.

Otherwise I have literally no benefit from keeping around useless files that will never be used again but they do take up space.

 

you never in your life ever change your mind about something? i am able to (i'm able to learn). so i don't KNOW if i NEVER EVER IN MY LIFE use something again.

and no, i'm not a tiny bit more exploitable than you are, just because i have files on my system.

what does it matter if it's on the local net only? because that means it's essentially NOT exploitable. if someone is on your local net, you're 100% lost no matter what. it was a problem in company networks (ours is thousands of pc's distributed over the country big). if someone (trough some OTHER exploit) gets infected, the virus can spread then trough the local exploit. but if it is IN the network, it doesn't need an exploit to spread anymore ANYWAYS.

that's the thing: once infected, nothing matters. once you can't trust the network range you use, you can't trust it anymore. exploits or not. (another danger of the cloud btw. suddenly your home network spreads over different countries, how do you know no one inbetween is infected and hacked?)

 

I know when I won't use a program again and I know when I will. I don't think that's unreasonable.

Not sure how that's relevant to the cloud but I see your point about the local network. The fact is I won't ever use Computer Browser service so why allow it to start?

I have disabled services and there IS a difference in the RAM on startup. I don't know which ones were automatically starting up but some of them were. So whether it's "virtually starting" or whatever... it was using up RAM and if I can save myself 100MB of RAM I definitely will.

edit: I somewhat see what you mean about the cloud... but that's like saying "don't use the internet because someone on it might have a virus"

 

Lol I actually just got this question on my security+ practice test. They refer to disabling system services as "reducing the size of the attack surface of windows"

 

To an extent that can be true, but it's pretty rare. There was the whole uPnP debacle back in the XP days, and I remember there was some exploit to the print spooler. The messenger service was a popular one, so much that MS forcefully retired it. I don't recommend playing with services much in Vista and up since MS intertwined a lot of the services, so disabling something seemingly useless can end up breaking things later on.

Also, I am sure there is some missing post but this thread is from a year ago.

 

I haven't had anything break but I agree, there are lots of dependencies. If you need ANY of the related services you shouldn't disable that service. Personally, I see no way it can hurt me if I do the research and if it provides even the slightest security or speedup... why not?

Also I hadn't noticed, how strange!

 

Thanks for this, I am always looking to seed up my computer.